The first hour with Claude: the complete 60 minute checklist.

Getting started · 8 minute read · Every prompt written for you

Most people open Claude for the first time, ask it to write a poem, get a poem, and close the tab, and then they go tell their friends AI is a toy.

But the gap between "toy" and "the most useful thing on my phone" is about one hour, and most of that hour is Claude doing the work. So this is the full checklist, what you're going to tap, what you're going to paste, and what you will actually have by minute 60. Set a timer if that helps, you will finish early.

Account plus the 3 settings that matter

Go to claude.ai, make an account, and grab the app on your phone. The free plan is fine for today. Then, before you type a single word, open Settings (tap your initials) and turn on three things. The exact names shift a little between plans and updates, so look under a section called Capabilities or Features if you do not see them right away.

1. Memory. Without this, every conversation starts from zero and your whole setup hour evaporates when you close the app. Turn it on first so everything below gets saved.
2. Create and edit files. This lets Claude hand you real files: spreadsheets, documents, little tools. You want deliverables, not just paragraphs.
3. Artifacts. Usually on by default, but check. Artifacts are the interactive things Claude builds in a side panel, and you are making one in about 25 minutes.

And that is the whole setup, ten minutes, and most of that is just finding the settings page.

Make Claude interview you

Okay so do not start by telling Claude about yourself, because you will forget the important parts. You're going to make it interview you instead, just paste this in:

Before we work together, interview me. Ask one question at a time, about ten questions total. Cover: what I do for work, what I am trying to build or earn this year, which tools I already use, what a normal week looks like, and which tasks keep eating my time. When we finish, write a short profile of me that you can use to make every future answer more specific, and save it to memory.

Answer honestly, including the messy parts. "I keep meaning to send invoices and I do not" is more useful to Claude than any job title. When it writes your profile at the end, read it. If something is off, say so and it will fix it. This fifteen minutes is why every answer you get for the next year will feel like it was written for you specifically.

Build your first artifact: a subscription tracker

Now you're going to build something real that you will actually open again. A subscription tracker is the perfect first artifact, because everyone has subscriptions, everyone is paying for at least one they forgot about, and watching Claude build a working tool right in front of you truly changes what you think this thing is.

Make me a subscription tracker as an interactive artifact. Let me add each subscription with a name, monthly price, and renewal date. Show the monthly total and the yearly total at the top in big numbers. Let me tap any subscription to mark it as one I am thinking about canceling, and show how much I would save per year if I cut everything I marked. Keep it clean and easy to use on a phone.

Add your real subscriptions while you wait for the kettle. Most people find one they forgot about, which means this guide just paid for itself, and it was free.

Install one skill and start one project

Two features most beginners never touch, and they are the two that make Claude feel like a coworker instead of a search box.

First, a skill. A skill is a routine Claude remembers and runs the same way every time you ask. Paste this to create your first one:

Create a skill called Weekly Review. Whenever I say "run my weekly review," ask me three questions, one at a time: what went well this week, what stalled, and what money came in or went out. Then write a short honest summary I can keep, and end with the single most important thing for me to do next week.

Then, a project. Projects are folders for conversations, with their own instructions. Tap Projects, hit new project, and name it after the one thing you are actually trying to do right now. Then paste this into the project instructions, filling in your goal:

This project is for one goal: [your goal, for example "get my first paying customer" or "sort out my finances"]. Keep answers short and practical. Remember where we left off between conversations. Always end with the one next step I should take. If I show up without a plan, ask me what happened since last time and pick the next step for me.

From now on, anything about that goal happens inside the project, and Claude keeps the thread even when weeks pass between visits.

Set tomorrow's morning brief

Last five minutes, and it is the best part: give Claude a job that runs without you. Look for scheduled tasks (in the app, ask Claude "set up a scheduled task" and it will walk you through it). Then paste this:

Every weekday at 7am, write my morning brief. Include: the top three things I said I would do, anything with a deadline in the next three days, one thing I have been avoiding, and one honest sentence to get me moving. Keep the whole thing under 150 words so I can read it before my coffee is done.

Tomorrow morning there will be a brief waiting for you, written by an assistant that already knows your job, your goal, and what you are avoiding. Day one and it is already working before you wake up, which is kind of insane.

The whole hour, in one glance

• 0 to 10: account, then Memory, file creation, and Artifacts turned on
• 10 to 25: the interview prompt, saved to memory
• 25 to 40: your subscription tracker, built and filled in
• 40 to 55: one skill installed, one project started
• 55 to 60: tomorrow's morning brief, scheduled

That is truly a great first hour, it beats what most people accomplish in their first month, and every piece of it keeps working after you close the app.

Bonus: the same setup in ChatGPT

Using ChatGPT instead, or using both? Good news, this whole hour translates almost one to one, and the settings just have different names. Here is the map:

1. Memory. Settings, then Personalization, then turn on Memory. Same reason as before, without it your setup evaporates every time you close the app.
2. Custom instructions. Also under Personalization. This is where your profile lives. Run the same interview prompt from minute 10 above, it works word for word, and then ask it to put the profile in your custom instructions.
3. Projects. ChatGPT has projects too, in the sidebar. Same move: one project for your one real goal, and paste the same project instructions from minute 40.
4. Tasks. The morning brief works here too. Ask ChatGPT to "create a scheduled task" and paste the same 7am brief prompt from minute 55.

So basically every prompt on this page is a both-apps prompt. Set up whichever one you actually open, and if you set up both, give them the same profile so they give you the same quality of answers.

Bonus: create and edit videos with AI

Okay so this is the system from the video, all four prompts, ready to paste.

Here's my topic: [topic]. And here are three videos I loved: [paste hooks or links]. Write me a 40 second script with a hook in the first two seconds, then I'll make it sound like me.

Here's my script. Give me a shot by shot plan with what's on screen every 2 seconds.

Break this script into 2 or 3 word caption chunks and tell me which words to highlight.

I have CapCut. Tell me exactly which buttons to press to make this edit, step by step.

And the voice? Tools like ElevenLabs can clone your voice from about two minutes of recording. Start with their cheapest plan, record yourself talking naturally, and every script above can come out sounding like you.

Want the full 7 day version with templates? That's the First Week kit.