# Setting Up a Project Agent in Claude Cowork

This guide explains how to recreate something like the demo — an AI agent that has ongoing context about a project and can help you manage it without you having to explain the background every time.

The `lochside-lodge/` folder in this bundle is the actual set of files the demo agent was working from. Use it as an example of what this looks like in practice.

---

## What the demo showed

The agent in the demo had access to a set of project documents — a brief, a budget tracker, a build programme, a decisions log, and a supplier record. When emails about the project arrived, Ellen forwarded them and the agent:

- Read the email in context of the project documents
- Checked the budget and decisions log before flagging anything financial
- Produced a short decision brief with options and a draft response, ready for Ellen to approve or modify

Ellen's involvement was decisions, not admin. The agent did the legwork.

---

## The file structure

The demo used this folder structure:

```
lochside-lodge/
  business-profile.md        — who Ellen is, what the Lodge is, her guest mix
  routine.md                 — operational rhythm: deliveries, supplier contacts, seasonal patterns
  projects/
    spa-conversion/
      brief.md               — agreed scope, budget, timeline, key contacts
      budget.md              — quoted vs invoiced vs paid, line by line
      tracker.md             — build programme, phase status, open items
      decisions.md           — decision log with rationale
  suppliers/
    strathmore-build.md      — contractor record with contact details and logbook
```

Everything is plain text (Markdown). No special software required to create or edit these files — any text editor works. The value is that the agent can read and reason across all of them together.

---

## How to set it up in Claude Cowork

Claude Cowork (claude.ai/cowork) lets you create a project with persistent files the agent can always access.

**Step 1: Create a project**
In Cowork, create a new project. Give it a name that matches your business or the project you're running.

**Step 2: Add your files**
Upload your Markdown files to the project. Start with a business profile and a project brief — those two give the agent enough context to be useful immediately.

**Step 3: Write the business profile first**
The `lochside-lodge/business-profile.md` file in this bundle is a good example of what to include. You don't need to write a novel — cover:
- What the business is and who runs it
- Who your customers or clients are
- Your key suppliers and operational relationships
- Seasonal patterns or constraints that affect how you work

**Step 4: Add project documents as the work develops**
A budget tracker, a decisions log, and a build programme can all be created as simple Markdown tables. The agent reads them as context — the more current they are, the more useful the agent is.

---

## Important: the live dashboard and Google Drive

During the demo, the budget tracker and project dashboard were shown updating in real time. This required the files to be hosted on Google Drive rather than uploaded directly to Cowork.

The reason is that Cowork runs the agent in a sandboxed environment — it can read files you've uploaded, but it can't write back to them or update them live. To show live updates in the demo, the files were stored in Google Drive and the agent was given access via a Google Drive integration.

For most use cases, you don't need this. Uploading Markdown files directly to a Cowork project is simpler and works well for anything where you update the files yourself and re-upload as the project progresses.

---

## The example outputs

The `example-outputs/` folder contains the two decision briefs the agent produced during the demo:

- `scenario-1-output.md` — the sauna invoice query, where the agent flagged a discrepancy between the contract and the invoice and drafted an email to the contractor
- `scenario-3-output.md` — the floor decision brief, where the agent presented two options with costs and programme impact

These were produced from the project files in the `lochside-lodge/` folder. The inputs (the emails Ellen forwarded) were staged for the demo, but the outputs are genuine — produced by the agent reading the project context and the incoming email together.

---

## Getting started

The simplest way to begin is not with a complex project setup, but with a business profile. Write one for your own business — model it on `lochside-lodge/business-profile.md` — and upload it to a new Cowork project. Then start a conversation with the agent and see how much less explaining you have to do.
