Progress Stack

A simple system for giving AI (Claude) persistent context about your projects, rules, and workflow.

Two files. Zero plugins. Full context.

What's Included

How It Works

1. Put CLAUDE.md at the root of your project or vault
2. Claude Code reads it automatically at session start
3. Claude now knows your context without you explaining

The key insight: Instead of re-explaining your projects every session, you maintain one file that Claude reads first. Your rules persist. Your context persists. Your AI finally has memory.

Setup (5 minutes)

Option A: With Obsidian Vault

# Navigate to your vault
cd /path/to/your/vault

# Copy templates
cp /path/to/CLAUDE.md ./CLAUDE.md
cp /path/to/PROGRESS.md ./PROGRESS.md

# Start Claude Code in your vault directory
claude

Option B: With Any Project

# Navigate to your project
cd /path/to/your/project

# Copy CLAUDE.md template
cp /path/to/CLAUDE.md ./CLAUDE.md

# Customize for your project
# Start Claude Code
claude

Customizing CLAUDE.md

The template has sections for:

1. Role — What persona should Claude adopt? (Coach, advisor, pair programmer)
2. Key Files — Where does Claude find important context?
3. Rules — What constraints should Claude follow?
4. Session Start — What should Claude check every session?

Start minimal. Add sections as you discover what you need.

Customizing PROGRESS.md

The template uses stages:

• IDEATION — Ideas you're exploring
• DESIGN — Committed, planning approach
• DEVELOPMENT — Actively building
• LIVE — Deployed and running
• ON ICE — Paused projects

Not a to-do list. A dashboard. Update it when things change, not every task.

Tips

1. Keep CLAUDE.md under 500 lines — Claude reads it every session. Concise > comprehensive.
2. Update PROGRESS.md weekly minimum — Stale dashboards are useless dashboards.
3. Let Claude update files — Tell Claude "update PROGRESS.md with what we shipped." It can write to your vault.
4. Project-specific CLAUDE.md — Each code project can have its own. They chain together.

Requirements

• Claude Code (Anthropic's CLI)
• Any text editor
• Optional: Obsidian for vault management

FAQ

Q: Does my data leave my machine? A: When you use Claude Code, your prompts and file contents go to Anthropic's API. Data is not used for training. See Anthropic's privacy policy.

Q: Do I need Obsidian? A: No. CLAUDE.md works with any project directory. Obsidian is optional for managing a knowledge vault.

Q: Can I use this with GPT/other AI? A: The templates are markdown. They'll work conceptually with any AI that can read files. But Claude Code's auto-read of CLAUDE.md is Claude-specific.

License

MIT — Use it, modify it, share it.

Links

• Claude Code Documentation
• Obsidian