Guide
How to set up a Claude project for operations work
For operations and admin work, set up one Claude project and give it three things. Instructions with your role, the tools you use and the rules that apply to every task. Knowledge files with the SOPs, vendor list and policies people keep asking about. And a brief that turns each walkthrough into an SOP someone new can follow: purpose and trigger, roles, one action per step with the on-screen labels, every "it depends" as an if/then, checks, an owner and a review date. Projects are on every Claude plan (up to five on Free), and on Team and Enterprise you can share one with the people who run the process.
Short answer
- Instructions: your role, tools and every-task rules.
- Knowledge: SOPs, vendor list, policies.
- The SOP brief: one action per step, labels exact, decisions as if/then.
- Gaps come back [confirm], never guessed.
What goes where
| Part of the project | What to put in it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Instructions | Your role, the tools by name, rules for every task, default format | "Ops coordinator at a 25-person distributor. Orders in the ordering system, books in QuickBooks. Purchases over the approval limit need the ops manager." |
| Knowledge | Documents the answers should come from | Current SOPs, vendor list, returns policy |
| Chats | One task each | "Write the SOP from this walkthrough" |
From the Claude Help Center's page on projects, read 5 November 2026.
The SOP brief to copy
SOP brief
"Turn this walkthrough into an SOP.
Start with the purpose (what's true when it's done) and the trigger (the event that starts it). List roles, not names.
One action per step, starting with where and a verb. Put on-screen labels in bold, exactly as they appear in the walkthrough.
Write every 'usually' or 'it depends' as 'If [condition], go to step X'. If no number was given, write [confirm threshold].
End with 'Done when' checks, an owner (a role), a review date 12 months out, and open questions for anything the walkthrough didn't say. Don't invent a field or button name.
Walkthrough: [paste transcript or notes, and the labels visible on screen]"
A worked example
Illustration: a made-up business. Jo is the ops coordinator at a 25-person kitchenware distributor, and the only person who knows how to set up a new supplier. She records herself doing it and pastes the transcript into the project: "When we take on a supplier I go into the ordering system, Suppliers, New supplier, fill in the name and the email for orders. Payment terms are usually 30 days, but for overseas ones it depends. Then Save." The labels on screen were Suppliers, New supplier, Name, Order email, Payment terms and Save. The SOP Claude returns, in part:
From the SOP
Purpose: A new supplier can receive orders from the ordering system.
Trigger: The company takes on a new supplier. [confirm: what marks it, such as an approval]
Roles: Ops coordinator does all steps. ([Jo])
1. In the ordering system, open Suppliers and select New supplier.
2. In Name and Order email, enter the supplier's details.
3. In Payment terms, enter 30 days.
– If the supplier is overseas, use [confirm: the overseas terms]. Otherwise continue.
4. Select Save.
Done when: the supplier appears in the list with an order email.
Open questions for the owner: What are the overseas payment terms? What marks a supplier as taken on? [confirm]
Owner: Ops manager · Review by: 12 months from today · Tested by: [confirm: someone other than Jo]
Jo answers the two open questions, saves the SOP to the project's knowledge, and asks a warehouse colleague to follow it once without help before it's final.
Set yours up
- Create one project for operations work.
- Write the instructions: role, tools by name, rules for every task, default format.
- Add the knowledge: the SOPs and lists people ask you about most.
- Draft one SOP from a walkthrough with the brief above, and have someone else test it.
- Keep personal and confidential data out unless your company's account allows it; see what not to paste.
Next step: the same SOPs for the whole team
A project helps you; the team still writes SOPs its own way. Getting your team to use AI the same way covers sharing one format and one set of instructions, and one minutes format for the whole team does it for meeting minutes. For what projects can and can't do, see Claude Projects explained.
Skills for this
- Operations and adminSOP from an explanation or recordingTurns an explanation or screen-recording transcript into an SOP with a trigger, roles, exact-label steps, decision points, checks, and an owner.
- Operations and adminMeeting minutes with action itemsTurns a transcript or rough notes into minutes: decisions, action items with one owner and a due date each, and open questions.
- AI practiceAI automation opportunity scanScores a team's recurring tasks on frequency, time, rule clarity, and risk to find AI candidates, then picks the top 3 with a first experiment each.
- Operations and adminDecision record (decision log entry)Records a decision as a short log entry: the decision, context, options considered, why, who decided, the date, status, and a revisit trigger.
Questions
How can operations teams use Claude?
Set up one project for operations work: instructions with your role, tools and rules; knowledge files with the SOPs, vendor list and policies people ask about; and chats inside it for each task. The most useful repeated task is turning a walkthrough into an SOP that someone new can follow.
What should I put in a Claude project's instructions for operations?
Who you are and what a good answer does, the tools you use by name, the rules that apply to every task (such as approval limits), and the default format. Long documents go in the project's knowledge, not in the instructions.
Can AI write an SOP?
It can draft one from a recorded walkthrough or notes, if you ask for one action per step, the exact on-screen labels from the recording, every "it depends" written as an if/then, checks, an owner and a review date. Anything the source didn't say should come back marked [confirm], never guessed.
AI skill
Have your AI turn how you explain a task into a procedure anyone can follow
Put this skill in AI Skill Pod and everyone on your team gets it in their Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT (Pro, Business, Enterprise): one invite link, free to start. With SOP from an explanation or recording, each person's AI turns a walkthrough or rough notes into an SOP: purpose and trigger, roles, one action per step with the on-screen labels, every "it depends" as an if/then, checks, an owner and a review date.
14 days free · No card needed
Sources
- Claude Help Center: What are projects? — project instructions and a knowledge base per project; every plan, Free up to five projects; sharing on Team and Enterprise as Can view or Can edit (read 2026-11-05)
- US EPA: Guidance for Preparing Standard Operating Procedures (EPA QA/G-6) — review SOPs periodically and whenever the process changes (read 2026-11-05)
- Microsoft Style Guide: Writing step-by-step instructions (read 2026-11-05)
- Anthropic Privacy Center: commercial products — Claude for Work not used for training by default (read 2026-11-05)