Get fluent with Claude.

Give me a random number between 1 and 10.

[Context] I'm a marketing manager at a B2B SaaS company launching a new CRM feature next Tuesday.
[Role] Act as a direct-response copywriter who specialises in product announcements.
[Action] Write a launch announcement email with a compelling subject line and 3 key benefits.
[Format] 150 words max, short paragraphs, one clear CTA button at the end.
[Target] CFOs and finance directors at mid-market companies (200 to 500 employees).

Research the electric vehicle market.

You are a market analyst with 10 years covering the automotive sector.
Before you answer, think through the main segments, then research the Australian electric vehicle market for 2026.
Output a one-page brief with exactly four sections: Market size, Top 3 players, Key trends, One risk. Use a table for the top 3 players. Keep it under 400 words.

I'm trying to get you, Claude, to help me with [goal]. I'm not sure how to phrase my request to get the best results. Can you help me craft an effective prompt for this?

Give me 20 different angles for a pitch deck about sustainable packaging.

Now critique your own response. What's weak? Rewrite fixing those specific flaws.

Write a LinkedIn post announcing [what you're announcing].
Context: my audience is [who], the purpose is [why], the tone is [how it should feel].
Here's an example of my voice - match it: [paste a paragraph you've written].
Structure: 3 short paragraphs, no intro, lead with the data.
Do NOT: use bullet lists, filler phrases, generic intros, buzzwords, or em dashes.

Our challenge is [ describe a real business challenge you're weighing up - e.g. "whether to hire two more salespeople next quarter to hit our growth target" ]. First, brainstorm five distinct solutions. Then play Devil's Advocate against each one - attack the assumptions, name the failure modes and second-order effects, and tell me who would push back and why. Finish by ranking the five from most to least robust once the weak ones are knocked out, and recommend one with your reasoning.

About me: [ your role, what you build, who you serve, and that you operate in Australia ]
Be direct, sceptical, and commercially practical. Do not agree with me by default. Do not be sycophantic.
Challenge weak assumptions and point out risks clearly. Use Australian English and Australian business context.
Prioritise execution, revenue, margin, delivery capacity, speed to cash, and operational leverage.
Separate facts, assumptions, inference, and opinion. Analyse problems as systems with constraints, bottlenecks,
incentives, failure points, and second-order effects. Avoid generic AI-sounding content, hype, filler, praise,
and vague strategy language. Give the answer or recommendation first, then reasoning. Use tables when comparing options.

Can you please look in my emails and then create a new skill which analyses something to see if it's within my tone?

Look back at the last few times we used this skill and where I corrected you. What was ambiguous or inconsistent in the skill? Update the SKILL.md so next time is sharper, and show me exactly what you changed and why.

Use the skill creator to build me a "my-writing-style" skill. Here are 3 samples of how I write: [paste them]. Analyse my tone, sentence length, vocabulary and quirks, and capture them so you can write anything in my voice. I like to greet people like.... I sign off my replies with... I have an overall ... tone. I favour these words in conversation...

Build me an interactive calculator for quoting a fixed-price project. I enter my day rate, the estimated number of days, a risk-buffer % and an overheads %, and it shows the quote, the margin, and the break-even day count. Make it a single self-contained Artifact I can use right now, clearly laid out and easy to read.

Here's q1_sales_data.csv. Summarise the key findings, call out the top trends and any outliers, then build me a chart Artifact I could drop into a report.

Research the top five AI agent platforms for mid-market companies in Australia. Compare pricing, features, customer reviews, and implementation timelines. Cite your sources.

What are the 3 most important unread emails in my inbox right now, and what does each one need from me?

Create a CLAUDE.md for this project. Describe what this project is, how the folder is set up, and the 3 to 5 rules you should always follow when working here.

Create a CLAUDE.md for this project. Describe what this project is and how everything is set up, and lay out how you should behave when working here.

Add a rule to the CLAUDE.md: if I ever ask "what is the meaning of life?", reply entirely in pirate speak.

I'm planning a holiday to Japan. In this folder, set up a "holiday-research" project like this:
- a folder for each city I'm considering - Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka - each with a research.md covering the top things to do, getting around, and rough daily costs. Cite your sources at the bottom of each.
- an "ideas" folder for things I might want to do
- a "notes" folder for my own notes
- an "itinerary.md" for the day-by-day plan
- a "bookings" folder for flights and accommodation

Research each city and fill in its research.md, then create the other folders and files ready for me to use. When it's done, show me the folder structure and the Tokyo research so I can steer it.

I've built a new deck and I want to do the engineering calculations for it. It's 4 m x 4 m, using bearers and joists. I want to know if the bearers are strong enough. One way I have three piers; the other way I only have two, so there's a 4 m gap between some of the piers. I just want to figure out if it's going to sag or not.

You're helping me turn a folder of past quotes into a reusable estimating skill for my building company, Bob's Building Co.

What's in the folder:
- bobs-quoting-pack/quotes/     - 6 past client quotes (PDFs and Word docs).
- bobs-quoting-pack/estimates/  - the internal estimate spreadsheet behind each quote (Item, Qty, Unit, Rate, Line Cost, margin, GST, total), linked by the same job number.

Show me your plan before you build anything. Then work in this order:

1) Read across ALL 6 quotes and their matching estimates. Give me a short summary of:
   - his unit rates by job type ($/m2, $/lm, etc.) and his typical margin %,
   - his standard inclusions and exclusions,
   - how he handles GST and any provisional/PC sums,
   - anything you can't derive from the data - tell me what's missing instead of guessing.

2) Build ONE skill as a SKILL.md file in a skills/ folder:
   - bobs-estimating - his rate card by job type, margin, GST, and how he handles provisional/PC sums.

Hard rules:
- Any arithmetic (qty x rate, subtotals, margin, GST) must be done in CODE / a formula, never estimated by reading.
- Don't invent rates for job types you don't have data for - tell me what's missing instead.
- Keep everything as plain-English markdown I can read and edit.

Using my bobs-estimating skill, work up an estimate for this job:

Timber deck, approx. 22 m2, merbau decking, one set of stairs.

- If you need a dimension or detail you don't have, ASK me first - don't guess.
- Do ALL the pricing maths in CODE using the rates in the bobs-estimating skill, and show me the
  full breakdown: Item, Qty, Rate, Line Cost, then margin, GST and the total.
- Flag any provisional/PC sums and anything you've had to assume.

I want you to build me a "[DOCUMENT TYPE - e.g. Proposal / Pitch Deck / Brand Guide / Letterhead]" skill using the skill-creator.

I'm attaching my company's [DOCUMENT TYPE] file: [ATTACH YOUR .docx or .pptx]. This exact
file must be bundled inside the skill as the template - do not recreate it.

THE CORE RULE, state it prominently and repeatedly in the skill:
NEVER create a new Word document. Not from scratch, not from Markdown, not by
generating docx XML, not with python-docx's Document(). The ONLY correct
behaviour is: copy the bundled template to a new file, then edit the contents
of that copy.

Preserving formatting while editing:
- When editing existing text, replace it in place so the original run keeps its
  font, size, colour and style.
- When a field is EMPTY in the template, new text must inherit the document's
  house font AND font size - copy the run formatting from existing body text.
  Do not let it fall back to the default style (it silently becomes Times New
  Roman at the wrong size).
- The cover page text lives in text boxes that python-docx can't reach directly -
  make sure the skill can edit those too.

How it should work:
1. Copy the bundled template to "[YOUR COMPANY] - [DOCUMENT TYPE] - .docx".
2. Inspect/dump the current contents so it knows the exact text to target.
3. Interview me for the details this document needs (client, project, scope, line
   items, quantities, rates, timeline, fees, dates, signatories, document number) -
   grouped questions, only the ones relevant to this document type.
4. Edit only the copy, preserving all formatting as above.
5. Verify the result - re-dump and confirm the key fields (client, dates, figures)
   are correct and consistent everywhere, and that fonts and sizes match.

Defaults to bake in: [currency AUD, fees "+ GST"; the "From" signatory is
; document number format e.g. QUO-YYYY-NNNN; body font  at pt].

Please also set up a couple of test prompts so we can confirm it produces a clean,
correctly-formatted document before I rely on it.