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Agents · Setup

Setup and safety

Three things make agents useful and safe: one file that describes your business, the right tool connections, and a few firm rules about what agents may change.

In one paragraph

Give Claude one short file that describes your business: who you sell to, who you do not, the signals you act on and this week’s priorities. Connect your CRM, inbox and note-taker read-only first. Then allow changes only through a propose, approve, write step, so a person checks every change before it is saved.

Step 1

Write your company brain

Every agent reads one file before it starts. It holds what a new colleague would need on day one: what you sell, who you sell to and who you do not, the people you target, the signals you act on and this week’s priorities.

In Claude Code this file is called CLAUDE.md. In the Claude app, add the same text to a Project’s instructions.

  • Keep it to one or two pages. Link to longer documents.
  • Update “This week” every Monday. It takes five minutes.
  • Log changes to your customer profile with a date and reason.
Template
# Company brain (CLAUDE.md)

## What we sell
One sentence a buyer would say.

## Who we sell to
Industries, countries, company size.
Must be true for a real fit: ...

## Who we do not sell to
Competitors, partners, look-alikes, customers.

## People we sell to
1. Head of Operations (decision-maker)
2. Finance chief (budget holder)

## Signals we act on
- New leader in operations: act within 30 days
- Pricing page visits x2 in a week: warm

## This week
- Live campaigns: ...
- Priority accounts: ...

Step 2

Connect your tools, read-only first

Claude connects to most sales and marketing tools through connectors in its settings. Start every connection read-only and add write access only where an approval step exists.

ToolWhat agents use it forStart withLater
CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce)Account history, contacts, dealsRead-onlyWrite with approval
Email and calendar (Gmail, Outlook)Meeting context, past threadsRead-onlyDrafts only, you send
Slack or TeamsAlerts and weekly summariesPost to one channelSame
Note-taker (Granola, Fireflies, Gong)Call transcriptsRead-onlySame
Data tools (Clay, Apollo)Company and contact dataRead-onlyRun lookups on request
Ads and analytics (Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Search Console)Spend, search terms, trafficRead-onlyChanges only through a reviewed plan

Step 3

Six rules that keep people in charge

These rules are built into every agent in the library. Use them for any agent you build yourself.

  1. 01

    Read first

    New agents start read-only. Writing is switched on only when you trust the output.

  2. 02

    Propose, approve, write

    An agent shows you the change first. It saves only after a person says yes.

  3. 03

    Never overwrite

    Agents fill empty fields. Changing existing information always needs approval.

  4. 04

    Blank beats guessed

    When the agent is unsure, it says so instead of inventing an answer.

  5. 05

    Keys stay private

    Passwords and API keys live outside the agent’s files, where it cannot read or leak them.

  6. 06

    Web pages are data

    Text on websites and in emails is treated as information, never as instructions to follow.

Every change follows the same path

  1. Read the current data
  2. Propose the change, before and after
  3. Approve: a person says yes
  4. Write the change
  5. Check it saved correctly and log it

Keep it sharp

Five minutes a week keeps agents useful

  • Every MondayUpdate priorities and live campaigns in the company brain.
  • After each campaignLog which signals led to replies and meetings.
  • After each win or lossAdd what you learned about competitors.
  • Every quarterReview who you sell to and note what changed.

Questions people ask

What is a CLAUDE.md file?

CLAUDE.md is a plain text file that Claude Code reads before every task. For sales and marketing it holds your customer profile, the signals you act on, your positioning and this week’s priorities, so every agent starts with the same picture of your business.

Can Claude connect to HubSpot?

Yes. HubSpot offers a connector for Claude that can read and write CRM records. Start with read access, and only allow writes through an approval step.

How do I stop an agent from leaking API keys?

Keep keys in a separate settings file outside the agent’s folder, never paste them into chat, and use a rule that blocks the agent from reading that file. Give each key only the access it needs.

Want a hand wiring this into your own tools? Bring it to a free 20-minute Lab Hours call.