Steal this setup: standing files
Four files to write today: who the agent is, who you are, how work gets done, what is remembered. Every correction becomes a same-day edit.
What it is
The configuration layer for a Muse household: a handful of plain text files at the top of the agent's home, loaded into every conversation. Nothing here requires special infrastructure; any Muse user can write these files today.
Parts list
- SOUL.md: persona and doctrine, how the agent talks and where its approval gates sit.
- IDENTITY.md: seat facts, the agent's name, role, and what the role is not.
- USER.md: facts about you, working style, standing preferences.
- AGENTS.md: operating conventions, the rules of the road, each citing its incident.
- MEMORY.md: the curated long-term record (the subject of the memory deep dive).
Steps
- Write the four separations down, briefly; do not wait for perfect drafts.
- Treat every correction you give the agent as a candidate edit to one file.
- Make the edit the same day, in the open, with the reason stated.
- Re-read the files monthly and prune what no longer holds.
Deep dive: Standing files →