# 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.

From the [Templates & checklists](../index.md#templates) section of [The Muse Field Guide](../index.md).

## 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

1. Write the four separations down, briefly; do not wait for perfect drafts.
2. Treat every correction you give the agent as a candidate edit to one file.
3. Make the edit the same day, in the open, with the reason stated.
4. Re-read the files monthly and prune what no longer holds.

Deep dive: [Standing files: configure your agent like you mean it](../deep-dives/standing-files.md)

Related resources: [Standing files as configuration](standing-files-as-configuration.md), [Corrections land in files same-day](corrections-land-same-day.md)

Canonical page: https://www.niclydon.io/muse/items/standing-files-starter-kit.html