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build recipe

Draft documents from a template

Teach Claude your format once, then generate consistent, on-brand documents from it again and again.

easy ~15 min

you'll end up with A reusable template Claude fills in correctly every time, so your docs stay consistent.

The steps

  1. Give Claude a good example

    Find one document you're happy with — a proposal, a brief, a contract — and let Claude study its structure.

    paste this to Claude 
    Here's a proposal I like. Study its structure, tone, and sections so you can produce more in the same style.

  2. Have it extract the template

    Turn that example into a reusable skeleton with clearly-marked blanks, so the format is locked in.

    paste this to Claude 
    Pull this into a reusable template with placeholders for the parts that change — client name, scope, price, timeline. Save it as proposal-template.md.

  3. Generate a new one

    Now feed Claude the specifics for a new document and let it fill the template in.

    paste this to Claude 
    Using proposal-template.md, write a proposal for Acme Co — a 6-week website redesign, $12k, starting in March.

  4. Make it a one-word command

    Save the whole process so future documents are a single instruction away.

    paste this to Claude 
    Save this as a skill called 'proposal' so next time I can just say 'write a proposal for [client], [scope], [price]' and you handle the rest.

tips & best practices

  • Give Claude a real document you're proud of — a good example teaches the format faster than a description.
  • Use clearly-marked [placeholders] for the parts that change, so nothing important gets missed.
  • Read the first generated doc closely; once the template is right, later ones need only a glance.
  • Save it as a skill when the format is locked, so future drafts are a single instruction.