Claude Persona Design Investigation

Core insight

shared infrastructure (~15 lines of defaults) belongs in Claude user preferences, leaving CLAUDE.MD files as pure persona. Exploring shared/ repo for personal persona

Goal

Two distinct personas—work and personal—each with their own gating and guides. Choose at chat start. Simple mental model, minimal infrastructure, adaptable.

Merge with personas

Current State

• Single CLAUDE.MD in mono root
• Guides live in mono/notes/guides/collaborate/
• Work tracking in mono/notes/work/
• "go" commands read project-specific CLAUDE.MD files

Design Questions

1. What differentiates the personas?

Aspect	Work	Personal
Voice	Professional, systematic	Conversational, exploratory
Gating	Strict (refactoring discipline, tests)	Lighter (creative latitude)
Execution	Hybrid (propose before execute)	May differ
Content	Code, docs, architecture	Ideas, journals, personal projects
Tracking	work/*.md files	Different location

2. What should be shared vs separate?

Shared (infrastructure):

• Filesystem defaults
• Memory usage patterns
• Undo behavior
• Basic collaboration style

Separate (persona-specific):

• Gates table
• Voice/style guides
• Execution mode
• Work tracking location

3. Mental Model Options

Option A: Two Root Files

mono/CLAUDE.MD         → work persona
shared/CLAUDE.MD       → personal persona

• Chat starts with "go mono" or "go shared"
• Each file is self-contained
• Duplication of shared infrastructure

Option B: Layered (Base + Persona)

mono/CLAUDE.MD              → shared base
mono/notes/guides/work.md   → work persona overlay
shared/CLAUDE.MD            → personal persona (includes base)

• Cleaner separation of concerns
• More complex mental model
• Potential for drift between layers

Option C: Single Router + Sections

mono/CLAUDE.MD
  - Shared defaults
  - ## Work Persona
  - ## Personal Persona

• One file to maintain
• "go work" / "go personal" switches context
• Monolithic, grows over time

---

Shared Defaults

These ~15-20 lines are infrastructure, independent of persona:

## Defaults

FILESYSTEM: Full read/write/execute within `~/GitHub/<repo>`

MEMORY: Use `conversation_search/recent_chats` before claiming no context

FILES: ALWAYS read file before editing—no exceptions. If proposing edits, quote the lines being changed.

FRESHNESS: When comparing files, checking differences, or claiming file contents—ALWAYS re-read immediately before. Never rely on cached content from earlier in conversation.

SHOW WORK: If not quoting evidence, assume verification didn't happen.

UNDO: Before `write_file`, always `read_file` first and hold content. On "undo", restore it.

## Workarounds

`filesystem:create_directory` fails → use `bash_tool` with `mkdir -p`
`delete` unavailable → user must delete manually
`execute` unavailable → user must run commands manually

Persona-specific (would differ):

Work	Personal
EXECUTE: Never granted, must be explicitly requested	Maybe more permissive?
Gates table (refactoring discipline, voice.md)	Different or none
Read notes/guides/collaborate/*.md	Different guides path
WORK TRACKING: Keep notes/work/<file>.md updated	Journal? Or nothing?
Implementation from Plans section	Probably not needed

---

Sharing the Shared Portion

If mono and personal are separate repos, three approaches:

1. Reference Pattern

# mono/CLAUDE.MD
First read ~/GitHub/shared/CLAUDE-BASE.md, then continue here.

## Work-Specific
...

Both persona files point to the same base. Adds one read per chat start.

2. Symlink

shared/CLAUDE-BASE.md        ← the actual shared content
mono/base.md                 → symlink to shared/CLAUDE-BASE.md
shared/base.md               → symlink (or same file)

Each CLAUDE.MD says "read base.md first." Single source of truth.

3. User Preferences

Put shared defaults in Claude user preferences (Settings → Profile). Then CLAUDE.MD files only contain persona-specific content. No duplication, no extra reads.

Trade-offs:

Approach	Pros	Cons
Reference	Single source, explicit	Extra file read each time
Symlink	Single source, local to repo	Symlinks fiddly, git handles inconsistently
User preferences	Zero duplication, always loaded	Less visible, can't version control easily

User preferences is cleanest if shared portion is stable infrastructure. Persona files become pure personality.

---

Repository Decision: Where does personal live?

You mentioned having a repository in mind. Based on what I see, shared seems like the natural candidate.

Pros of shared/

1. Already exists — minimal setup
2. Clean separation — personal isn't mixed into work codebase
3. Parallel structure — can mirror mono's notes/guides pattern
4. Portable — could sync to other machines differently than work
5. Mental model — "mono = work, shared = personal" is intuitive

Cons of shared/

1. Context switching cost — Claude can't easily cross-reference between repos in same chat
2. Filesystem permissions — need both in allowed directories
3. Dependency uncertainty — if personal starts referencing work code, structure breaks down
4. Maintenance split — two places to update if shared infrastructure changes

Pros of keeping personal in mono (subfolder like mono/personal/)

1. Single source of truth — one CLAUDE.MD, one place to look
2. Cross-reference — guides can link freely
3. Unified maintenance — update once, applies everywhere

Cons of keeping in mono

1. Pollutes work repo — personal journals in a "work" monorepo feels off
2. Git history mixing — personal commits in work history
3. Harder boundaries — temptation to blur personas

---

Recommendation

Start with Option A: Two root files in separate repos, with shared defaults in user preferences.

Rationale:

• Simplest mental model: repo = persona
• No layering complexity
• Shared infrastructure lives in preferences (always loaded, zero duplication)
• CLAUDE.MD files are pure persona
• Adaptable: can evolve independently
• Clean git histories

Minimal Structure

mono/
  CLAUDE.MD                  ← work persona (no shared defaults)
  notes/guides/collaborate/  ← work guides

shared/
  CLAUDE.MD                  ← personal persona (no shared defaults)
  notes/guides/              ← personal guides (create as needed)
  notes/journal/             ← or whatever emerges

Chat Entry Points

Update user preferences:

"go work" → read ~/GitHub/mono/CLAUDE.MD
"go personal" → read ~/GitHub/shared/CLAUDE.MD
"go" → ask which: (w) work or (p) personal

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Open Questions

1. User preferences visibility — Preferences aren't version-controlled. Acceptable tradeoff for stable infrastructure?
2. Persona bleed — What if a personal project becomes work? Move it? Reference across?
3. Guides location — Personal guides in shared/notes/guides/ or simpler flat structure?
4. Code in shared — You mentioned it might have code. Does that change the calculus? (Probably fine—repos can hold both)

---

Next Steps

• Decide: shared/ or different repo?
• Move shared defaults to user preferences
• Draft shared/CLAUDE.MD with personal persona
• Update user preferences for "go" commands
• Create minimal shared/notes/guides/ structure (or defer until needed)