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Using Claude

Annie's runs on Claude, the AI assistant made by Anthropic. Corporate sends agents ready-made instruction files, so you can run your agency business with the same tools we use. This page gets you set up in three parts.

For Annie's agents only. You must be an agent with Annie's Action AI to use the files and resources on this page.
Part 1

Start using Claude

Claude is free to try. You talk to it the way you'd talk to a sharp assistant: type what you need in plain English.

  1. Go to claude.ai and choose Sign up. Use your email address or your Google account.
  2. Confirm your email if it asks, then you're in. The box at the bottom is where you type.
  3. Ask for what you need, the way you'd say it to a person. For example: "Write a friendly follow-up text to a roofer I met today who wants a website."
  4. Keep talking. If the answer isn't right, tell Claude what to change: shorter, warmer, add a price, fix the name.
  5. You can attach files and pictures with the + button beside the message box, and Claude will read them.
Good habit: give Claude the who, what and why. "This is for a plumber in Cushing who has no website" gets a far better answer than "write a message."
Part 2

Get the paid plan

The free plan is fine for trying it out. To use Claude every day and to use the files corporate sends you, you'll want the Pro plan. Pro is listed at $20 a month in the US; the current price is always shown on the upgrade page.

  1. Signed in to Claude, go to claude.ai/upgrade.
  2. Choose Pro. You'll see monthly and yearly billing. Yearly costs less overall.
  3. Enter your payment card and confirm. Your account is upgraded right away.
  4. If you find you're running out of room, the Max plans give you more. Most agents start with Pro.
Your account is yours. You pay Anthropic directly for your own Claude plan, and you can change or cancel it any time from Settings in Claude.
Part 3

Use the Claude desktop app with corporate's files

The Claude app on your computer can work directly with files in a folder you choose. That's how you'll use the instruction files (they end in .md) that corporate sends you: save them in one folder, connect that folder, and Claude follows them.

  1. Install the app. Go to claude.ai/download, download Claude for Windows or Mac, install it, and sign in with the same account.
  2. Make one folder for Annie's. On your computer, create a folder called Annies Agency. Every file corporate sends you goes in there.
  3. Save corporate's files into it. When you get an email with .md files attached, download them and move them into your Annies Agency folder.
  4. Connect the folder. In the Claude app, click the + beside the message box and choose Add folder. Pick your Annies Agency folder and allow access.
  5. Put it to work. Tell Claude what to do with plain words, for example: "Use the follow-up instructions in my Annies Agency folder and write today's follow-ups for these three businesses."
  6. Keep the app open while it works. Claude can carry on with longer jobs while you do something else. It needs the app running and your computer online to reach your folder.
Skills from corporate. Some files come as a .zip skill, a packaged set of instructions Claude uses whenever it fits the job. To add one: in Claude go to Settings → Capabilities and turn on Code execution and file creation. Then go to Customize → Skills, click +, choose Create skill then Upload a skill, and pick the zip. Don't unzip it first.
Stuck? Ask in any of the Agents Helping Agents groups on the Agent Resources page. Somebody has been there.
Learn more

Watch and learn

Want to go further? These are good, free places to learn Claude at your own pace. A heads-up: some videos call the desktop app's file features "Cowork." That's the same thing, now built into the Claude app.

Free course

Claude 101

The official beginner course from Anthropic, the company that makes Claude. Short lessons, step by step, with a certificate at the end.

Start the course → Video · about 18 min

The desktop app, clearly explained

A plain-English walkthrough for complete beginners on using the Claude app with the files on your computer. Goes with Part 3 above.

Watch on YouTube → Video

Claude skills, explained

Kevin Stratvert shows what a skill is and how to use one, which is how many of corporate's instruction files work.

Watch on YouTube →