# Starter project folder for Claude or ChatGPT

From AI for Florida Elections, a free educational website for Florida election office staff:
https://ai-for-florida-elections.vercel.app/start/

Adapt these files to your office's AI policy. They are a starting point, not an official policy of any Supervisor of Elections office. Everything in this download is generic, public, and made up for illustration. It holds no real office or voter information.

## What's in it

```text
[Project name]\
├── CLAUDE.md          Instructions and data rules the AI reads every session
├── NOTES.md           Your running log of the work, for records
├── PROMPTS.md         An empty file for requests you want to reuse
├── SAFE-USE-CARD.md   A one-page card: green, yellow, red, and the clean-the-export-first rule
├── README.md          This file (delete it once the project is set up)
├── sources\
│   └── README.md      Where each source document came from, and when
└── outputs\
    └── README.md      What the AI made, and whether a person has reviewed it
```

## How to use it

1. Inside your main AI folder (on your C: drive, OneDrive, or an external drive), make a new folder for one project. Example: `AI Projects\Candidate Handbook`.
2. Unzip this download into that project folder, so `CLAUDE.md` sits next to the `sources` and `outputs` folders.
3. Open `CLAUDE.md` in Notepad. Replace everything in [brackets]. Keep the data rules.
4. Open that project folder in the desktop app, not your main folder.
   - **Claude:** open the **Code** tab. In the row under the message box, choose **Local**, then click the folder control, choose **Open folder…**, and pick the project folder. (Older versions of the app show these controls above the message box.)
   - **ChatGPT:** open **Codex**, click **Add new project** (or press **Ctrl+O**), and pick the project folder. To add more folders later, open the project's menu, choose **Edit project**, then **Add folder**. ChatGPT's Codex reads a file named `AGENTS.md`, so make a copy of `CLAUDE.md` and name the copy `AGENTS.md`.
5. Say what you want: what to do, what to use, and what you want back. The AI downloads public sources into `sources` and saves its work in `outputs`.
6. For your first few projects, pick the permission mode that asks before it makes changes, and read every approval request before you answer it.

## Starting from an export? Clean it first.

An export from the voter registration system, a poll worker list, or any CSV or Excel file can hold personal information. First delete every column that holds it (addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, emails, ID numbers, and any name the job does not need). Then put only the cleaned file in the project folder. Do that work first: it is what makes the folder safe. The full export stays out of the folder.

## Keep CLAUDE.md short

Anthropic's guidance is to keep each CLAUDE.md file under 200 lines. Longer files use more of the AI's working space and are followed less reliably. Short, specific rules work best.
https://code.claude.com/docs/en/memory

## Remember

- CLAUDE.md is a reminder, not a lock. The AI reads it as guidance; it can't physically stop anything. The real protection is simple: never put yellow or red information in this folder.
- A person reviews everything before it is used, published, or sent.
- Ask your records management liaison officer (RMLO) how long to keep the project folder and `NOTES.md`.