Full Tutorial: Automate Your Life with Claude Code | Teresa Torres
How to set up a 3-layer Claude Code context system to run your life and business
Dear subscribers,
Today, I want to share a new episode with Teresa Torres.
Teresa is a well-known product coach and author who runs her entire life and business using two Claude Code terminals and a note taking app. It was genuinely mind blowing to watch her demo using Claude Code to manage her to do list, delegate her research, write content, and much more.
Watch now on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify.
Teresa and I talked about:
(00:00) Why Teresa uses Claude Code to run her life
(03:00) Live demo: The "today" command that builds Teresa's daily to do list
(07:00) Working with Claude Code to brainstorm tasks and ideas
(14:00) Live demo: Writing a blog post together using plan mode
(21:00) How Claude does SEO keyword research for blog posts
(26:00) Why Teresa still writes every word herself (but 10x faster)
(30:00) Pro tips to manage context so Claude doesn't "get dumber"
(36:00) The 3-layer context system: global, project, and reference files
(44:00) 3 tips to get started with Claude Code without feeling overwhelmed
This episode is brought to you by…Bolt
The bottleneck to create great AI apps isn’t the UI, it’s the backend. Databases, auth, and hosting are still a pain to set up. Bolt v2 bundles all of that directly into the browser using their WebContainers tech. It also supports Claude Code in a web UX that’s more approachable than a command line tool. Try using Bolt to accelerate your product development loops today.
Try Bolt for free or use the code PETERYANG to get 25% off the team plan (for the first month and new users only). Code expires on January 31.
Top 10 takeaways I learned from this episode
Claude Code is only as good as what it knows about you. “Every morning, I type ‘/today’ into Claude Code and watch it generate my to-do list.” This works because Teresa built a system of context files that tell Claude about her business, preferences, and workflows.
Give Claude 3 layers of context — global, project-specific, and reference files. Teresa’s global Claude.md holds universal preferences like “always plan before acting” and how she likes to get feedback. She also has project folders like “tasks” and “writing” that each have their own Claude.md (e.g., her preferred writing style). Finally, she has reference files that hold business details (e.g., her business, products, and team) that Claude can decide to pull in when relevant.