Writing a one-page "style guide" for Claude was the highest-value hour I've spent

I kept getting outputs that were technically right but formatted however the model felt that day. So I sat down once and wrote a short style file describing exactly how I want structured work to come back, and it fixed most of the friction.

What's in mine:

- Default to short sections with plain headings, no throat-clearing intros.
 - If the audience isn't obvious, ask before assuming one.
 - Mark anything you're inferring rather than reading directly, so I can check it.
 - Keep examples concrete, not generic filler.

None of it is clever. The value is that it's written down once and applies to everything, so I stopped re-explaining the same preferences and stopped correcting the same mistakes.

If you produce a lot of documents or outlines and haven't done this, it's worth an hour. What would go in yours that isn't in mine?