Emma in Compliance spends 20 minutes every prompt adding the same context: "I use our KYC portal, our SLA is 48 hours, we call it EDD not enhanced checks, the MLRO signs off on high-risk..." Every. Single. Time. What if Cowork remembered?
Same prompt. Two different outputs. The difference: a tiny text file called CLAUDE.md.
WITHOUT CLAUDE.md: "Draft a checklist for reviewing a high-risk merchant."
Result: Generic checklist. Mentions "check financial statements" and "review sanctions lists." No reference to your AML screening tool, MLRO, or your actual SLA. You would spend 20-30 minutes rewriting it to be useful.
WITH CLAUDE.md: Same prompt.
Result: References your actual tools (your KYC portal, your AML screening tool, your identity verification tool). Uses your terminology (EDD, PEP, SAR). Includes your SLA (48-hour escalation). Closer to usable, though still needs a review pass.
The difference is a short text file that tells Cowork about your context. Here is how to build one.
