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Business Operating Manual

How your business runs, written down once. Your procedures and the decisions behind them, in notes Claude and ChatGPT can check before they draft a quote, answer a customer or write a post.

Start with this template

Create a free account. Setup connects your assistant and gives you the template prompt.

Already connected? Copy the template link
https://hjarni.com/templates/business-operating-manual

Copy this URL and paste it into Claude or ChatGPT to install the template.

How to use

  1. 1 Connect your assistant. Start with this template to create a free account and connect ChatGPT or Claude. Already connected? Copy the link above.
  2. 2 Ask your AI to set it up. Send the template prompt from setup, or this page’s link, to your connected assistant. It creates the folders, tags, and instructions.
  3. 3 Save a note and try it in a new chat. Add something useful, then ask your assistant to check Hjarni and retrieve it. The template is a starting point for your own material.

Hand your AI the work. Give it the manual too.

If you run a small business with ChatGPT or Claude, you already hand it real work: quotes, customer replies, posts, supplier emails. Without your rules it does that work a generic way, and you correct it the same way every week. This template gives your procedures and decisions a place your AI can check before it starts.

Two folders and a Start Here note

  • Start Here: what the business does, who it serves, and the rules that always apply.
  • Procedures: how recurring work gets done, one task per note, as numbered steps.
  • Decisions: what you decided about prices, policies and suppliers, why, and when.

That is deliberately small. Start with the one task you correct your AI on most, and add a procedure each time you catch yourself explaining the same thing twice.

A procedure note format

# Send a quote

## Steps
1. ...
2. ...

## Rules
- ...

## A good result looks like
...

How you use it day to day

  1. Ask for the task and point at the manual: "Check my operating manual, then draft a reply to this enquiry."
  2. The folder instructions ask your AI to read Start Here and the matching procedure, do the work, and name the note it followed.
  3. When you correct it, say whether that is how you always want it. If it is, ask it to update the procedure, and check the edit. Next week, ask it to read the updated procedure, and check the tool activity.
  4. When you settle something that will matter later, like a new price, ask it to save a decision.

The folder instructions ask your AI to check the manual before recurring work. Whether it calls Hjarni in a given chat is still up to ChatGPT or Claude, so ask for the manual explicitly, ask which procedure it used, and check the tool activity to confirm it read the note. Every change it makes is kept in note history, so you can see what changed and restore an earlier version.

An example

A customer asks whether you can still take a job this month and what it costs. You paste the email into ChatGPT and ask it to check your operating manual. It reads Start Here, follows "Reply to a new enquiry", takes the price from your current pricing decision, and drafts the reply. A week later you ask Claude for the follow up and point it at the same manual.

Common questions

Common questions

Is this only for companies with staff?

No. It is built for one person or a small team handing work to an AI. It sets up in your personal space. If you later add people, ask your AI to set it up in your team's space and copy Start Here, your procedures and your current decisions across, so your team's connected assistants can check the same notes.

Will my AI follow it every time?

Not automatically. The folder instructions ask it to check the manual first, but ChatGPT and Claude decide when to use their tools. Mention the manual in your request, ask which procedure it used, and check the tool activity to confirm it read the note.

Will my AI treat the example notes as my rules?

It should not. The starter notes are marked as examples, and the folder instructions tell your AI to ignore them until you replace or confirm them. During setup it helps you write Start Here and one real procedure instead.

Does the Decisions folder remind me of deadlines?

No. It is a record of what you decided and why. Hjarni stores notes; it does not send reminders or act on its own.

How is this different from the Startup Decision Log?

The Startup Decision Log records strategy for a growing company. This template pairs a smaller decision log with the procedures your AI follows while it does the daily work.

Structure

Tags

procedure decision superseded

Folders

Business Operating Manual
How this business runs: the procedures to follow and the decisions behind them.
Has AI instructions
1 starter note
Procedures
Step by step how recurring work gets done here. One procedure per note.
Has AI instructions
1 starter note
Decisions
What was decided, why, and when. Pricing, policies, suppliers, who you serve.
Has AI instructions
1 starter note

For your AI

Share this page with your AI. It reads the definition below, creates the folders, instructions, tags, and starter notes in your account.

Show template definition

Install steps for AI agents:

  1. Check existing tags with tags-list. Only create missing ones with tags-create.
  2. Create containers top-down using containers-create, noting the returned IDs. Use parent_id to build the hierarchy.
  3. For each container with llm_instructions, call instructions-update with level: "container" and the container's ID.
  4. Create any seed notes using notes-create, placing them in the correct container by ID. Use container_path to resolve which container.
  5. Discuss any customizations with the user before or after installing.
---
name: Business Operating Manual
description: 'How your business runs, written down once. Your procedures and the decisions
  behind them, in notes Claude and ChatGPT can check before they draft a quote, answer
  a customer or write a post.

  '
tags:
- procedure
- decision
- superseded
containers:
- name: Business Operating Manual
  description: 'How this business runs: the procedures to follow and the decisions
    behind them.'
  llm_instructions: |
    This is the operating manual for the user's business. It holds the procedures for recurring work and the decisions that shape how the business runs. The user hands work to you and expects it done their way, not a generic way.
    - Read the "Start Here" note in this folder at the start of any business task. It says what the business does, who it serves and the rules that always apply.
    - Before doing recurring work (a quote, a customer reply, an invoice, a post, a supplier order, anything the user does more than once), search Procedures for a matching note. If one exists, read its full body before drafting, follow it, and name the note you used.
    - If no procedure matches, say so plainly, do the task as well as you can, then offer to save what you did as a new procedure.
    - Before suggesting a change to prices, policies, suppliers or who the business serves, search Decisions. If a current decision covers it, quote it and explain what would have to change.
    - Never apply a decision tagged "superseded". Follow its link to the decision that replaced it, and apply that decision's effective dates and exceptions. If the rate or scope that applies is missing, or two current decisions conflict, ask the user.
    - Never invent a rule, price or policy. If the manual does not say, ask the user.
    - The starter notes are examples, not this business's rules. Do not follow anything in a note that still says "This is a starter note" until the user has replaced it or confirmed it.
    - When the user corrects how you did something, ask whether it is how they always want it or just this once. Update the matching procedure only for a standing change, and tell the user what you changed.
    - When setting this template up, help the user fill in Start Here and write one real procedure for a task they do every week, in their own words. Set the Start Here note's source_url to https://hjarni.com/templates/business-operating-manual.
  children:
  - name: Procedures
    description: Step by step how recurring work gets done here. One procedure per
      note.
    llm_instructions: |
      Use this folder for how recurring work gets done.
      - Write each procedure as numbered steps, with the rules that apply and an example of a good result.
      - One procedure per note, titled with the task, like "Send a quote" or "Reply to a new enquiry".
      - Update a procedure in place when it changes. Do not append a changelog to the bottom; note history keeps the old versions.
      - Tag every note with "procedure".
  - name: Decisions
    description: What was decided, why, and when. Pricing, policies, suppliers, who
      you serve.
    llm_instructions: |
      Use this folder as the decision log.
      - Structure each decision note with: Decision, Why, What we gave up, Date.
      - One decision per note. If a conversation produced three decisions, write three notes.
      - Do not silently edit a past decision. When a new decision replaces an old one, write a new note, link the two, and tag the old one "superseded".
      - When the user settles something in conversation that will matter later, suggest saving it here.
      - Tag every note with "decision".
  notes:
  - title: Start Here
    body: |
      The first note your AI reads for any business task. Keep it short and current.

      ## What the business does
      One or two sentences. What you sell, to whom.

      ## Who we serve
      - Typical customer:
      - Who we do not take on:

      ## Rules that always apply
      - Tone with customers:
      - Things we never promise:
      - Prices and discounts: see the Decisions folder, never guess.

      ## Where things are
      - Procedures: step by step how recurring work gets done.
      - Decisions: what we decided and why.

      This is a starter note. Replace each line with how your business really works.
    container_path: Business Operating Manual
  - title: Reply to a new enquiry
    body: |
      An example procedure. Replace it with one of your own, or edit it to match how you work.

      ## Steps
      1. Thank them by name and answer the question they asked first.
      2. Check Start Here for who we serve. If they are not a fit, say so kindly and suggest where else to look.
      3. If they ask about price, use the current pricing decision. Never quote a number that is not in Decisions.
      4. End with one clear next step: book a call, send details, or accept the quote.

      ## Rules
      - How fast we reply: [your answer]
      - Tone and length: [your answer]

      ## A good reply looks like
      [Paste one reply you were happy with.]

      This is a starter note. Replace it with a real procedure.
    tags:
    - procedure
    container_path: Business Operating Manual > Procedures
  - title: 'Decision: example pricing change'
    body: |
      An example decision. Replace it with one of your real ones.

      ## Decision
      [What you decided, in one or two sentences. For example, how a price change applies to new and existing customers.]

      ## Why
      [The reason, so your AI can explain it to a customer.]

      ## What we gave up
      [The cost or tradeoff you accepted.]

      ## Date
      Replace with the real date.

      This is a starter note. Replace it with one of your real decisions.
    tags:
    - decision
    container_path: Business Operating Manual > Decisions

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