How do I use Claude Code as a personal operating system?
Give Claude Code three things: a folder of plain notes about you, a file it reads at the start of every session, and a few routines you run each day. Anthropic's docs cover the parts: CLAUDE.md files, skills and hooks Claude Code docs. You can build it by hand, start from an open-source kit, or use Mover OS, which is $49 once and comes with the notes folder and the daily routines already made source.
Last verified 1 November 2026. Every claim below links to its source.
What are the parts?
- A file Claude reads every session. CLAUDE.md files give Claude persistent instructions, and Claude reads them at the start of every session. Keep to facts it should hold every time Claude Code docs.
- Memory it keeps. Claude Code has two memory systems, CLAUDE.md and auto memory, and both load at the start of every conversation Claude Code docs.
- Routines you can call. A skill is a SKILL.md file with instructions. Claude uses it when it fits, or you call it with /skill-name Claude Code docs.
- Rules that always run. Hooks are shell commands that Claude Code runs at set points, so certain things always happen instead of depending on the model Claude Code docs.
For the file details, see Claude Code memory and how to write a CLAUDE.md.
What can you start from?
- A talk on doing it by hand. Hilary Gridley described her setup on Lenny's podcast on 30 March 2026: planning the day with Claude Code, capturing to-dos with an iPhone back-tap, and breaking big tasks into 10-minute first steps lennysnewsletter.com.
- Claude OS is a personal operating system built on Claude Code with persistent memory, daily briefings, habit tracking and brain dumps GitHub.
- Agentic OS is a four-layer framework of memory, skills, automations and a dashboard, with memory kept as an Obsidian vault GitHub.
- HAL-OS adds persistent memory across sessions and a search over your notes GitHub.
- Lee OS is an MIT-licensed template where Claude reads your goals and tasks and gives a morning briefing GitHub.
The four kits are young. When we checked on 1 November 2026 they had between 0 and 4 stars on GitHub each. They are good starting points to read and borrow from. Expect to edit them.
How does Mover do it?
Mover is this setup, already made. It installs a notes folder with Identity, Strategy, Dossier and Goals files, built from a short interview npm. It comes with 25 connected workflows, each one handing off to the next npm. It runs in Claude Code and 12 other agents, including Codex and Gemini CLI npm.
A worked example: Sam and Pawpath
Sam is an invented person. Sam is building Pawpath, a booking app for dog walkers. Everything below comes from an example Mover vault used for demos, so no real person's notes are shown. The goal lines and the tasks are made up. The two lines marked as Mover's wording are the app's own, with Sam's task filled in.
The centre of the setup is one file in Sam's notes, called Active Context. It is short on purpose. This is the whole file in the example vault.
# Active Context (example vault)
**Last Updated:** 2026-10-02
## The bet
5 beta users on Pawpath by Friday. Have 0.
## Today
- [ ] Email 5 dog owners the beta link (first)
- [ ] Fix the booking date bug
- [ ] Record the 30 second demo
- [ ] Reply to the 3 waitlist emails
- [ ] Walk Biscuit at 6
## Said (dated)
- Mon 1 Sep: "Starting Monday I run at 6."
- Mon 8 Sep: "Starting Monday I run at 6."
- Mon 15 Sep: "Starting Monday I run at 6."
- Mon 22 Sep: "Starting Monday I run at 6."The day then moves through four of Mover's workflows. Each one has a clear job, and each one is limited in what it may write.
- /morning reads Active Context, the Identity and Strategy files and today's Daily Note, then sets the Single Test for the session: the one thing that makes today a win. It only reads those files and does not change them.
- /log writes what happened in the session to the Daily Note, updates the plan and captures new tasks.
- /analyse-day reads the log at night, checks the day against the strategy, and proposes changes to Active Context. It also scans for overrides: times Sam chose something over the plan.
- /plan-tomorrow writes tomorrow's Daily Note, with a Focus section, a journal prompt, a task list that carries over unfinished tasks, and a schedule.
Because the plan sits in a file on disk, the next session can read it back. That is also why the guide on Claude Code forgetting the plan recommends keeping the plan on disk.
When Mover is the wrong pick
Build it yourself if…
You want to learn how each part works, or you want a setup smaller than 25 workflows. A CLAUDE.md plus two or three skills is a real personal operating system, and it costs nothing. Mover needs one of Claude, Codex or Gemini on a plan you already pay for. It has no computer or browser of its own source.
Sources
- CLAUDE.md, memory, skills and hooks: Claude Code docs Claude Code docs Claude Code docs
- Hilary Gridley on Lenny's podcast, 30 March 2026: lennysnewsletter.com
- Open-source kits (star counts read on 1 November 2026): GitHub GitHub GitHub GitHub
- Mover OS, for the install, files and workflows. source npm
- Sam and Pawpath: an invented person in Mover's example vault. The workflow descriptions come from Mover's own workflow files.
Common questions
Do I need Obsidian?
No. The npm page says Obsidian is optional and is the nicest way to read what the system writes npm.
Does it only work with Claude Code?
No. Mover runs on the Claude, Codex or Gemini plan you already pay for source, and the npm page lists 13 supported agents npm.
Is a hand-built setup enough?
For many people, yes. A CLAUDE.md that holds your goals, plus a skill for your morning plan, covers the basic loop Claude Code docs Claude Code docs. What takes time is the night review, the carry-over of tasks and the pushback, which is what Mover adds.
Mover OS: $49 once. A notes folder and 25 workflows for Claude Code, Codex or Gemini, already set up.