How I set up Claude Code: one rulebook, a 12-step relay to use it daily

Claude Code used to feel like a brilliant teammate with no onboarding. Some days: tests first, small diff, asked before pushing. Other days: no tests, three "cleaned up" files, a PR opened on its own. The model wasn't the problem. My setup was: a 20 KB CLAUDE.md that contradicted itself, dozens of copied skills fighting each other, and rules nothing enforced. So I rebuilt ~/.claude like any other system. Here's how, step by step. Short on time? Start here. Three things fix most of the chaos: One rulebook that says it overrides everything else (Step 2). Lanes, so Claude states the size of the job before acting (Step 3). permissions.ask for git push and gh pr create, so nothing ships without your yes (Step 8). 📦 Everything below is in a starter kit you can copy in about 10 minutes: the rulebook template, the 3 hooks, the 4 relay skills and their tests. github.com/dhrupo/claude-code-dev-os What we're building ~/.claude/ ├── CLAUDE.md # the one