Show Claude an example of what you want, explained by monkey

Words like "fun", "professional" or "more me" mean something different to everyone. When you ask Claude for that, it picks its own idea of fun, which is how a shop post ends up with three exclamation marks and no personality.

Anthropic's own advice: "Examples are one of the most reliable ways to steer Claude's output format, tone, and structure." In plain words, showing beats explaining. You don't need anything technical. You paste something you like and tell Claude to match it.

The words to copy

Paste this, then paste your example underneath it and say what you want written:

That's it. Claude reads your example, picks up how it sounds and how long it is, and writes the new thing to match.

Versions for different jobs

• A social post: "Here are two posts from my shop that did well. Write a post about our new weekend hours in the same style." Then paste both posts.
• An email that sounds like you: "Here's an email I wrote last week. Write a reply to this customer the way I'd write it." Paste your old email, then theirs.
• A bio or about page: "Here's a bio I love from someone else. Write mine in a similar style, but about me: I bake cakes in Leeds and I've done it for ten years."
• A product description: "Here's how I described my blue mug. Write one for the green mug the same way."
• A list or plan in a set shape: paste one you've done before and say "make this week's in exactly this format".

When it helps

Use it whenever the feel matters more than the facts: posts, captions, emails, bios, product blurbs, anything that should sound like you or your brand. One example works. Anthropic says three to five works best, so if you have a few you like, paste them all, and make them a bit different from each other.

The one gotcha

With just one example, Claude can copy too much: the same topic, the same jokes, sometimes the same sentences. That's why the words above say "copy the style, not the words or the topic". If it still sticks too close, give it two or three examples that are about different things.

Monkey believe in you. Now go build.

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