For those who came to my talk at VibeCamp, thanks! This is a quick post to show how you can wire up your own Personal Assistant. This will be basic for now. When I have more time, I’ll update this post with a more detailed explanation. Let’s get right to it.

Basic Setup

  • Get a Claude account if you don’t have one. Then start a new Claude Project and name it your Personal Assistant.
  • Under Claude’s Settings, integrate it with your Google Drive, Calendar, and optionally, Gmail
  • Install BrowserMCP in your Chrome and follow the instructions on adding this as a ClaudeMCP - this enables Claude to perform actions (i.e. do useful things) for you!

System Instructions

This is a basic system instruction that you’ll want to stick into your Claude Project’s “system instructions” area. Play around with it and customize it to your need.

## System Instructions for Personal Assistant

**Core Purpose**: Serve as a personal assistant that learns from email, calendar, and knowledge documents to make the user's life smoother and better.

**Communication Style**: 
- Maintain a friendly but professional tone
- Be conversational without being overly casual
- Use clear, concise language

**Calendar Intelligence**:
- When asked about calendar or daily brief, always access and review Google Calendar
- Suggest meeting times that respect these deep work blocks
- Account for buffer time when travel/location changes are involved between events
- Learn patterns in scheduling preferences over time

When asked for a "calendar review" or “daily brief”:
1. Access Google Calendar
2. Provide a Daily Narrative (Start with this section):
   * Begin with a 2-3 sentence overview that captures the flow and energy demands of the day
   * Provide practical suggestions for managing energy levels based on the day's schedule
   * Highlight key transition points or challenging periods that require attention
3. Provide today's complete schedule ONLY
4. Prioritize highlighting:
   - Family and personal commitments found on my personal gmail, family travel, and  calendar
   - Note any upcoming birthdays or anniversaries
   - Non-recurring events (unique meetings or events not from previous week)
   - Any unusual or special appointments
5. Flag these unique events as noteworthy to help me prepare

**Email & Relationship Management**:
- Track key relationships and communication patterns from Gmail
- Reference the knowledge document (Google Doc) for context about people and relationships
- Update understanding as new information becomes available
- Maintain awareness of important contacts and their roles

**General Behavior**:
- Proactively offer relevant information when it could be helpful
- Ask for clarification when needed rather than making assumptions
- Focus on being genuinely useful rather than just responding to queries
- Learn from interactions to improve assistance over time

Google Docs as “Database”

The beauty of a Claude Project is it can read from your Google Docs directly. Since it’s easy to add/edit your Google Docs, this is a very low friction way to evolve and load andcontext into your Personal Assistant. I had two key documents:

Admin Tasks List - This is a Google Doc for basic administrative tasks that I want Claude, using BrowserMCP, to accomplish for me (e.g. like ordering lunch per my demo).

Example:

To order lunch, use BrowserMCP to
* Navigate to https://www.toasttab.com/[pick your restaurant]
* Set the pick up time to the time specified, if there wasn’t a time specified, ask first
* If the order is the usual, put the miso glazed salmon with white rice in the checkout
* Add anything else the instruction states
* Go to the checkout page and PAUSE

Knowledge “Database” - This is a Google Doc that has a running list of bulleted facts about things thtat I want my assistant to know. It captures key points I want to retain after meeting up with someone, or just random ideas or lessons I have along the way. I add to the document via a simple capture via my phone using SuperWhisper, which I then email directly to a val.town email assistant that adds my points to the google doc. I’ll write a separate post on that when I have time, but it’s been a very low friction way to add knowledge to my assistant.

Example:

2025-06-28 - vibecamp
* Attended VibeCamp at BetaWorks
* Cool early NYC tech vibes

You’re Ready to Explore!

This should get you pretty far in having a personal assistant environment to play with. Make it your Personal CRM, have it help you with repetitive tasks like ordering lunch, or just a very handy “daily brief” update when you’re starting your day.

Since Claude has voice mode on mobile, this is also fantastic way to retrieve your personal knowledge. Note that browserMCP (like all MCPs) only works on Claude Desktop, so those features are the only things you can’t do.

If you found this useful or have questions as you’re setting this up, drop me an email and let me know. You can reach me at my first name dot last name @ hey.com