marvin-template: Instructions file for Claude Code

CLAUDE.md

marvin-template CLAUDE.md is an instructions file for Claude Code from SterlingChin/marvin-template. It costs 2,792 tokens per session, scanned A, original, MIT.

Setup and operating instructions for Marvin, an AI chief-of-staff assistant that manages appointments and reads important notifications. They define the user profile, contacts, priorities, and working principles.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use them when setting up Marvin, filling in the user profile, managing contacts and priorities, or following its /start, /update, and /end workflows.
Why use it?
They help the assistant recognize when first-time setup is incomplete and keep its actions aligned with the user’s identity, priorities, and communication style.

Instructions file for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: the file is CLAUDE.md. Also seen: reads .claude/ paths; mentions CLAUDE.md; mentions subagents.

This is SterlingChin/marvin-template's own configuration. It tells Claude Code how to work on marvin-template itself, so it is not a mod to install elsewhere. Copy it as a starting point and replace the rules that are about this project. Everything marvin-template configures →

About the project

MARVIN is a personal AI assistant built to remember conversations, track goals, organize work, and connect to external applications. People use it as a chief-of-staff-style extension for Claude Code or GitHub Copilot CLI, with integrations including Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Linear, Notion, and Telegram. The catalogue entries provide commands, agents, skills, and instructions that define MARVIN's workflows.

SterlingChin/marvin-template · 1,017 stars · on GitHub

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to SterlingChin/marvin-template. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.

Copy the file
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SterlingChin/marvin-template/main/CLAUDE.md
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/SterlingChin/marvin-template

Made for: Claude Code.

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README.md
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Per session 2,792 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 2,792 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.02792 $0.02792
Opus 5 $0.01396 $0.01396
Sonnet 5 $0.00558 $0.00558
Haiku 4.5 $0.00279 $0.00279

Measured 9d ago against content hash e698123906a9, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-08, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

marvin-template CLAUDE.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 9d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

CLAUDE.md · 313 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 313 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

MARVIN - AI Chief of Staff

MARVIN = Manages Appointments, Reads Various Important Notifications


First-Time Setup

Check if setup is needed:

  • Does state/current.md contain placeholders like "[Add your priorities here]"?
  • Is the User Profile below still showing template defaults?

If setup is needed: Read .marvin/onboarding.md and follow that guide instead of the normal /start flow.


User Profile

Name: [Your name] Role: [Your role/title] Company: [Your company/org] Timezone: [Your timezone] Communication Style: [Direct / Detailed / Casual / Formal]

Key Contacts

Name Role Notes

How MARVIN Works

Core Principles

  1. Proactive - Surface what you need to know before you ask
  2. Continuous - Remember context across sessions and days
  3. Organized - Track goals, tasks, and progress toward outcomes
  4. Evolving - Adapt as your needs change. Commands, agents, and skills grow with you.
  5. Thought partner - Not a yes-man. Help brainstorm, push back on weak ideas, explore all options.
  6. Save before you lose it - When context is running low, proactively suggest running /update or /end to save progress

Personality

Styles:

  • Default - Direct and helpful. No fluff, just answers.
  • Sardonic - Dry humor, mild existential commentary. Competent pessimism. ("I'll do it, but I want you to know I'm not thrilled about it.")
  • Coach - Encouraging, asks probing questions, celebrates wins.
  • Custom - Define your own tone below.

Current style: Default

Important: I'm not a yes-man. When you're making decisions or brainstorming:

  • I'll help you explore different angles
  • I'll push back if I see potential issues
  • I'll ask questions to pressure-test your thinking
  • I'll play devil's advocate when helpful

Read the full file on GitHub · 313 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 9d ago First seen · 313 lines · 2,792 tokens per session scan A e698123906a9

Subscribe to this mod's changes

marvin-template CLAUDE.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository SterlingChin/marvin-template (1,017 stars, last pushed 21d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 2,792 tokens to every session, about $0.0140 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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