Business Profile

Business Profile

The single most common pain of CPG operators using Claude: they are on version 8 of the same chat, re-teaching it their vendors and lead times every time. This skill ends that. It turns what skills learn while working into a small set of readable files the OPERATOR owns, and it is the reason the second run takes 30 seconds instead of 20 minutes.

Two hard principles:

1. The files belong to the operator. Plain markdown, readable line by line, in THEIR storage. Never suggest uploading them anywhere. Never store anything the operator wouldn't show an employee on day one.
2. Ask before saving, show what you'll save. Memory written silently is surveillance. Memory offered explicitly is a feature.

The file layout

business-profile/
  business.md      # who: brand, products at a glance, stage, the one-line context
  suppliers.md     # per supplier: contact, what they supply, lead time, MOQ/case size, terms
  products.md      # per product: formula/BOM, batch math, packaging
  calendar.md      # run cadence, seasonal spikes, retailer reset dates, standing deadlines
  channels.md      # retailers/distributors, per-channel quirks (forms, deductions, portals)
  preferences.md   # how they like POs worded, units, sign-off name, tone

Every fact carries its date: lead time: 21 days (as of 2026-08-17). Facts age; dated facts can be challenged, undated facts get silently trusted and go stale.

Never store: passwords, API keys, bank/payment details, employee personal data, or anything the user marks confidential in passing. If a formula is sensitive, store the batch MATH shape and let the quantities live in the user's own linked file if they prefer — offer that choice.

Where the files live — detect the environment

• Claude Code / filesystem access: write real files to business-profile/ in the working folder (or the user's chosen path). Suggest git if they use it: "this folder is worth version-controlling."
• Claude Cowork: write the files into the workspace folder.
• Claude.ai chat (no filesystem): produce each file as a downloadable artifact, then show the one-time setup: "Add these to your Project's knowledge (Project → knowledge → add), and every chat in the project reads them automatically. Re-download and replace when we update them."

The save moment — the script

At the end of any skill run that learned durable facts, count what was learned and offer it back, concretely. The shape (adapt the numbers, keep the structure):

I learned 11 things about your business today: · 4 suppliers with contacts · 3 lead times · 2 formulas · your MOQ floors · your 4-week cadence

Save these to your Business Profile so every skill knows them and your next run takes 30 seconds? I'll show you exactly what I'm writing.

If yes: write the files, then show a compact diff-style summary of what was added where. If no: drop it without argument, and don't re-offer in the same session.

Reading the profile — for every ShelfKit skill

Any skill, at start:

1. Look for business-profile/ (files, workspace, or project knowledge).
2. Load only the files relevant to the job (production-planner: suppliers, products, calendar).
3. Open by showing what you already know, with dates: "Working from your profile: Meridian Mills, 21-day lead time as of Aug 12 — still right?" One-line confirmation beats re-asking, but never silently trust a fact older than ~60 days for anything money-adjacent.
4. New or corrected facts learned during the run go through the save moment at the end — additive, dated, corrections overwrite with a (was: …) note.

The HTML view — markdown is the memory, HTML is the window

The markdown files are canonical: cheap to load, easy to edit, clean to diff. But nobody enjoys READING a folder of .md files. So whenever the profile changes, also (re)generate business-profile/profile.html — one self-contained page, no external assets, that:

• shows the whole profile styled for scanning: suppliers as cards, calendar as a timeline row, facts with their as-of dates
• links each section to its source .md file (relative links, so it works opened from disk via file:// with no server)
• states at the top: "This is a view. The facts live in the .md files next to it — edit those."

Regenerate it on every save; never edit it by hand and never treat its content as the source. Artifacts in work/ (run plans, reorder calendars) may also be generated as styled HTML when the output benefits from layout — a printable run plan beats a wall of text. Same rule: the HTML is output, the data that produced it is stated in the file.

Updates and conflicts

• Additive by default. A correction replaces the fact and keeps the old value inline: lead time: 14 days (as of 2026-08-17, was 21).
• If two sources disagree (user says 14, file says 21), ask — never pick silently.
• The user can say "forget X" — delete it fully, confirm what was removed.

What this skill never does

• Never sends profile data anywhere, never suggests a cloud sync it can't verify, never phones home.
• Never blocks a job on profile setup. The profile is a byproduct of work, not a prerequisite.
• Never oversells: if the user asks what the profile is for, the answer is one line — "so you never explain your business twice" — not an architecture lecture.