Get Started — Patina

Prerequisites

Make sure you have these installed:

Claude Code — the AI coding tool from Anthropic
Node.js 18+ — run node -v to check
Git — run git -v to check

Create your Patina

Open your terminal and navigate to where you keep your GitHub projects, then run:

$ npx create-life-os

This creates a life-os/ folder with your system prompt, slash commands, and folder structure.

Open it in Claude Code

        $ cd life-os

        $ claude

Run setup

Once Claude Code is open, type:

> /setup

This starts a guided conversation that walks you through:

Who you are — name, location, what you do
Your people — family, close friends
Your life pillars — the big areas you want to invest in
How you want Claude to talk to you
Connecting your data sources (Gmail, Calendar, messaging)
Writing your first journal entry

Connect your data

All data sources are optional. Skills work with whatever you have connected — even just weather and git activity is useful. Here's what's available:

Claude Connectors

Patina works with Claude's connectors — including Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, and more. Go to Settings -> Connectors to see what's available and connect your accounts.

Messaging via Beeper

Download Beeper and connect your messaging apps — iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, Slack, and more. Beeper bridges all your messaging into one place that Claude can read.

Use it every day

Run any of these skills from Claude Code:

/morning	Morning briefing. Schedule, weather, open loops, what needs your attention.
/digest	End-of-day recap. Conversations, open loops with checkboxes, journal, wins.
/journal	Jot something down anytime. No rules.
/goals	Set structured goals tied to your life pillars.
/sync	Pull from all connected sources and update your people files.
/reflect	Analyze a mistake Claude made and fix the skill so it doesn't happen again.
/remind	Add, check off, or review reminders.

Automate it

Install the Patina menu bar app to run your skills on a schedule — no need to keep Claude Code open.

Unzip and move to your Applications folder
Open the app — it lives in your menu bar
Go to Settings and select your Patina repo
Your scripts and skills are discovered automatically
Schedule any skill to run daily or weekly

Tips

Start small. Just use /journal and /morning for the first week.
Don't over-organize. Resist the urge to add folders and categories. Simple is better than neat.
If you skip days, that's fine. Running /digest catches up automatically.
Use Obsidian. A markdown editor for viewing and editing your data. Free and open source.

What's next

You're up and running. From here you can add more data sources and skills as your system grows.

Browse all skills — built-in workflows and extensions you can add with a single prompt
Browse all connections — data sources with setup instructions for each
Install the menu bar app — schedule skills to run automatically
Create custom skills — any markdown file in .claude/commands/ becomes a slash command