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Build Your First Vault

A 90-minute hands-on workshop where participants fork the aDNA template, customize it for their own project, and leave with a working vault. By the end, an AI agent can be dropped into their project cold and orient itself.

Workshop Goals

By the end of this workshop, participants will have:

  1. A forked aDNA vault customized for their project domain
  2. A working CLAUDE.md with project-specific rules, personality, and structure
  3. One custom ontology extension (a new entity type specific to their domain)
  4. A mission file decomposing their first real task into objectives

Pre-Work

Complete before arriving (45 minutes total):

Agenda

TimeActivityDescription
0:00Welcome & ContextWhy build a vault? Brief recap of the triad. Show aDNA.aDNA as the reference implementation.
0:10Exercise 1: ForkClone the aDNA template, run the fork skill, choose a project name. Verify the triad directories exist.
0:25Exercise 2: CLAUDE.mdWrite a CLAUDE.md for your project. Define: identity, safety rules, standing orders, domain knowledge. Test it — can an agent orient from cold?
0:45Exercise 3: Extend the OntologyIdentify one entity type unique to your domain. Create the directory, AGENTS.md, and template. Add it to your MANIFEST.md.
1:05Exercise 4: First MissionPick a real task from your project. Decompose it into a mission with 3-5 objectives. Write the mission file.
1:20Show & Tell2-3 volunteers share their vault. Group discusses: what worked? What was hard?
1:25Wrap-upNext steps, resources, workshop_lattice_design preview.

Facilitator Notes

  • Use aDNA.aDNA as the worked example. When explaining each step, show how this vault did it. The CLAUDE.md participants are writing mirrors the one in aDNA.aDNA/CLAUDE.md. The ontology extension mirrors the 10 extensions in MANIFEST.md. This is the Dual Audience principle in action: teach by showing, not telling.
  • CLAUDE.md is the hardest exercise. Participants struggle with what to include. Suggest they start with three questions: What is this project? What rules must agents follow? What does the domain look like? The rest fills itself in.
  • Domain diversity is an asset. Participants will have wildly different projects — a biotech lab, a marketing team, a solo developer. This is a feature, not a bug. Different domains produce different ontology extensions, which demonstrates that aDNA adapts rather than prescribes.
  • Timebox exercise 2. CLAUDE.md can absorb unlimited time. Set a hard 20-minute limit and tell participants they can refine later.

Materials / Prerequisites

  • Required: Git, Obsidian, a code editor, the aDNA template repo cloned (github.com/LatticeProtocol/Agentic-DNA)
  • Optional: Claude Code for live agent testing during exercise 2
  • Handout: One-page CLAUDE.md template with section prompts (Identity, Safety, Standing Orders, Domain Knowledge)

Exercises

Exercise 1: Fork the Template

Instructions: Clone the aDNA template and create your project:

git clone https://github.com/LatticeProtocol/Agentic-DNA.git
cp -r Agentic-DNA/.adna/ my_project.aDNA/
cd my_project.aDNA

Open in Obsidian. Verify you see who/, what/, how/ directories.

Expected outcome: A fresh vault with the base triad structure, governance files, and templates ready for customization.

Exercise 2: Write Your CLAUDE.md

Instructions: Open CLAUDE.md and replace the template content with your project. Address these sections:

  1. Identity — What is this project? What personality should agents adopt?
  2. Safety Rules — What must agents never do? What requires confirmation?
  3. Standing Orders — Rules that apply to every session
  4. Domain Knowledge — Key concepts, entity types, vocabulary specific to your project

Test: If available, start Claude Code in your vault directory. Can it describe what the project is? Can it find files? Does it follow your rules?

Expected outcome: An agent dropped into this vault cold can orient and begin useful work within 30 seconds.

Exercise 3: Extend the Ontology

Instructions: Identify one entity type unique to your domain. Examples: experiment (research lab), campaign (marketing team), model_card (ML team), protocol (biotech lab).

  1. Create the directory under the appropriate triad leg (most domain entities go in what/)
  2. Write an AGENTS.md with: What’s Here, Working Rules, Load/Skip Decision
  3. Create a template in how/templates/ named template_{your_type}.md
  4. Add the new type to your MANIFEST.md ontology table

Expected outcome: A new entity type with directory, routing, and template — ready for content.

Exercise 4: First Mission

Instructions: Pick a real task from your project that’s too big for one session. Decompose it:

  1. Write a mission brief (1-2 sentences: what and why)
  2. Define 3-5 objectives (each completable in one session)
  3. Identify dependencies between objectives
  4. Save as how/missions/mission_{name}.md

Expected outcome: A structured mission file that could be handed to any agent or team member.

Assessment / Feedback

Exit questions:

  1. Does your vault have a working CLAUDE.md, one ontology extension, and one mission?
  2. Could an agent orient itself in your vault without additional instructions?
  3. What’s one thing you’d change about how you currently organize project knowledge?

Success signal: Participants leave with a vault they’ll actually use next week.

Self-Reference

This workshop follows the exact process that created aDNA.aDNA itself. Phase 0 (M00) of [[campaign_rosetta|Operation Rosetta]] forked the template, customized governance, and extended the ontology with 10 new entity types — the same steps participants complete in exercises 1-3. The mission file participants write in exercise 4 mirrors the 24 mission files in how/campaigns/campaign_rosetta/missions/.