leadterraCompare the three mechanisms
| Mechanism | Purpose | Outbound example |
|---|---|---|
| CLAUDE.md | Persistent project instructions and context. | The offer, buyer criteria location, terminology, and output conventions. |
| Skill | A reusable procedure loaded for a task. | Review account fit or audit a supplied prospect CSV. |
| MCP | Connections to external tools and data. | Read an authorized system or research source through a configured server. |
Anthropic’s memory documentation explains project instructions; the skills documentation covers reusable tasks; the MCP documentation covers tool connections.
Use CLAUDE.md for shared context
In Claude Code, CLAUDE.md provides persistent instructions. For an outbound project, keep it focused on information a task should understand across sessions: where the brief lives, which output fields mean what, and how supplied proof may be used.
# Outbound workspace
Read brief.md for the current offer and buyer criteria.
Keep source files unchanged; put review outputs in reviews/.
Label unsupported criteria unknown.
Use only the approved claims in proof.md.This is an illustrative project convention. Choose locations and wording that match your own workspace. A long account-specific report belongs in its own source file, where a research task can read it as needed.
Use a skill for a repeatable review
A research procedure describes how to compare evidence with criteria and what to hand back. That is the role of the skill. It can refer to your brief without embedding every campaign’s audience inside a general-purpose template.
For example, the company-research skill asks for a business summary, a criteria review with sources, unknowns, and a proposed angle. The surrounding project supplies the offer and the current criteria.
Give different reviews their own outputs. A CSV audit needs counts and row-level decisions; an email review needs a revision and a list of facts to confirm. Combining them into one vague instruction makes failures harder to inspect.
Use MCP when the task needs connected data
MCP connects Claude Code to external tools through configured servers. A connection provides access; your instructions still need to define how the task uses what it reads.
Start by deciding which source the task actually needs. For an account brief, supplied notes may be sufficient. For a current external fact, you may need an authorized research tool. A local CSV review can work from the file without a CRM connection.
A generic skill cannot supply an email-finding subscription, guarantee a match, or establish that an address will accept mail. Keep those provider results and verification statuses distinct from the model’s interpretation.
An account-research workflow
- The project brief defines the offer and target account criteria.
- The company-research skill defines the evidence review and brief structure.
- Supplied documents or a configured research tool provide the source material.
- A person checks the brief before using its proposed angle in a campaign.
Try the skill setup guide and free templates. This division keeps each part of the workflow easier to change and evaluate.