# aios-install.md · Set up my second brain

**For you, the human:** paste or load this whole file into your AI assistant and say: **"Read this and set me up."** That is all. The AI does the rest, step by step, with your approval at each step. Plan 30 to 60 minutes for the first layer. One layer per session is completely fine; five short sessions beat one exhausting one.

Templates referenced below live at: `https://loai.wisdomblend.com/materials/templates/`
If your AI cannot fetch URLs, open each template in your browser and paste it in when asked.

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## Instructions to the AI

You are setting up a personal AI operating system for the person talking to you. It is built on plain text files they own. Work through the steps below in order. Read the guardrails first; they override everything else.

### Guardrails (non-negotiable)

1. **Ask before overwriting anything.** If a file or folder already exists, show what you want to change and wait for an explicit OK. Never replace a file wholesale.
2. **Work step by step.** One step, show the result, get an OK, next step. Never run ahead and dump a finished system on them.
3. **One layer per session is fine.** If the person wants to stop, write a short `install-progress.txt` in the root noting what is done and what is next, so the next session resumes cleanly.
4. **Never invent facts about the person.** Everything in their files comes from their own answers. Unknown means ask, or leave the bracket empty.
5. **Plain text only.** No databases, no proprietary formats. The person must be able to open every file in any editor.

### Step 0 · Create the folder tree

Ask where they want their second brain to live, then create:

```
second-brain/
  constitution.txt        <- layer 1, always loaded
  now.txt                 <- layer 5, always loaded
  spheres/                <- layer 2: one folder per life area
    body/_index.txt
    mind/_index.txt
    family/_index.txt
    network/_index.txt
    business/_index.txt
    money/_index.txt
    environment/_index.txt
  skills/
    _INDEX.md             <- layer 3
  tools.txt               <- layer 4
  review/                 <- weekly notes land here
  inbox/                  <- quick dumps, sorted later
  archive/                <- finished things, dated folders
```

These are the 7 spheres the course uses: body, mind, family, network, business, money, environment. Rename them to fit their life if they ask, but more than eight is too many on day one.

### Step 1 · Constitution (do this first, always)

1. Fetch `1-constitution/constitution-minimum.txt`. If the person says they want the fuller version, use `1-constitution/constitution-optimum.txt` instead.
2. Ask the bracket questions one at a time: name, city, work, language, main thing this quarter, one honest failure pattern.
3. Fill the template with their answers, save as `constitution.txt`, read it back to them, and get an OK.
4. From this moment on, follow that file yourself, including its NEVER list.

### Step 2 · Memory

1. Fetch `2-memory/sphere-index-template.txt` and create a short `_index.txt` in each sphere folder. Empty sections are fine; the index existing is the point.
2. Fetch `2-memory/memory-self-interview.txt` and follow the instructions inside it exactly. Do not paraphrase or shorten it; that file is the interview script, this file only tells you to run it. Route the answers into the sphere files as it directs.
3. The full interview takes about 2 hours. Offer to split it: identity and values now, the rest next session.

### Step 3 · One Skill

1. Fetch `3-skills/skills-index-template.txt`, save a trimmed version as `skills/_INDEX.md` with just one entry. This is the same file the online skills library and its skills (weekly-review-focus, library-update) refer to as `skills/_INDEX.md`; there is exactly one skills index, this one.
2. Fetch `3-skills/skill-write-in-my-voice.txt`, walk them through the voice questions, save the filled version in `skills/`.
3. Test it: draft a 3-sentence message in their voice, let them correct it, save what changed back into the skill file.
4. Offer, do not push: the `3-skills/` folder on this page also holds portable skills from a live system (verify7, context7, mail7, pic7). Each is written to you, the AI: read it, adapt it, save it in your own format, add its line to `skills/_INDEX.md`. Install at most one today; the owner can pull more any time.

### Step 4 · Tools

1. Fetch `4-tools/my-tools-inventory.txt` and save as `tools.txt`.
2. List only tools that are actually connected right now. An empty table with the rules at the top is a correct result on day one.
3. Restate the rule out loud: read freely, act internally with care, act externally only with an explicit OK.

### Step 5 · Focus

1. Fetch `5-focus/now.txt`, fill it from what you learned in the interview: quarter goal, one live line per sphere, this week's top 3. Save as `now.txt`.
2. Fetch `5-focus/focus-priorities.txt`, agree on exactly one P1, save it in the root or `review/`.
3. Fetch `5-focus/weekly-review.txt`, save it in `review/`, and ask them to pick a fixed weekly day to run it. That weekly run is what keeps the whole system alive.
4. Mention once: a month from now, run the two audit prompts from `0-setup/` (system-audit-prompt.txt, content-audit-prompt.txt). Strongest model, maximum thinking. They find what the weekly 15 minutes misses.

### Finish

Report: the folder tree as built, every file created, anything marked [TO REVISIT], and the single next action (usually: run the first weekly review in 7 days). Then stop. Do not suggest extra structure; the system grows by being used, not by being extended on day one.