Your AI identity is the always-on paragraph: role, priorities, output rules. A personal brain is a small pack of files Copilot can load when the work is specific — a launch, a region, a recurring workflow.
Global brief first. Files when you need depth.
If every chat still needs a page of background, you do not have a prompting problem. You have a context-pack problem.
Do not build a wiki. Three short documents beat a graveyard of notes Copilot never sees.
Core principles
- Identity: who you are and how you like work, in settings.
- Brain: what this work is, in files you attach, pin, or give an agent.
- One job per file. Mixing “about me” with a project dump makes both stale.
- If Copilot cannot use it in the next chat, it is not installed — it is storage.
Prerequisite: Your AI Identity
Check yourself
What belongs in a personal brain file rather than standing identity?
Identity is global and short. Project background, decisions, and current constraints belong in files you load when that work is in play.
Do this in Copilot
Name one project that still needs a briefing every time you open Copilot. That project is your Lesson 4 pack.
Paste into Copilot Chat. Keep the two lists for Lessons 2–4.
Separate identity from project
I am splitting standing identity from project context. Here is what I currently tell Copilot about myself and my work (paste notes, old custom instructions, or a ramble): [PASTE]. Split it into two lists: (1) facts that belong in a global identity, and (2) facts that belong in a project file. Flag anything confidential that should not live in either. Do not write the files yet.
Did you run this in Copilot? Mark complete when you have tried it.
RecordedNavigate: press j for next lesson,k for previous.