Your AI Installation Kit

Overview

What you're building

A family-logistics workspace that reads the messy inputs (school emails, team schedules, invitations) and outputs calendar-ready entries plus a weekly briefing. Your existing shared calendar remains the single source of truth; the AI only prepares entries for you to add.

Why this setup

The problem isn't the calendar; it's the inputs scattered across emails, PDFs, and group chats. The AI is good at extracting dates and spotting conflicts. Keeping the calendar as the master avoids a second system that drifts out of date. This setup does not sync automatically, and that is intentional: you stay in control of what goes on the family calendar.

The workflow architecture

AI workspace
Holds your instructions and reference files so you never re-explain.
Calendar as source of truth
Your shared family calendar (Google, Apple, Outlook, etc.) as the master record.
Reusable instructions
How to extract events and format the weekly briefing.
Reference document
Family roster: who's who, standing commitments, color codes.
Your review
You add entries and confirm before relying on them.

You haven't picked a tool yet, so this kit is platform-neutral. Both Claude and ChatGPT support this setup.

Claude	ChatGPT
Claude Projects: instructions + project knowledge files	ChatGPT Projects: instructions + uploaded files
Optional Claude Skills for reusing a format across chats (plan-dependent)	Personalization settings can hold short preferences
Paid plan needed for Projects	Plan determines Project and file limits

What to prepare

□Confirm which calendar is the family master and who can edit it.
□List each family member, their standing weekly commitments, and any color code you use.
□Gather a recent school newsletter, a team schedule, and an invitation to test with.
□Decide when you'll do the weekly review (e.g. Sunday evening).

Build it once

Create a dedicated workspace named "Family Calendar Coordination" in the AI tool you choose. Both Claude and ChatGPT call this a "Project". Claude offers Projects on all plans; ChatGPT availability depends on your plan.
Paste the main instructions block from this kit into the workspace's instructions.
Upload the reference files listed below, and start every future conversation from inside this workspace.
Fill in the Family Roster block (first names or initials are enough) and upload it to the workspace.
Paste the Project Instructions into the workspace instructions.
Paste a school email and say 'Extract events.' Add the resulting entries to your calendar yourself.
On your review day, paste or describe the coming week's calendar and say 'Weekly briefing.'

Copy-ready materials

Edit anything in [BRACKETS]. Changes are kept when you save the kit.

Project Instructions

Event extraction and weekly briefing.

You help me coordinate our family schedule. Our calendar app is the source of truth; you prepare entries for me to add. See "FAMILY ROSTER".

WHEN I PASTE AN EMAIL, FLYER, OR SCHEDULE ("Extract events")
Return a table: Date | Day | Start–End | Event | Who | Location | Bring/Prepare | Deadline?
- Separate real events from deadlines (forms due, payments due, sign-ups).
- If a time or date is unclear, mark [CHECK] — never guess.
- Flag conflicts with standing commitments in the roster.

WHEN I SAY "Weekly briefing" (and paste the week)
Give: day-by-day list, who drives/attends, conflicts, things to buy or prepare, deadlines this week. Keep it short enough to read aloud at dinner.

Family Roster

Upload as reference. Initials are fine.

FAMILY ROSTER  (updated [DATE])
[A] – parent – works [days/hours] – color [ ]
[B] – parent – [ ]
[C] – age [ ] – school: [name or "elementary"] – Mon/Wed soccer 4:30–6
[D] – age [ ] – Thu piano 5:00

STANDING RULES
- [e.g. A does Tuesday pickup]
- [e.g. No activities Sunday before 10]

How Claude can help execute this

Optional upgradeRecommended where available

Why use this instead of a regular chat?

If you've connected a calendar and explicitly authorized it, a scheduled weekly task can draft your family briefing from it. Your calendar stays the source of truth; we don't assume any automatic syncing.

Task execution needs a paid Claude plan. Add your plan in My AI Setup for a more specific recommendation.
This involves sensitive information. Keep Claude asking before it acts (the default), and approve each step.

Availability depends on your Claude plan and device. Add them in My AI Setup for a more specific recommendation.

1. Set up once

· Keep the shared family calendar as the master.
· Only if available and authorized: connect that calendar to Claude.

2. Claude capabilities used

· Scheduled tasks
· Connected apps (only ones you choose to connect)

3. Access, files & permissions

· A calendar connector you've chosen to set up (optional)
· A paid Claude plan for scheduled tasks

4. What Claude can do

· Draft a weekly briefing from the events it can see
· Flag conflicts

5. What you review or approve

· The briefing against the real calendar
· Any change before you add or move an event

6. What changes each run

· The coming week's events

7. Test it safely

· Generate a briefing for last week and compare with what happened

8. If it doesn't work

Events are missing.: It only sees calendars you've connected and shared; school emails still need 'Extract events'.

Run the task

If your Claude has one unified message box (no Chat/Cowork choice)

Open the Project, then describe the task in any conversation. Claude decides whether it's a quick answer or a task.

If you see separate “Chat” and “Cowork” options

In the message box, select “Cowork” in the bottom-left corner, then describe the task.
Projects work the same way in Cowork and in chat.

Task request

Draft our family briefing for next week from [CONNECTED CALENDAR], using the FAMILY ROSTER. Flag conflicts. Don't create or change events.

Scheduled execution (optional)

Only schedule once a manual run has passed your test. Each run is its own task you review.

Unified Claude

Describe the task and how often it should run.
Answer Claude's questions, then review the proposed name, schedule, and instructions and click “Schedule.”

Separate Cowork

Click “Scheduled” in the left sidebar to create and review scheduled tasks.

Schedule request

Every Sunday at 5 PM, draft next week's family briefing from [CONNECTED CALENDAR] using this project's roster. Don't change any events.

Fallback: Paste the week's calendar into the Project and ask for a 'Weekly briefing'.

By default, Claude asks before taking an action. Keep that on for anything involving money, personal records, or files you can't replace.

How to test it

Extract events from a recent newsletter you've already read carefully.

Success looks like

✓ Every date and deadline you know of appears.
✓ Unclear items are marked [CHECK], not guessed.

How to use it next time

When a school/team message arrives: paste it, 'Extract events', add entries to the calendar.
Each time it comes up review: 'Weekly briefing' with the week pasted in.
Update the roster at the start of each season or term.

Set up once — reuse

Instructions · Family roster · Weekly review time

Changes each time

New emails, flyers, schedules · This week's calendar

Troubleshooting

It mixes up the year or weekday.: Add today's date and year to your message; ask it to show the weekday next to each date so errors are obvious.
PDF flyer comes back incomplete.: Take a clear photo or copy the text; image-heavy PDFs may not be read fully.
Briefing is too long.: Ask for 'only changes from a normal week'.

Limitations, privacy & safety

· It does not sync with or edit your calendar in this setup; you add entries.
· It cannot know about changes communicated elsewhere (texts, verbal updates).
· Projects require a paid plan.

Privacy & safety

· Use first names or initials for children; leave out school addresses, medical details, and custody arrangements.
· Don't upload documents containing other families' contact details.