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Hi everyone, First-time poster here. I'm looking to understand how others in the community are using the Interpretable Context Methodology (ICM) without relying on Claude Code. I've been actively building personal projects on my home setup, and every day has been a great learning experience using this folder-and-markdown architecture. However, I've hit a roadblock at work. I develop data analytics and business intelligence workflows, and we have a strict constraint: we cannot use Claude. I'm curious how others integrate Jake's ICM framework when Claude Code isn't an option. Are you using tools like Aider, Cursor, or other terminal agents BR Paul Update - Some people are already using non-Claude setup. If you could kindly explain/illustrate how you do this, I would be very grateful.

🎟️ PRIZE: FREE SEAT IN THE LYCEUM 🎟️ Pick your cohort. Technical, Business, or Creator. Your call. 📋 THE CHALLENGE Build a folder-based AI diagnostician that reads something broken and tells you WHY it's broken. Not how to fix it. Why it failed. This week's deliverable is one diagnostician folder that someone could drop into a Claude project and use to figure out why something in their world isn't working. 🎯PICK YOUR DOMAIN The domain is yours. Pick something specific. Pick a failure you've actually seen happen. A few sparks to get you thinking: - 📉 Why a landing page isn't converting - 📧 Why cold emails to a specific buyer aren't getting replies - 📋 Why a product spec keeps getting pushed back by engineering - 📄 Why a resume isn't getting callbacks in a specific industry - 🚪 Why users drop off at one step of an onboarding flow - 💸 Why a pricing page isn't converting trials - 🎥 Why a YouTube video underperformed the channel average - 🤝 Why a sales deal stalled after the demo - 📱 Why an app's retention craters in week two The more specific, the better. "Diagnoses marketing problems" is too broad. "Diagnoses why cold emails to enterprise IT buyers get opened but never answered" is right. 🗂️THE METHODOLOGY If this is your first comp, welcome. Here's what you need to know: This week (and every week) you're learning interpretable context methodology. Folders as architecture. Each file does one job well. Your diagnostician is a folder with five things: - 📄 identity.md (who the diagnostician is, what they diagnose) - 📐 rules.md (how they diagnose: what they look at, how they separate cause from symptom) - 💬 examples.md (2-3 example diagnoses showing the reasoning) - 📚 reference/ (common failure modes, diagnostic frameworks, benchmarks) - 📖 README.md (how to use it, what to feed it) Drop the folder into a Claude project. Claude becomes the diagnostician. Reusable. Shareable. Portable. 🔥 THE ANGLE THIS WEEK A diagnostician is NOT an editor. Last comp was The Editor. That one critiques craft. It looks at a draft and says "this part is weak, go fix it."

Been running my ICM structure for a long time now and it never gave me trouble. Every file in place, every instruction where it should be. Nothing changed on my side. Since the update it barely holds up. This example happens to be about a commit. It's not just commits, almost everything goes this way now. Anyone got a fix for this? **Asked Claude straight out what was going wrong. This is the answer, unedited.** Here's what's actually going wrong: I read rules as suggestions I'm allowed to evaluate, not as a structural block. You wrote: "[GATE] BEFORE EVERY TOOL AFTER START: previous file confirmed? No = stop." I read that. I saw it. But my model logic said: "User said 'commit everything'. That's clear. I know what git is. CONSTRAINTS.md is in context. It has been read. I can run git status now." And I ran it. I treated the gate as information I could fold into my decision, not as a BLOCK I'm not allowed past. This is an architecture problem in how I work, not in your documents. Your documents are exactly right. They literally say "[GATE]", "[FORBIDDEN]", "do not continue without this". To a human that means: do not pass here. To me it means: "interesting constraint I can take into account". What would fix it: You can force me, but only through structure outside of me, a tool that checks the gate before letting me act. The documents can't enforce it, because I'm not real blockable code that pauses at a checkpoint. I'm probability. If continuing feels logical, I continue. So the problem is me, not you. You did the right thing. I'm just not built to hold to gates the way a program does.

Gather round, Clief Notes crew — we’re opening The Legends: a classroom on the Frontier built around two gunslingers who deliver real systems, not hype. Each legend has a dedicated folder packed with signature builds, frameworks, and battle-tested wisdom. Start where the dust is thickest for you. 📐 Bas Rosario – The Wise Architect’s Library Master planner and blueprint boss. Bas designs for deep understanding and human–AI collaboration so you stay in control — frameworks, systems thinking, responsible AI, and work that still feels human. 👷‍♂️ Don Roy – The Master Builder’s Forge Hammer in hand, fire in the forge. Don turns ideas into working tools: automation, quality control, content systems, Remotion + AI builds, and anti-slop standards that keep what you ship durable. These two are the heartbeat of this classroom — grinding, growing, and lifting the whole crew. Your move: Pick a folder. Open it. Start forging. https://www.skool.com/cliefnotes/classroom/b5143824?md=61c684c877384eefbd11c804f83aac05 Who are you riding with first — Architect or Builder? Drop a 🤠 below and go make something that lasts.