The words that show up in every lesson.

Claude

Anthropic's AI assistant. Drafts, summarizes, compares, and brainstorms on demand. Not a search engine, not a database of your files, and not always right.

Claude is the AI assistant built by Anthropic. You type a question or a task in plain English; Claude responds in seconds. It works from its training data by default — it does not browse the live web, read your company drive, or take action in other software unless you explicitly connect those tools (see Connector). Treat its first answer as a starting point, not a verdict.

Related: Anthropic · Prompt · Hallucination

Anthropic

The AI safety company that builds Claude. Based in San Francisco; focused on safe, steerable AI.

Anthropic is the company behind Claude. It was founded in 2021 and focuses on AI safety research and making AI systems that are helpful, honest, and harmless. Empower uses Claude via Anthropic's business plans (Team / Enterprise).

Related: Claude

Context Window

Also: context length

The maximum amount of text Claude can hold in mind at once — the conversation so far plus any files you've uploaded.

The context window is the size of Claude's short-term memory for a single conversation. If you paste in a very long document and then keep chatting, eventually the earliest messages fall out of scope. In practice: if Claude seems to forget something you said earlier, the window may be full — start a new thread with a summary.

Related: Hallucination

Hallucination

Also: hallucinate · hallucinations

When Claude states something false with confidence — usually a specific number, date, citation, or niche fact. Verify anything that matters.

A hallucination is when Claude produces text that sounds authoritative but is not actually true. It happens most often with specific numbers, dates, legal citations, product names, or niche technical details. The defense is not to trust blindly: ask Claude to cite sources, or verify the critical facts in the original system. Lesson 19 covers this pattern.

Related: Claude

Model

The specific version of Claude you're using — Opus, Sonnet, Haiku. Different trade-offs between speed, cost, and capability.

Model refers to the underlying Claude version. The three families are Opus (most capable, slower), Sonnet (balanced), and Haiku (fast, cheap). The default in the app is the current top model; you usually don't need to think about it. When you do: Haiku for fast lookups, Opus for hard reasoning.

Related: Claude

Free

Also: free plan

Claude's $0 tier. Daily message cap and no access to the most capable models. Fine for trying Claude; not enough for real work.

Free gives you limited daily usage on mid-tier models. You'll run out fast doing real work. Most Empower teammates should skip Free and start on Pro — or, once the workspace is set up, jump straight to Team.

Related: Pro · Team

Pro

Also: pro plan

Personal $20/month plan. Full access to Claude's best models, Projects, Artifacts, and Connectors. No team features.

Pro is the individual plan most people land on. Full access to the latest models, Projects, Artifacts, Connectors, and much higher message limits than Free. No shared workspace, no team billing — just you. Upgrade to Team when you want to share Projects with colleagues.

Related: Max · Team · Project

Max

Also: max plan

High-capacity personal plan ($100–200/month). For power users running dozens of tasks a day who hit Pro's limits.

Max is Pro with a much larger message budget and priority access during peak demand. Only worth it if you're consistently hitting usage limits on Pro. For most Empower teammates, Pro is enough.

Related: Pro

Team

Also: team plan

Shared workspace plan, $25/seat/month. Team-wide Projects, central billing, member management, and content excluded from training.

The Team plan turns Claude into a team tool. Everyone gets their own seat; Projects and knowledge files can be shared across the workspace; billing is one invoice. Conversations are not used to train the model. This is where most growing teams land.

Related: Enterprise · Workspace · Primary Owner

Enterprise

Also: enterprise plan

Custom plan for large orgs. Adds SSO, a signed DPA, dedicated support, and larger usage caps on top of Team.

Enterprise is negotiated directly with Anthropic. It adds single sign-on, a signed Data Processing Agreement, dedicated support, and larger usage caps. Feature parity with Team is high — the delta is compliance, scale, and support.

Related: Team · SSO · DPA

Workspace

Also: workspaces · shared workspace · team workspace

The shared environment on Team or Enterprise. Holds members, shared Projects, and central billing.

A Workspace is the container for a team inside Claude. It holds members, shared Projects, and centralized billing. Each teammate gets their own login, but everyone operates inside the same Workspace, so Projects and context can be shared. Not to be confused with a Project — which lives inside a Workspace.

Related: Team · Project · Primary Owner · Member

Primary Owner

The founding admin of a workspace. Controls billing and can't be removed. One per workspace.

Primary Owner is the permanent, top-level admin role. Assigned when the workspace is created. Controls billing, members, and settings — and can't be demoted or removed by anyone else. Transferring the Primary Owner role requires a direct request to Anthropic support.

Related: Owner · Member · Workspace

Owner

Admin role with full member-management and settings access. Not permanent — multiple Owners per workspace is fine.

Owner is the standard admin role. Can invite and remove members, change settings, access billing, and create or delete shared Projects. Unlike the Primary Owner, Owners can be demoted or removed. Think of Primary Owner as "founder" and Owners as "co-founders".

Related: Primary Owner · Member · Workspace

Member

Also: members

Standard user role. Uses shared Projects and Connectors but can't change settings or billing.

Members are the rank-and-file teammates in a workspace. They chat with Claude, work inside shared Projects, and use any Connector the workspace has set up. They can't invite people, change billing, or adjust workspace settings. Most Empower teammates are Members.

Related: Owner · Primary Owner · Workspace

SSO

Also: single sign-on · single sign on

Single Sign-On. Log in via your company's identity provider (Okta, Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra) instead of email + password. Enterprise only.

SSO lets employees log into Claude with their existing corporate login instead of a separate Claude password. It reduces password sprawl and lets IT centrally manage who can access Claude. Included on Enterprise plans.

Related: Enterprise

DPA

Also: data processing agreement

Data Processing Agreement. The legal contract that spells out how Anthropic handles your data. Available on Enterprise.

A DPA is the contract that spells out the data-handling commitments between your company and Anthropic: what data is processed, how long it's retained, breach response, and privacy controls. Available on Enterprise plans. Required for regulated industries or customers who demand it.

Related: Enterprise · Anthropic

Account Types

Also: account type

The five ways to use Claude — Free, Pro, Max (personal) and Team, Enterprise (business). See lesson 02 for which one fits.

Account Types are the five billing tiers Anthropic offers. Free and Pro are personal plans. Max adds high-capacity usage for power users. Team is the first tier with shared Projects and central billing. Enterprise adds SSO, a DPA, and dedicated support for large organizations. Which one you need depends on whether you work alone or across a team.

Related: Free · Pro · Max · Team · Enterprise

Project

Also: projects

A saved workspace in Claude that bundles a system prompt + knowledge files. Every new chat inside it inherits the same context.

A Project in Claude is a persistent container: one system prompt, a set of uploaded knowledge files, and unlimited threads that all share that context. It is the difference between re-briefing Claude in every new conversation and working with an assistant who already knows your role. Projects are the highest-leverage Claude feature for recurring work.

Related: System Prompt · Knowledge File

Knowledge File

Also: knowledge files · project files

A document uploaded to a Project so Claude can reference it in every conversation — templates, SOPs, contact lists, past examples.

Knowledge files are the documents you attach to a Project. Claude can read and reference them in any thread inside that Project without you re-pasting them. Typical uploads: proposal templates, rate cards, vendor lists, past winning emails, meeting notes. Keep them focused — ten precise files beats a hundred vague ones.

Related: Project · Knowledge Limit

Knowledge Limit

Also: knowledge limits · practical limit · practical limits

How much you can load into a Project before quality drops. A small set of focused, high-value files always beats a huge pile.

Knowledge Limit isn't a hard cap — it's the practical ceiling on how many files a Project can hold before Claude has trouble finding what matters. Ten precise, well-named files will outperform a hundred vague ones every time. When a Project feels sluggish or vague, the fix is usually to prune the knowledge, not add more. See lesson 08.

Related: Knowledge File · Project

Artifact

Also: artifacts

A structured output Claude produces in its own right-hand panel — documents, code, tables, small apps. Editable and downloadable.

Artifacts are Claude's way of separating substantial outputs (a proposal draft, a table, a working HTML page) from the running chat. They appear in a dedicated panel you can edit, download, or share. Use them when the output is something you'll work with, not just read.

Connector

Also: connectors

An integration that lets Claude read from (or act in) another tool — Google Drive, Gmail, Calendar, Notion, Linear, and others.

Connectors are the bridges between Claude and the tools Empower already uses. Once connected, Claude can read from and sometimes act in those systems on your behalf — reading a Google Doc, searching your Gmail, creating a calendar event. Each connector is authorized per user. See lesson 17 for the current supported list.

Related: MCP

MCP

Also: model context protocol

Model Context Protocol — the open standard Anthropic built so AI assistants like Claude can talk to external tools and data sources.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the open standard that defines how Claude communicates with external tools, databases, and services. Connectors are typically implemented on top of MCP. You rarely need to care about MCP as an end user — it matters when your team wants to build a custom integration.

Related: Connector

Thread

Also: threads · conversation

A single Claude conversation. Starts fresh each time; doesn't remember prior threads unless you're inside a Project with shared knowledge.

A thread is one conversation with Claude. By default, every new thread starts with a clean memory — Claude does not carry over what you discussed yesterday. Projects are the exception: threads inside a Project share the same system prompt and knowledge files, so Claude feels continuous.

Related: Project

Dispatch

Claude runs a long task in the background while you work — deep research, bulk document review, multi-step analysis.

Dispatch hands off long-running work (thirty minutes to a few hours) to Claude's background system. You kick off a task with a prompt and any files, and Claude works without you watching. You get a notification when it's done. Use when the job is too big for a single chat thread.

Related: Thread · Project

Share Link

Also: share links · public link · shareable link

A public URL to a conversation or artifact. Anyone with the link can view — no Claude account needed.

Share Links let you send a specific conversation or Artifact to someone outside your workspace. They see a read-only view — no Claude account required. Useful for sending clients a drafted proposal, a chart, or a walkthrough. Turn sharing off when the content is sensitive.

Related: Artifact · Thread

Project Template

Also: project templates

A ready-made Project — system prompt plus suggested knowledge files — tuned for a specific Empower role. Copy, adapt, go.

Project Templates are starter Projects built around common Empower roles. Each one ships with a pre-written system prompt and a list of suggested knowledge files. You copy the template, fill in bracketed placeholders, upload the files that apply to you — you have a working Project in ten minutes. See lesson 09 for the full set (Executive, Account Manager, Operations, Field Team, Admin).

Related: Project · System Prompt · Knowledge File

Prompt

Also: prompts · prompting

The message you send to Claude. A good prompt states the task, the context, and the format you want the answer in.

A prompt is the instruction you give Claude. The quality of the prompt drives the quality of the response. Empower's house pattern: say who you're talking to, what the task is, what context matters, and what format you want back. See lesson 07 (System Prompts) and 15 (Prompt Library Starter).

Related: System Prompt · Context Window

System Prompt

Also: system prompts · system instructions · custom instructions

Persistent instructions that shape how Claude behaves across every message in a conversation or Project. Sometimes called "Custom Instructions".

A system prompt is the set of standing orders you give Claude before the conversation starts — role, tone, constraints, format preferences. In a Project, the system prompt applies to every thread you start inside it, so you only write it once. The Claude UI sometimes calls this "Custom Instructions" — same thing. A good system prompt replaces the first three messages of every conversation you would otherwise have to repeat.

Related: Project · Prompt · Guardrails · Role

Guardrails

Also: guardrail · constraints

Constraints you write into a System Prompt — what Claude should skip, avoid, or refuse. The don'ts of the role.

Guardrails are the boundary rules in a System Prompt. Examples: "never invent client names", "do not commit to dates without confirmation", "refuse to draft anything that looks like legal advice". Good Guardrails prevent the one or two mistakes that would cause real damage.

Related: System Prompt · Prompt

Role

The part of a System Prompt that tells Claude who to be — "estimating assistant", "field ops coach", "exec summary writer".

Role is the identity line at the top of a System Prompt. It frames everything that follows: tone, vocabulary, assumptions. "You are a field ops coach" produces different answers than "You are an estimator". A clear Role is the cheapest, biggest lever on response quality.

Related: System Prompt · Prompt

Prompt Library

Also: prompt libraries

Curated, copy-paste prompts that earn their keep. Each one names the move it makes so you can generalize.

The Prompt Library is the set of starter prompts Empower has battle-tested. Each one is tagged by task type and names the key move (the pattern that makes it work), so you can adapt to your own variations. Browse it when you're stuck on how to phrase a request. See lesson 15 and the in-app Prompt Library.

Related: Prompt · Use-Case Catalog

Use-Case Catalog

Also: use case catalog · use-cases · use cases

The 'I have a problem — what do I do?' reference. About thirty real tasks organized by role, each paired with the recommended prompt or Project.

The Use-Case Catalog maps common Empower tasks to the prompt, Project template, or workflow that handles them best. Scan by role, find your starting point, adapt the prompt. It's the fastest way to go from 'I want to try Claude on this' to having something that actually works. See lesson 16.

Related: Prompt Library · Project Template

Voice Dictation

Also: voice input · voice notes

Speak instead of type. The mobile app converts your voice to text and sends it to Claude.

Voice Dictation is the fastest way to use Claude on a job site, in a truck, or between calls. Tap the mic, talk naturally, and Claude takes the transcript as your prompt. Pair with photo uploads for field reports. Recording works offline; sending requires signal.

Related: Photo Upload

Photo Upload

Also: photo uploads · image attachment

Attach photos to a message. Claude reads them — site photos, whiteboard notes, equipment labels, document scans.

Photo uploads turn Claude into a visual assistant. Snap a photo of a nameplate and ask for the spec sheet; send a site picture and ask what's missing; capture a handwritten note and get it transcribed. Works on mobile and desktop.

Related: Voice Dictation · Artifact

Mobile Workflows

Also: mobile workflow

The field-team pattern: voice notes, photos, and share-sheet hand-offs that make Claude useful on a job site or between calls.

Mobile Workflows are the patterns built around the phone app. Dictate a voice note, snap a photo of a nameplate, share an email from your inbox into Claude — all without typing on a phone screen. Combine them and you turn a site visit into a finished daily report before you leave the truck. See lesson 13.

Related: Voice Dictation · Photo Upload

Estimator

Also: estimators · estimating

Empower's estimating role — reviews scopes, builds pricing, drafts proposals. Uses Claude for scope checks, quote comparisons, and proposal drafting.

Estimators at Empower live in scopes of work, vendor quotes, and proposal documents. Common Claude uses: checking an RFP for completeness before responding, comparing two quotes side by side, drafting the scope section of a proposal. See lesson 09's Account Manager / Sales template for a starting system prompt.

Related: RFP · SOW · Project Template

General Contractor

Also: general contractors · GC · GCs

The lead contractor on a construction job — the party Empower typically partners with on commercial and multi-trade projects. Often abbreviated GC.

A General Contractor (GC) is the company overseeing an entire construction project and coordinating the specialty trades. Empower is often the GC's HVAC / Solar / Electrical / Roofing partner on a project. RFIs, change orders, and daily reports typically flow up through the GC.

Related: RFI · RFP · SOW

RFP

Also: rfps · request for proposal · requests for proposal

Request for Proposal. A formal document asking vendors for a detailed quote on a defined scope. Claude is useful for spotting gaps before you respond.

An RFP (Request for Proposal) is the formal document a buyer sends to solicit detailed bids. At Empower, RFPs arrive from GCs, property managers, and direct commercial clients. Common Claude move: paste the RFP and ask for anything vague, missing, or likely to cause disputes — then draft your response around the flagged items.

Related: RFI · SOW · Estimator

RFI

Also: rfis · request for information · requests for information

Request for Information. A formal question to a GC or client to clarify something before work proceeds. Claude is useful for drafting RFIs from rough notes or photos.

An RFI (Request for Information) is a formal question you send when a drawing, spec, or condition on site isn't clear. It creates a paper trail. Typical Claude use: dictate what you observed and what you need clarified, attach photos, ask for a clean professional draft ready to send.

Related: General Contractor · RFP

SOP

Also: sops · standard operating procedure · standard operating procedures

Standard Operating Procedure. The step-by-step document for a recurring task. Claude is good at drafting first versions and cleaning up existing ones.

An SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) captures how a recurring task gets done. Common Claude moves: draft a first version from a bulleted brain-dump, clean up an existing SOP for clarity, or compare two SOPs to flag inconsistencies. A well-maintained set of SOPs also makes great knowledge files for a Project.

Related: Knowledge File

SOW

Also: sows · scope of work · scopes of work

Scope of Work. The part of a proposal or contract that spells out exactly what's included — and by implication, what isn't.

The SOW (Scope of Work) is the section of a proposal or contract that lists the work being bought. Good SOWs are specific — "replace condensate pump, Model X, labor included, 1-year warranty" — not vague. Empower uses Claude to review client SOWs before accepting them, and to draft the SOW section of outgoing proposals.

Related: RFP · Estimator