Claude doesn't have an ADHD mode. Here's how to build your own.
A free generator that builds a custom Claude Project tuned to how your brain actually works — task paralysis, time blindness, the spiral, all of it.
Created by Nicole Patten
7 years at Google. 15 years in tech. Now teaching teams and solopreneurs how to use Claude to actually run their work.
The viral post was wrong, but the idea wasn't.
A post made the rounds claiming Claude has a built-in "ADHD mode" that proactively body-doubles you and remembers your patterns. It doesn't. Out of the box, Claude is generic and amnesiac — every chat starts from zero. But the underlying idea is sound. With a properly-built Claude Project, you can get Claude to behave like a second brain — one that remembers how your brain works, names your avoidance patterns, paces your output, and never suggests another productivity system you already abandoned.
This tool builds that Project for you. Answer seven quick questions about your brain, drop your email, and you'll get a custom Project Instructions file you can paste straight into Claude. Plus a bonus guide for setting up real body doubling via Scheduled Tasks.
How it works — the BRIEF framework
BRIEF is the instruction-writing system we teach in the Claude for Everyone course. For executive function support, every section gets tuned to how your brain actually behaves.
- B
Behavior
How Claude talks to your brain — direct, warm, hyped, or adaptive.
- R
Role
Claude as cognitive scaffolding, not generic assistant.
- I
Intel
Your brain patterns and failure modes — remembered every conversation.
- E
Edges
The hard nevers — never give me 10 things, never suggest another productivity system.
- F
Format
Output shape — smallest next action, realistic time estimates, capped length.
Who this is for
- Adults with ADHD who want Claude to actually behave like cognitive scaffolding instead of a generic chatbot
- Neurodivergent professionals tired of explaining their brain to every new tool
- People with executive function challenges from burnout, perimenopause, long COVID, or anything else
- Anyone whose to-do list keeps eating their day
Build your executive function support brain
Seven quick questions. We'll build a Claude Project Instructions file shaped around how your brain actually works — task paralysis, time blindness, the spiral, all of it. Takes about 3 minutes.
You probably want two Projects, not one.
Claude Projects only hold one set of instructions — you can't toggle modes mid-conversation. A Project tuned to do the work and a Project tuned to think about the work need different rules. They'll fight each other if you try to mash them into one.
The cleanest setup is two Projects, one per brain state:
For scattered days
Executive Function Project
Open this when your brain is the bottleneck. Smallest next action, no productivity lectures, no spirals co-signed.
For clear days
Strategic Advisor Project
Open this when you need to think, not do. Pricing, positioning, hiring, the next 90 days.
Switching Projects is the friction that helps — it's a physical signal that you're changing modes. Most days you'll live in the Executive Function one. The Strategic Advisor is what you open when you have the bandwidth to think.
Other free tools
This tool is part of the Claude for Everyone course and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic PBC or Claude AI. Not medical advice. ADHD diagnosis and treatment should come from a qualified clinician.