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About This Wiki|10 min read|Last reviewed 2026-05-07

Build Your Own Just Behaving AI Project

Build Your Own Just Behaving AI Project

A practical, self-contained guide for setting up a Just Behaving AI assistant in Claude or ChatGPT. Everything you need to download is on this page. Once set up, the assistant can guide you through everyday raising, the transition home, behavior questions, medical context, and the science layer behind the philosophy.

Why this matters. Just Behaving is built around the soft landing - the puppy moving from breeder to family home should keep speaking the same canine language of calm, mentorship, and structure they learned in their first eight weeks. When that language changes at the threshold, you get what most pet dogs become: social puppies in adult bodies, physically grown but socially still juvenile. This kit gives your AI assistant the same philosophical foundation we operate from, so the guidance you get in the first night, the first month, and the first year keeps the language consistent.

What This Page Explains

This page gives families the system prompt, the seven core philosophical documents, the full Family Guides collection, and a wiki navigation guide as downloadable files. Together, they let you spin up a personal Just Behaving AI assistant in either Claude or ChatGPT that can:

  • Answer everyday raising questions grounded in the Five Pillars
  • Walk you through the first-night, first-week, and first-month transition
  • Help you think through behavior issues (mouthing, leash, recall, separation) using the philosophy
  • Provide context on medical and developmental questions, and direct you to the right wiki page or the right professional
  • Point you to the science underneath any topic by recommending the appropriate page on the live Just Behaving wiki

What You Will Need

  • A Claude account (claude.ai) or a ChatGPT account (chatgpt.com). The Project feature in Claude and the Custom GPT or Project feature in ChatGPT both work. The free tier of each is enough to get started; paid tiers raise message limits and unlock larger context windows.
  • Roughly fifteen minutes for setup.
  • The ten files in the starter kit below.

The Starter Kit

Right-click each link and select "Save Link As" to download. On mobile, tap and hold to save.

The system prompt. Paste this into the Project Instructions or Custom GPT Instructions field.

The seven core philosophical documents. Upload these as Project Knowledge or Custom GPT Knowledge. They are listed in recommended reading order for humans, but the AI will reference them all together.

The wiki navigation guide. A map of the public Just Behaving wiki so the assistant can recommend the right page for specific questions.

The Family Guides collection. All 41 Family Guides articles from justbehaving.com/family-guides bundled into one file. The first-line resource for practical raising, transition, and behavior questions.

How To Use This

Setup in Claude

  1. Sign in at claude.ai.
  2. In the left sidebar, click Projects, then Create project. Name it "Just Behaving."
  3. Open the project, click the Project instructions panel, and paste the entire contents of 00-system-prompt.md. Save.
  4. In the same project, find the Project knowledge panel and upload all nine remaining files (01-introduction.md through 09-family-guides-collected.md).
  5. Start a new chat inside the project. Ask any question; the assistant will respond using the loaded documents.

Setup in ChatGPT

  1. Sign in at chatgpt.com.
  2. Click your profile, then My GPTs, then Create a GPT. (Alternatively, use the newer Projects feature if available on your account; the steps are similar.)
  3. In the Configure tab, paste the entire contents of 00-system-prompt.md into the Instructions field. The system prompt is sized to fit within the 8,000-character limit.
  4. Scroll to Knowledge and upload all nine remaining files. (ChatGPT's 20-file limit is plenty; this kit uses 9.)
  5. Save the GPT (private is fine). Start chatting.

How The Assistant Helps With Science And Daily Life

The assistant is configured to reach for the right resource depending on the question:

  • Everyday raising questions ("our puppy is mouthing too hard," "she pulls on leash"): the Family Guides are the first place it looks.
  • Transition questions ("the first 48 hours," "she's regressing in week three"): the Transition Series in the Family Guides.
  • Philosophical questions ("why don't you use treats?" "what does indirect correction actually mean?"): the seven core documents.
  • Specific scientific or medical context ("what does the evidence say about hip screening?" "what is the socialization window?"): the wiki navigation guide tells the assistant which wiki page to recommend, and it will give you the URL on justbehaving.com/wiki to read.
  • Anything medical, urgent, or beyond the philosophy's scope: the assistant will direct you to your veterinarian or a qualified behavior professional. It will not pretend to be one.

Tips For Asking Good Questions

  • Describe the situation, not the symptom. Instead of "how do I stop jumping," try "my eight-month-old jumps on visitors when they come through the door, and we have been telling him to sit. What would the Five Pillars do here?"
  • Ask which pillar applies. "Which pillar speaks to crate training?" or "Is this a Calmness issue or a Structured Leadership issue?"
  • Ask for the document or wiki page. "Which document covers this?" or "Is there a wiki page on this?" The assistant will name the source so you can read further.
  • Push back when something feels off. If the answer drifts toward generic training advice, say so. Ask the assistant to re-ground in the loaded documents.

What This Assistant Is Not

This assistant is not a substitute for your veterinarian, your breeder, or a qualified behavior professional for serious cases. It is a thinking companion grounded in the Just Behaving philosophy. For medical questions, call your vet. For aggression, severe anxiety, or any situation that feels beyond a confident next step, reach out to a professional.

See Also

Sources and Governing References

  • The seven LOCKED 2.0 philosophical core documents (provided in this kit).
  • The 41 Family Guides articles from content/family-guides/ (provided as a bundled, frontmatter-stripped file in this kit).
  • The Just Behaving wiki at justbehaving.com/wiki and its public AI manifests at /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt.
  • The Family Edition system prompt is derived from the internal Just Behaving system prompt v2.0; the Five Pillars, Thesis, Key Philosophical Positions, and evidence discipline sections are preserved verbatim. The operational sections were replaced with family-relevant guidance, including new sections on medical questions, behavioral questions, and using the wiki.