Answer
How do I make ChatGPT or Claude follow my rules every time?
To make ChatGPT or Claude follow your rules every time, don't rely on instructions alone. AI will give an answer that sounds right to anything. So put a check outside the AI on each rule that matters. Here's an example. At a second company, a check now fails any measurable line priced as a lump sum and names the unit it should carry. Nothing goes out until a person approves it.
Eugeen Bernan, COO of a 90-person New York contractor.
How to do it
- Write your standing rules once and keep them in a Project, so every chat starts with them.
- Keep the never rules in every prompt. Every prompt in my email guide says "do not send," and that line stays in.
- Add an input gate. Missing inputs stop the workflow.
- Add an output gate. Check the result against the source it must match before anyone uses it.
- Add an action gate. Promises, approvals, pricing and anything you can't undo wait for a person.
- Grade the build: how much of the work is gated, and how much is still a confident guess.
See it for yourself
- Proof
The second company's check that fails a measurable line priced as a lump sum.
- Bernan's Law Rubric
Put a deterministic gate on a guessing machine. Nine dimensions for grading any AI build.
- The free worksheet
The input, output and action gates for one workflow, on one page.
- The free email guide
Every prompt keeps one rule: nothing goes out until you say send.
Want the next step?
Define an input gate, an output gate, and an action gate. A failed gate stops the work and names what is missing.