How to get and use your Four Languages template. 5 lessons for complete beginners.
GitHub is where your system template lives. Think of it like a shared folder, but with superpowers: it tracks every change, lets you get updates without losing your work, and keeps a complete history.
You don't need to understand code or programming. You'll use a few simple commands in Terminal, and this guide will walk you through every single one.
Unlike cloud-based platforms, your files live on your machine. Not on someone else's server. You own everything.
Your repository is private. Everything you add (journal entries, CRM data, personal reflections) is visible only to you.
When you push to GitHub, your files exist in two places: your computer and your private repository. If anything happens to your machine, your system is safe.
If you already have a GitHub account, skip ahead to Lesson 3. If not, here is how to set one up. It takes about two minutes.
Think of GitHub as a library. You're checking out a book (cloning the repo). The library might update the book later, and you can get those updates whenever you want. You don't need to know how the library's cataloging system works to borrow a book.
This is the one-time setup to get the template onto your computer and create your own private backup. Follow every step in order.
Mac: Press Cmd+Space, type "Terminal", and hit Enter.
Windows: Search for "PowerShell" in the Start menu and open it.
This downloads the entire template to your computer. You can rename my-root-system to whatever you want.
# Go to your home folder cd ~ # Clone the template repository git clone https://github.com/maantie/the-four-languages-root-system.git my-root-system # Enter the folder cd my-root-system
ls
You should see folders like soul/, mind/, heart/, body/, context/, guides/ and files like CLAUDE.md.
my-root-system)Run these three commands. Replace YOUR-USERNAME with your actual GitHub username.
# Disconnect from the template git remote remove origin # Connect to YOUR private repo git remote add origin https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/my-root-system.git # Push everything to your private repo git push -u origin main
That's it. The template is now yours. Your private repository is your backup.
Without your own private repo, your work only exists on your computer. If anything happens to your machine, it is gone. Your private repo is your backup.
Here is what you just downloaded. Every folder has a purpose, and each one maps to one of the four languages.
Each language folder has life/ and business/ subfolders.
Personal practices. Journaling, reflection, energy tracking, movement logs. This is the private side of each language.
Professional systems. CRM, projects, SOPs, client work. This is the working side of each language.
The context/ folder is your memory system. It has four tiers, from temporary to permanent:
Temporary thinking and draft reasoning. For multi-step problems, research notes, planning. These expire after 30 days. If something matters, promote it.
What Claude learned during a session. Written automatically when you save. Stays active for two weeks, then gets archived. The best ones become permanent facts.
Things that are always true about you. Your identity, preferences, constraints, and important decisions. Claude reads these every session. They stay until you change them.
An immutable daily record of what you did, decided, and reflected on. Never deleted. This is your system's long-term memory.
This is your root file. Claude reads it every time you start a session. It is your map: it tells Claude who you are, where everything lives, and how you work. You will build this file throughout the course.
You already created your private repo in Lesson 3. Now here is how to use it to back up your work regularly.
At the end of any session, just tell Claude:
"Push my changes to git."Claude will stage the right files, commit them, and push to your private repo. This is the recommended way.
If you want to do it yourself in Terminal:
# Go to your folder cd ~/my-root-system # Stage specific files you changed git add CLAUDE.md context/memory/fact/identity.yaml # Create a snapshot with a message git commit -m "Updated root file and identity" # Push to your private repo git push origin main
This pushes to YOUR private repository. Nobody else can see it.
Every time Claude shows you a save receipt at the end of a session, follow it with "push to git." Your data is only safe when it exists in more than one place.
The template includes a .gitignore file that automatically excludes sensitive files. But as a rule:
You have your repository, you understand the structure, and you know how to back up your work. Head back to the Dashboard and start Module 1.
Back to Dashboard