Before you start
Two things you need in front of you.
iron-os.Install the skill
Copy one folder into place.
Pick your system. The steps below change with it.
In File Explorer, open the unzipped folder, the one holding iron-os and this guide. Right click an empty space inside it and choose Open in Terminal. If that option is not there, click the address bar at the top, type powershell and press Enter.
Paste these two lines into the terminal and press Enter.
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\skills" | Out-Null
Copy-Item -Recurse -Force ".\iron-os" "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\skills\"
In Finder, find the unzipped folder, the one holding iron-os and this guide. Right click the folder, choose Services, then New Terminal at Folder. Or open Terminal from Applications and drag the folder onto its icon in the Dock.
Paste these two lines into the terminal and press Enter.
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -R ./iron-os ~/.claude/skills/
You should see SKILL.md, assets and references.
ls ~/.claude/skills/iron-os
Make a home for it
One folder you always start Claude from.
Your profile, your plan and your app file all live in this folder, and Claude looks here first, so start Claude from here every time. The commands below create it, move the terminal into it and start Claude.
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$env:USERPROFILE\iron-os" | Out-Null
Set-Location "$env:USERPROFILE\iron-os"
claude
mkdir -p ~/iron-os
cd ~/iron-os
claude
iron-os folder, then in the app open the Code tab, choose that folder as the project, and type the same sentence. The skill is picked up from ~/.claude/skills either way.Run it
One sentence starts everything.
Type this to Claude:
Set up my training app
Or /iron-os if you prefer slash commands.
The first thing it asks is which half you want. They are independent, and you are never pushed into the other one.
Training
The workout app and the programme. Nothing about food is ever mentioned.
Food
A weekly meal plan on its own. It skips every question about injuries, equipment and lifts.
Both
The full thing, with your food targets shown in the workout app.
The intake
Nine short sections. Roughly ten minutes.
Who you are, your goal, injuries, your week, your gym, your current lifts, how you train now, whether you want dieting and building phases, and what to call the app.
This is the section that changes your programme most. "My shoulder is a bit dodgy" is not enough to work with. Say what hurts, what brings it on, and how bad it is out of ten. Anything you rule out never appears in your app, not even as a swap option.
You get the plan as a document first. Read it, argue with it, ask for exercises to be swapped. Nothing is built until you are happy with it.
Your app
What you get, and where to keep it.
Claude writes you a single file, something like ben-iron-os.html. Open it in any browser.
Three ways to do it, best first. Phones do not open a plain file the way a computer does, so the first one is the one that works properly.
A · Host it, free
Recommended. Make a new folder, put a copy of your app file in it and rename that copy index.html (keep the two icon files beside it). Go to app.netlify.com/drop, sign in with a free account, and drag the folder onto the page. It gives you a link. Open that link on your phone in Safari or Chrome, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. It opens like any other app after that. When Claude rebuilds your app, drop the folder again on the same site and the link stays the same.
B · Send the file
Send the file to your phone over WhatsApp or AirDrop and open it there. It works for a look, but see the warning below before you rely on it.
C · Use the computer
Open the file in any browser on your laptop and keep it beside you while you train. Fine for a home gym.
Menu, then Export backup. Your history lives on the device, so do this before changing phones.
Your food
Only if you asked for it.
If you chose the food side, you get a second file: a week of meals with a shopping list, built around what you actually eat and how long you will actually spend cooking.
One question decides the whole shape of it.
Keep it simple
A plan built to hit your target. No counting, no weighing, no macros on screen. Eat what is on the plan and the numbers look after themselves.
Match my training
More carbohydrate on hard days, less on rest days, protein steady throughout. Every meal shows its numbers.
You also get a supplements panel, and it is honest rather than promotional. It works out whether your food actually falls short of your protein target and tells you plainly when no shake is needed. Ask for next week's plan whenever you want one.
Getting coached
The part that makes it worth doing.
After a session, tell Claude how it went. It reads your profile and your plan, asks how you slept and whether anything hurt, then tells you what to do next time. When the programme genuinely needs to change, it rebuilds your app file.
Open the app menu and tap Copy session summary. It puts the whole session on the clipboard: the date, every set you logged and your check in scores.
Type the line below, paste the summary after it, and send. Claude does the rest.
Just finished day 1, here is the summary:
iron-os-profile.md and iron-os-plan.md sit next to your app file. They are the memory. Start Claude in that folder and it knows exactly where you are.Quick reference
| Say this | What happens |
|---|---|
Set up my training app | Starts everything. Asks whether you want training, food, or both. |
/iron-os | The same thing, as a slash command. |
Copy session summary | In the app menu, not in Claude. Puts today's session on the clipboard, ready to paste into the chat. |
Here's how today went… | Logs the session, gives a verdict, sets the next one. |
What am I doing today? | Tells you the next session and the weights to use. |
My knee has started hurting | Adds the constraint, swaps affected exercises, blocks them from the swap list, rebuilds the app. |
I'm starting a diet on Monday | Switches phase, cuts volume to the maintenance dose, and moves your food targets. |
Make me next week's meal plan | A fresh week of food against the same targets. |
Add the food side | Adds meal planning to an existing training setup, or the reverse. |
Rebuild my app | Regenerates the file after programme changes. |
Add cloud sync | Optional, advanced. Claude points you at references/cloud-sync.md. |