Step 4 · Set up your data
Set up your data
Now the magic bit. Claude interviews you about how you actually run the business — how you charge, what you stock, who's on the team — then builds your entire database to match. No spreadsheets, no setup screens, no assumptions.
With Airtable connected, open a new session in Claude — a fresh chat. You don't copy a template or arrange any tables yourself. You just ask, and the setup skill does the work — with you, one question at a time.
Say this to Claude
“Set up my pool business.”
What happens next
1
A short interview — plain questions, loose answers
Claude asks how your business actually works: what you charge and how (flat monthly? monthly plus chemicals used?), what you charge for tabs and acid, who's on the crew, how customers pay today, and what you're using now (spreadsheets, Square, QuickBooks…). “Tabs are $6 a pound” is a perfectly good answer. Everything downstream — billing, invoices, the books — runs off these answers instead of guesses.
2
Claude shows you the plan, you say yes
It previews the database it's about to create — Pool Service, with every table your business needs — and builds it on your go. The first time Claude reaches into Airtable, it asks your permission with an Allow button — click it and Claude carries on.
3
Your price list is seeded with YOUR prices
The chemicals you priced in the interview go straight into your price list — that's what makes chemicals show up on invoices automatically when a tech logs “added 2 lb tabs.”
4
Done — and it picks up where it left off
Claude confirms your base is ready and offers the next steps: the Stripe walkthrough, and importing your existing customers. Stop anytime; “pick up where we left off” resumes mid-setup.
Screenshot
A Claude chat: the owner types “Set up my pool business,” Claude asks how they charge (flat monthly vs monthly plus chemicals), then previews the tables it will create.
Screenshot
Claude's permission prompt when it first uses the Airtable connection, with the “Allow” button highlighted.
It names the base for you
Claude names your database Pool Service on purpose — so every other skill finds it automatically. You don't need to remember any codes or IDs. Leave the name as-is.
Safe to run, safe to re-run
This step only ever adds structure — it never deletes or overwrites your data. If something gets interrupted, just run it again and it picks up where it left off. Later, when the skills gain new features, you'll run this same step once more and it quietly upgrades your database. (More on that in Updating later.)
If Claude says it can't create the base
That almost always means the Airtable connection was granted too narrowly. Go back to Connect Airtable, reconnect, and grant your whole workspace with permission to create bases — then ask Claude to set up your base again.