Part 8 — Claude Code project setup

You will never write Python in this tutorial, but you should still treat your Blender work like a real software project. The difference between a one-off session and a reliable workflow is a small project folder that gives Claude Code stable rules and reusable prompts every time you open it.

This chapter sets up that folder. Once it exists, you can drop into the directory, launch Claude Code, and Claude already knows your naming conventions, your collection layout, and your export preferences — without you re-explaining them on every prompt.

Create the project folder

Create a working directory for everything Blender MCP related. The layout below keeps your rules, reusable prompts, reference images, and exported models in predictable places. Claude reads files relative to where you launch it, so a clean tree means Claude can find your prompts and references by name.

blender-mcp-assets/
├── CLAUDE.md
├── prompts/
│   ├── crate_prompt.md
│   ├── car_prompt.md
│   └── garage_scene_prompt.md
├── references/
│   └── garage_reference.png
├── exports/
└── blender/

What each piece is for:

• CLAUDE.md — project-scoped rules Claude Code loads automatically when you start it in this folder.
• prompts/ — reusable natural-language prompts you can paste or reference by name across sessions.
• references/ — image references (concept art, photos) Claude can look at to guide a build.
• exports/ — a home for the .glb and other files you ask Claude to export.
• blender/ — saved .blend files for the scenes you build.

Write CLAUDE.md

This is the file that does the real work. Claude Code reads it on startup and follows it as a standing set of instructions, so you stop repeating yourself. Copy the content below into blender-mcp-assets/CLAUDE.md verbatim.

# Blender MCP Project Rules
You are controlling Blender through Blender MCP.

## General Rules
- Prefer low-poly, game-ready assets.
- Use simple geometry unless asked otherwise.
- Always inspect the scene before making major changes.
- Do not delete existing collections unless explicitly instructed.
- Use descriptive lowercase_snake_case names.
- Put objects into named collections.
- Do not leave objects named Cube, Cylinder, Sphere, Plane, or default duplicates.
- Use simple materials.
- Avoid copyrighted brands, logos, and recognizable protected designs.
- Ask before using external downloaded assets.

## Scene Organization
Use these collections when applicable:
- collection_environment
- collection_building
- collection_vehicle
- collection_props
- collection_lighting
- collection_camera

## Output
- Prefer GLB export for game/web assets.
- Keep assets lightweight.
- Make models usable in Godot, Unity, Unreal, or Three.js.

Notice what these rules encode. The general rules push Claude toward clean, game-ready output and away from the default Blender mess — no objects left named Cube or Cylinder.001, everything in a named collection, everything in lowercase_snake_case. The “inspect the scene before making major changes” line is especially useful: it nudges Claude to call the scene-inspection tools first, so it edits what is actually there instead of guessing.

The Scene Organization section gives Claude a fixed vocabulary of collections. When you later ask for a garage with a car and some props, Claude already knows to drop the building into collection_building, the car into collection_vehicle, and so on — no extra instruction needed. The Output section makes GLB the default export target so your assets land ready for Godot, Unity, Unreal, or Three.js.

Start Claude Code in the project

From now on, open your terminal in blender-mcp-assets/ before launching Claude Code. Because CLAUDE.md sits at the root of this folder, Claude loads it automatically and applies the rules to every prompt in the session. Confirm your Blender MCP connection is live in the same session.

claude mcp list

Inside Claude Code, you can also run:

/mcp

Once blender shows as connected and Blender has “Connect to Claude” active in the BlenderMCP sidebar tab, you are ready to build with your rules already in force.

Read this project's CLAUDE.md and summarize the rules you'll follow when controlling Blender. List the named collections you'll use.

A project-scoped CLAUDE.md gives Claude Code stable behavior across sessions.