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Up and running in 5 minutes

1. Set up a few accounts (one-time, easy)
2. Download the plugin file from GitHub
3. Drag the file into Claude, click "Save plugin"
4. Create a folder for your thesis
5. Tell Claude: "I want to write a bachelor thesis in [your subject]."

That's it. Claude takes it from there.

What you'll need

1) Create accounts

You need three core tools (Claude, NotebookLM, Gemini). Perplexity and Obsidian are optional. All of them have a free version. If you want to really push through, the Pro versions pay off.

Tool	Link	What for
Claude	claude.ai	The AI that runs everything. Download the Desktop app and turn on Cowork Mode (needs Pro).
Perplexity	perplexity.ai	Optional. Scouts real sources up front — with links you can actually verify. You then import the best ones into NotebookLM.
NotebookLM	notebooklm.google.com	Where you upload all the PDFs you want to cite.
Gemini	gemini.google.com/app	Reads your sources and summarises them.
Obsidian	obsidian.md	Optional. Gives you a clean overview of all your files. Like a local Notion.

I personally pay for Claude Max (€200), NotebookLM Pro (€20), optionally Perplexity Pro (€20). Gemini is free.

2) Install the skills

Three ways. Option A is the easiest — pick this if you don't want to deal with setup.

Option A: One click (recommended)

1. Download the file
2. Open Claude Desktop. Turn on Cowork Mode: profile → Settings → Beta Features → Cowork Mode on
3. Drag the file you just downloaded into the Claude chat
4. Claude shows a preview. Click "Save plugin"

Done. Claude now has all 8 steps loaded as skills.

Option B: Just one skill

Like Option A, but instead of a plugin with many skills you get a single skill. Same result, just leaner. Download, drag into Claude, click "Save skill".

Option C: For the techy folks

If you're into Obsidian or you already use git:

git clone https://github.com/e3xler/bachelor.git

Or grab the ZIP and unzip it. Then in Claude pick the unzipped folder as the Cowork folder. Claude detects everything automatically.

3) Create a folder for your thesis

You need a folder on your Mac (or PC) where your thesis lives. That's where chapters, sources, and the final Word file will end up.

With Option A or B: Just make an empty folder, e.g. Bachelor-Thesis in your Documents. Claude builds the rest later.

With Option C: The cloned bachelor folder is already your working folder. Nothing more to do.

4) Open Obsidian (or skip)

Obsidian is like OneNote or Notion, but local on your computer. Makes it easier to search through your texts and sources.

1. Open Obsidian
2. "Open vault" → pick your thesis folder
3. You see all files in a clean overview

If you don't want yet another tool, skip it. The pipeline works without.

5) Get going

1. Open Claude Desktop, Cowork Mode on
2. Select folder → pick your thesis folder
3. Write one of these to Claude:

• "I want to write a bachelor thesis in [your subject]."
• "Help me with the research question on [your topic]."
• /start (only if you picked Option A)

Claude kicks off and walks you through everything.

How this works (8 steps)

The AI does this in a fixed order. You don't need to remember what comes when — Claude tells you. Here's the overview:

Step 0: Check (bachelorarbeit-onboarding)

Claude checks if everything is working. Right accounts? Folder okay? Ready to roll?

Takes 2 minutes.

Step 1: Planning (bachelorarbeit-planung)

This is the most important part at the start:

• You tell Claude roughly what your thesis is about
• Claude helps you turn that into a research question (the one question your thesis answers)
• Together you build an outline with page counts
• Claude creates the folders for each chapter
• You make a timeline working backwards from your submission date

By the end you know what you're writing, how much, and by when.

Step 2: Finding sources (bachelorarbeit-recherche)

Now you need material to cite. Claude tells you what to search for.

• Claude gives you search terms for every chapter
• You open NotebookLM in your browser and search for sources there (Deep Research is the main channel)
• Optional: use Perplexity to scout sources up front — then import the best links into NotebookLM
• You upload PDFs, papers, and links
• Claude keeps track of what you found

Tip: Peer-reviewed stuff beats some random blog. Claude explains the difference.

Step 3: Reading sources (bachelorarbeit-quellenauswertung)

Here's the trick: Claude doesn't read your sources — Gemini does. Why? Because Claude would burn way too many tokens (= money) on that. Gemini is cheaper and reads your NotebookLM sources directly.

How you do it (one-time setup, 2 minutes):

1. Claude gives you a system prompt — that's instructions for Gemini
2. Open Gemini, create a new Gem (that's what Gemini calls custom bots) and paste in the instructions
3. Link your NotebookLM to the Gem (click + bottom left in the chat → NotebookLM)
4. For each chapter Claude gives you a ready-to-paste prompt
5. Copy Gemini's answer back to Claude — Claude shapes it into the format that's needed

Sounds complicated at first. Takes 5 minutes the first time, then it's fast.

Step 4: Writing (bachelorarbeit-writer)

Now Claude writes your chapters.

• Academic style, Harvard citation (Claude explains it if you don't know it yet)
• Every paragraph has a clear point with a reason and a source
• If Claude needs a source it doesn't have, it writes [QUELLE ERGÄNZEN] — no made-up sources

Order that works: Theory → Method → Results → Discussion → Introduction → Conclusion

(Write intro and conclusion last, because you only really know what's in the thesis by then.)

Step 5: Review (bachelorarbeit-reviewer)

Claude reads your chapter again and pretends to be your professor:

• Is the argument convincing?
• Enough solid sources?
• Language fine?
• Does it have substance?

You get feedback in three tiers: Must (otherwise it won't fly), Should (better if you change it), Optional (nice-to-have).

Step 6: Revising (bachelorarbeit-ueberarbeitung)

Claude works the feedback in. Also handles supervisor feedback — just say "My supervisor said: [...]", and Claude rebuilds the chapter around it.

Important: Your voice stays. Claude patches, doesn't rewrite from scratch.

Step 7: Get it submission-ready (bachelorarbeit-finalisierung)

The final step. Claude:

• Reads the whole thesis and checks if everything fits together
• Builds the bibliography automatically from all your sources
• Closes leftover markers like [QUELLE ERGÄNZEN] or [SEITE PRÜFEN]
• Makes a .docx file following your university's spec

You get a finished Word file. Open it, refresh the table of contents, submit.

Who does what

Step	What Claude does	What you do
Check	Makes sure everything's ready	Install tools, pick the folder
Planning	Research question, outline, schedule	Describe the topic, answer questions
Finding sources	Gives you search terms	Open NotebookLM, search, upload
Reading sources	Gives you prompts for Gemini	Run prompts in Gemini, paste answers back to Claude
Writing	Writes chapters	Read, give feedback
Review	Writes a review	Decide whether to change things
Revising	Works in the feedback	Optional: forward supervisor feedback
Submission	Makes the Word file	Provide your uni's formatting spec

Where am I right now?

Ask Claude any time: "What's the status?"

Claude always knows where you are. Every chapter has one of these statuses:

Pending → First draft → Reviewed → Revised → Final

Before you submit — checklist

• All [QUELLE ERGÄNZEN] replaced with real sources?
• All [SEITE PRÜFEN] checked?
• All [ABBILDUNG X.Y] replaced with real figures?
• Bibliography complete?
• Table of contents in Word refreshed? (right-click → update fields)
• Plagiarism check from your uni run?
• Formatting matches your uni's spec?
• Declaration of authorship signed?

Then: submit and breathe out.