A Project is a folder of chats that all share the same instructions and files. You write your context once into the Project, and every chat you open inside it starts already knowing who you are and how you like things. Think of it as a desk set up for one job, instead of clearing the desk every single time.
To set up a Claude Project, open Projects in the sidebar, create one, paste your standing instructions into its instructions box, add any files it should always have, then start your chats inside the Project.
Set it up in five steps
- Open Projects and create one. In the Claude sidebar, click Projects, then New project. Name it after the job, not after yourself, so "Client emails" or "Book draft", because you will likely have a few and the name is how you find the right desk.
- Paste your instructions once. Every Project has an instructions box. This is the whole point: put who you are, what the work is, and how you want replies, and Claude reads it at the start of every chat inside. The block below is built to drop straight in.
- Add the files it should always see. A Project can hold files that every chat can read: your brand notes, a style sample, last month's report, the brief. Add them once and stop re-uploading them, because the Project keeps them loaded across all its chats.
- Start your chats inside the Project. Open a new chat from within the Project, not from the home screen, or it will not inherit any of this. A chat started inside carries the instructions and files automatically.
- Update the instructions as things change. The Project is not set in stone. When your situation shifts, or you notice Claude keeps getting one thing wrong, edit the instructions box, and every future chat picks up the change.
The Project instructions block
Paste this into your Project's instructions box and fill in the brackets. It sets your context and your rules in one go. The brackets are the file, so do not leave them as they are.
This Project is for: [THE ONE JOB. For example: writing and replying to customer emails for my bakery. Or: drafting chapters of my book.] About me: [YOUR SITUATION IN A LINE OR TWO. For example: I run a two-person bakery and do all the admin myself.] Who the work is for: [WHO READS OR RECEIVES IT. For example: customers who are not technical, my supplier, my editor.] What good looks like here: [WHAT A FINISHED, USEFUL RESULT IS. For example: a warm, short email I can send as is. Or: a chapter draft in my voice that I can edit, not rewrite.] How I want you to reply in this Project: 1. Answer first, reasoning after, and only if I ask. 2. Plain words. If a normal person would not say it out loud, do not write it. 3. Use the files in this Project as the source of truth. If something is not in them or in what I tell you, say so rather than guessing. 4. Never invent a fact, a number, a name, a price or a source. Leave a clear gap for me to fill. 5. On anything I might send or publish, end with one short line naming the part you are least sure about. Things I never want here: [YOUR NO LIST. For example: no emoji, no exclamation marks, no American spelling.] When I start a chat in this Project, assume all of the above and wait for my task.
Where the line is
- The honest bit: a Project only helps if you start chats inside it. A chat opened from the home screen ignores all of this. If an answer feels generic, check you are actually in the Project.
- Keep sensitive files out. The Project keeps whatever you add loaded for every chat in it. Do not put anything private in there that you would not want surfaced in a later answer.
Set one up for your most repeated job
Do not make a Project for everything. Pick the one kind of work you do most, the emails, the posts, the ongoing draft, and set up a single Project for that today. Paste the block, add one file, start a chat inside it, and watch the first answer land closer than usual.
Not sure whether you need a Project, a skill, or just a paste? Read when to use a skill, a Project, or a paste.