Notes on working with AI
Claude Projects explained: one brief, every chat starts informed
A Project keeps your instructions and files in one place so every chat starts with the same context. What it holds, how it differs from memory, and how a team shares one.
A Project in Claude is a workspace that keeps your instructions and your files in one place, so every chat you open inside it starts with the same context. You stop pasting the same brief at the top of every conversation.
What a Project holds
A Project holds three things:
- Instructions. A short brief that applies to every chat in the Project: who the reader is, the tone, the format you expect back.
- Files. The documents Claude should work from, such as a style guide, last quarter's board pack or a policy folder.
- Chats. Each conversation inside the Project sees the instructions and the files. Conversations don't carry over to each other, so one messy chat doesn't spoil the next.
Projects are not memory
Memory is Claude carrying what it learned about you across conversations. A Project is a place you set up on purpose, and only the chats inside it use what you put there. If a task has a fixed brief and fixed source files, a Project is the right tool. If you just want Claude to remember your preferences, that is a different setting.
How a team shares a Project
Sharing a Project with colleagues depends on your plan. Check what your Claude plan allows, in your account settings and on Anthropic's pricing page, before you build a shared setup around it.
Even without built-in sharing, what a team really shares is the brief and the files. Keep them in one document with a single owner, set each Project up from that document, and change the document first whenever the brief changes. Everyone then starts from the same place.
The strongest use is a recurring task with a stable input. Finance is the cleanest case: the month-end checklist and last month's variance notes live in one Project, and whoever runs the close opens it and gets the same starting point. If that is your team, our Claude workshop for finance teams works through the close on your own files, and the finance guides on the blog go further. An HR team might keep the job-description template and the leveling guide in another Project, and a marketing team the brand voice document and three approved examples.
A setup that works
- Pick one task people repeat every week.
- Write the instructions as if briefing a new colleague: audience, goal, format, what to flag instead of guess.
- Add only the files the task needs. A Project full of unrelated documents gives vague answers.
- Run the task on a real example and fix the instructions where the answer missed.
- Keep a short note of what changed, so the next person knows why the brief reads the way it does.
Common questions
Do I need a paid plan for Projects?
Plan limits change, so check the current terms on Anthropic's pricing page before you plan around a specific number of Projects or files.
Is a Project the same as a Skill?
No. A Project is a workspace with a fixed brief and files. A Skill is a reusable set of instructions Claude loads when a task calls for it. Many teams use both: a Project for the context, a Skill for the repeatable method.
How many files should I add?
As few as the task needs. Start with two or three and add one only when an answer shows something is missing.
Does this replace training?
It makes training stick. People still need to learn how to write a good brief and check the answer, which is what we teach in our workshops, on site or online.