Claude Projects are workspaces that keep your chats, custom instructions and reference files in one place, so Claude remembers your context across every conversation. Instead of re-explaining who you are and what you want each time, you set it up once and every chat in the Project starts with that shared knowledge. It is one of the simplest ways to make Claude feel like a trained teammate instead of a blank chatbot.
Here is how Projects work, how to set one up, and how to make them dramatically more useful with ready-made skills.
What a Claude Project is
Think of a Project as a folder with a brain. It holds three things: your conversations on a topic, a set of custom instructions that apply to all of them, and knowledge files (documents, notes, guidelines) that Claude can reference. Anything you put in the Project is available to every chat inside it.
That means a "Marketing" Project can carry your brand voice, your product facts and your do's and don'ts, while a "Client X" Project carries that client's context - and the two never get mixed up.
How to set up your first Project
1. Create the Project
In Claude, create a new Project and give it a clear name - a client, a role, or a recurring task works best.
2. Write custom instructions
This is the most important step. Tell Claude the role it should play, your preferred tone and format, the audience, and anything it should always or never do. Good instructions here quietly improve every chat you'll ever have in the Project.
3. Add knowledge files
Upload the reference material Claude should draw on - style guides, product sheets, past examples, policies. Now answers are grounded in your real material instead of generic guesses.
4. Start chatting
Open a new chat inside the Project and go. Every conversation inherits the instructions and files automatically.
The shortcut: load a ready-made skill
Writing great custom instructions takes practice. The fast path is to paste in a tested Claude skill - a ready-made expert persona with a defined role, workflow and guardrails. Drop Diane, our Executive Assistant AI Skill, into a Project's instructions and every chat behaves like a trained assistant: it drafts emails, plans your week and organizes tasks in your preferred style from the first message.
New to skills? Our guide on how to install a Claude skill shows exactly where they go. And if you use both tools, ChatGPT Projects work in a very similar way.
Tips to get more out of Projects
One Project per context. Don't cram everything into one - separate Projects keep instructions and files clean.
Update the knowledge as you go. When something changes, update the files once and every future chat is current.
Keep instructions specific. "Reply in short, friendly paragraphs, no jargon, sign off as the team" beats "be helpful."
Frequently asked questions
What are Claude Projects?
Claude Projects are dedicated workspaces inside Claude that keep a set of chats, custom instructions and reference files together. Everything you add - documents, guidelines, context - is available to every conversation in that Project, so you don't have to re-explain your situation each time.
Are Claude Projects free?
Projects are available on Claude's paid plans. The free plan lets you chat with Claude, but Projects, larger context and knowledge files are part of the paid tiers. Check Claude's current plan page for exact limits, which change over time.
What's the difference between Claude Projects and ChatGPT Projects?
The idea is the same: a folder that bundles related chats, instructions and files. They differ in the underlying model, interface details and limits. If you already use Claude for its writing and reasoning, Claude Projects keeps that work organized; if you live in ChatGPT, its Projects do the equivalent.
What should I put in a Project's custom instructions?
Give Claude a role, your preferences, and any rules it should always follow - tone, format, what to avoid, who the audience is. This is exactly where a ready-made skill file shines: instead of writing instructions from scratch, you paste in a tested expert persona.
Can I use a skill file inside a Claude Project?
Yes. A skill file is just a well-structured set of instructions. Paste it into the Project's custom instructions or add it as a knowledge file, and every chat in that Project behaves like a trained specialist - an assistant, analyst, recruiter or writer - from the first message.
The bottom line
Claude Projects turn scattered chats into an organized workspace that remembers your context. Set the instructions once, add your files, and let every conversation start trained. To skip the setup work entirely, load a ready-made skill and your Project becomes an instant specialist.
Browse the full Claude Skills marketplace at KissMySkills.