The Claude AI Projects feature is Anthropic’s answer to the most common frustration in AI assistant use — the need to re-establish context at the beginning of every new conversation. Claude AI Projects solve this by creating persistent workspaces that maintain a shared system prompt, uploaded reference documents, and grouped conversation history, so every conversation within a Project inherits the same context automatically. This Claude AI Projects feature guide covers how to create, configure, and use Projects effectively for professional work, team collaboration, and ongoing creative or technical projects.
Setting Up a Claude AI Project — Step by Step
- 1Click “New Project” in the sidebarIn the Claude.ai interface, the Projects section appears in the left sidebar. Click “New Project”, give it a name that clearly describes its purpose, and choose personal or shared access.
- 2Write your Project system promptThis is the most important configuration step. Describe: your role, the Project’s purpose, tone and format preferences, and any standing instructions. Example: “I am the content lead for a B2B SaaS company targeting enterprise HR teams in the UK. Always write in British English, formal register, under 200 words per response unless asked otherwise. Our key messages are: [list].”
- 3Upload reference documentsAdd any documents Claude should reference: style guides, product specs, competitor research, previous work, technical documentation. Claude can search and reference these in every Project conversation without being re-uploaded.
- 4Start conversations within the ProjectAll conversations created inside the Project inherit the system prompt and document access. You can have multiple separate conversations within one Project — each inherits the context, and all are visible in the Project’s conversation history.
- 5Invite team members (Team plan required)On Claude Team plans ($30/user/month), you can invite colleagues to a shared Project. They can see the system prompt, reference documents, and shared conversation history — enabling consistent AI-assisted workflows across a team.
Best Uses for Claude AI Projects
- Client work: Create one Project per client with the client brief, brand guidelines, target audience, and key messages as Project documents. Every conversation in the Project produces on-brief output without repeating the brief each time.
- Codebase assistant: Create a Project for each repository. Upload key technical documentation, coding standards, architecture decisions, and README files. Claude Code within the Project understands your specific project context without generic assumptions.
- Research projects: Create a Project for a research topic. Upload papers, notes, and key sources as you collect them. Use the Project to synthesise, compare, and analyse sources across multiple conversations without losing context between sessions.
- Writing series: For ongoing content (newsletters, blog series, book chapters), create a Project with your style guide, previously published pieces, and recurring themes. Consistency across a long series improves dramatically with shared context.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Claude AI Projects free?
Yes — Projects became available on the free tier in February 2026. Free users can create and use Projects with system prompts and document uploads. Shared Projects (multiple users accessing the same Project) require a Claude Team plan at $30/user/month. Free and Pro users can create personal Projects with full context and document functionality.
How many documents can I add to a Claude Project?
Claude Pro Projects support up to 40 files per Project, with a combined context of up to 200K tokens for document storage. Opus 4.6 and 4.7 support 1M tokens of context including Project documents on supported plans. For very large document sets (entire codebases, extensive research libraries), Claude Code with its native codebase indexing is more appropriate than manual document uploads to a Project.
What is the difference between Claude Projects and ChatGPT Projects?
Both allow persistent context across conversations within a shared workspace. Claude Projects’ primary advantage is the depth of system prompt control and the integration with Claude’s extended context — up to 1M tokens including Project documents. ChatGPT’s Projects integrate more seamlessly with the broader OpenAI ecosystem (custom GPTs, connectors). For professional text and coding workflows, Claude Projects’ context reliability and writing output quality give it a practical edge. For multimedia workflows, ChatGPT’s ecosystem breadth matters more.
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