Projects, Memory & Skills

Re-briefing Claude from scratch every conversation is like re-onboarding the same employee every Monday morning. Projects, CLAUDE.md, and Skills solve this.

The Problem

Without persistent context, every Claude conversation starts at zero. You end up:

• Pasting the same background information over and over
• Getting generic outputs that don't match your voice or standards
• Spending the first 5 minutes of every session catching Claude up
• Settling for "good enough" instead of "exactly right"

This is the single biggest time waster for Claude users. And it's completely fixable.

Claude Chat: Projects

Projects are the most important feature in Claude Chat that most people don't use.

What a Project is: A container that holds instructions and files that Claude references in every conversation within that Project.

Think of it this way: if Claude is a brilliant new hire, a Project is their onboarding packet. Everything they need to know to do great work, loaded automatically before every conversation.

What to Put in Project Instructions

You are the AI assistant for [Name], Marketing Director at [Company].\n\nCompany context:\n- B2B SaaS, $8M ARR, 200 customers\n- ICP: Mid-market e-commerce (50-500 employees)\n- Main competitors: [Competitor A], [Competitor B]\n\nWriting style:\n- Professional but conversational\n- Data-driven — always cite numbers when available\n- Short paragraphs, clear headers\n- No jargon: 'use' not 'leverage', 'help' not 'empower'\n\nKey context:\n- Currently running a product launch campaign (Q2)\n- Budget: $50K/quarter for paid acquisition\n- Team: 3 people (content, demand gen, product marketing)\n\nDefault format preferences:\n- Briefs: Start with objective and key message\n- Emails: Under 150 words, clear CTA\n- Reports: Executive summary first, then details

What to Upload as Project Files

Project files are reference documents Claude can access in every conversation. Upload things that don't change often:

• Brand/style guide — How you write, what words you use and avoid
• Product documentation — What you sell, features, pricing
• ICP or persona docs — Who your customers are
• Competitive intel — How you position against competitors
• Templates — Proposal structures, email formats, report layouts

Setting Up Your First Project

Here's the fastest path to a useful Project:

Multiple Projects for Different Roles

Most operators benefit from 2-4 Projects:

Claude Code: CLAUDE.md

CLAUDE.md is Claude Code's version of Project instructions — but more powerful because it lives in your file system and can be version-controlled.

It's a simple markdown file at the root of your project folder. Every time you start a Claude Code session in that folder, it reads CLAUDE.md first.

Think of CLAUDE.md as an onboarding document for a brilliant new hire. You write it completely differently when you think of it that way.

What to Include in CLAUDE.md

• Business context — What your company does, who your customers are, your stage
• Your role — How you use Claude Code, what decisions you make
• Repository structure — What's where, so Claude can find things
• Voice and style guide — How outputs should sound
• Key tools and integrations — APIs you connect to, tools you use
• Standard processes — Workflows you repeat
• Important files — Where key documents live
• Rules — Things to always or never do

We go deep on CLAUDE.md in the CLAUDE.md: Your Business Operating System playbook.

Claude CoWork: Shared Context

CoWork lets teams share context across conversations and members. Think of it as Projects, but for your whole team.

When to use CoWork over Chat Projects:

• Multiple team members need the same context
• You want Claude to pull from shared team knowledge
• You need integrations with team tools (Slack, Google Drive, Notion, etc.)
• You want consistency across how different team members get AI output

CoWork Context Best Practices

The same principles apply — give Claude persistent context — but with a team lens:

• Shared knowledge base — Company info, processes, standards that everyone needs
• Role-specific instructions — Different team members can have different default behaviors
• Connected tools — Link to the data sources your team actually uses
• Living documents — Context that updates as your business evolves

Skills: Reusable Instruction Packages

Skills take persistent context one step further. Instead of general project instructions, Skills are specific instruction packages for specific tasks.

The difference between Project instructions and Skills:

Practical Skill Examples

Proposal Writer Skill: Knows your pricing tiers, your standard proposal structure, your terms, and your closing style. Loaded when you ask Claude to write a proposal.

Meeting Prep Skill: Knows your meeting prep format, pulls from your CRM context, generates agenda + talking points + follow-up template. Loaded when you say "prep me for a meeting."

Weekly Report Skill: Knows your report format, your KPI definitions, where to find the data, and who the audience is. Loaded when you ask for your weekly report.

How Skills Work Across Products

• Chat: Upload Skills as files or define them in Project instructions with clear triggers
• CoWork: Available to the team, can be triggered by events
• Code: Drop a markdown file in your .claude/commands/ directory — it becomes a slash command

The Context Hierarchy

Here's how all of this fits together, from broadest to most specific:

The key insight: Push as much context as possible into the higher layers. The more Claude knows before you type your first message, the less work you do in every conversation.

Memory: What Claude Remembers Between Conversations

Claude also has a memory feature that saves facts across conversations — things like "I prefer bullet points over paragraphs" or "Our fiscal year starts in April."

Memory is useful but limited. Think of it as Post-it notes on Claude's desk, not a full onboarding document. For serious context, use Projects or CLAUDE.md.

What memory is good for:

• Personal preferences ("always use Oxford commas")
• Quick facts ("our company was founded in 2018")
• Corrections ("when I say 'the platform,' I mean Shopify")

What memory is not good for:

• Complex context (use Project instructions)
• Documents and data (use file uploads)
• Task-specific instructions (use Skills)

Your Action Step

Right now, set up persistent context for your product:

You can always add more later. The point is to stop starting from zero.