Projects
Projects are self-contained workspaces on claude.ai that let you organize related conversations, upload reference documents, and write persistent instructions that apply across all chats within that workspace. Instead of re-pasting context every time you start a new conversation, you build a knowledge base once — uploading files like PDFs, code, spreadsheets, or text — and Claude uses that material automatically in every chat inside the project.
Each project comes with a 200K token context window (roughly a 500-page book). On paid plans (Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise), projects also support Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), which automatically kicks in when your uploaded content approaches the context limit, expanding effective capacity by up to 10x. Free users get up to five projects without RAG scaling.
Projects also support persistent instructions — a custom system prompt you write once per project that shapes how Claude behaves (e.g., 'Always respond as a senior lawyer' or 'Use our brand voice guide'). On Team and Enterprise plans, projects can be shared with colleagues with granular 'Can use' or 'Can edit' permissions, enabling team-wide knowledge bases and collaborative workflows.
When you’d use it
- ◆Personal Study Assistant — A student uploads lecture notes, readings, and a syllabus for a single course. Project instructions say 'Explain concepts simply; tie answers back to the course material.' Every question in that project gets answers grounded in the actual course content without re-uploading files each time.
- ◆Brand Voice Content Generation — A marketing manager uploads the company style guide and sets instructions to 'Always use our playful, consumer-facing tone.' Every chat in the project — whether drafting tweets, emails, or ad copy — automatically follows brand guidelines without manual reminders.
- ◆Team Codebase Reference — An engineering team shares a project containing their codebase, API docs, and coding standards. Developers ask Claude to explain modules, review pull requests against team conventions, or generate boilerplate — all without pasting code into every message.
- ◆HR Policy Navigator — An HR director uploads the employee handbook, benefits documentation, and compliance regulations. Employees or HR staff ask the project questions like 'How many PTO days roll over?' and get precise answers sourced from the actual policies.
- ◆Client Engagement Knowledge Base — A consulting team creates a project for a specific client, uploading contracts, market research, and financial statements. All team members ask questions and draft deliverables within that project, with Claude grounding every output in the client's actual documents.
What changed recently
- ◆2026-03 — Project permissions and organization-wide sharing enabled for Team and Enterprise plans. Admins can now control project visibility across the organization and assign granular 'Can use' (view and chat) or 'Can edit' (modify knowledge base and instructions) roles to members.
- ◆2026-03 — Memory integration with Projects: Claude now maintains separate memory summaries for each individual project, as well as a summary for non-project chats. Users on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise can move chats into or out of projects to manage what is included in memory summaries. Available on web, Claude Desktop, and Claude Mobile.
- ◆2025-10 — Enhanced project knowledge with RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) became available for all paid plans (Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise). When a project's knowledge base approaches context limits, RAG automatically activates to expand effective capacity by up to 10x, enabling large document corpora such as full codebases or legal repositories.
- ◆2024-08 — Projects support extended to iOS and Android mobile apps. Mobile users can select existing projects, browse knowledge bases, view project instructions, and start new project chats from their devices.
This is the short version
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