What are projects, and how do they improve working with Claude? With projects, Claude users can create self-contained environments with their own chat histories, specific knowledge bases, and customized settings. We are going to provide an overview of projects, what they are used for, how to create them, and some advanced features.

Let's talk about a few of the key features of projects.

Project knowledge enhances Claude's understanding by allowing you to upload relevant documents within each project. Every time you chat with Claude inside of a project, this knowledge is automatically considered alongside your prompt. This contextual information enables Claude to deliver more informed, project-specific responses that align with your team's goals, terminology, and background.

Projects can handle much more content without running into limits. Projects with lots of information are automatically processed using Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), enabling Claude to use more context to help you.

When setting up a project, you can define project instructions for each project to further tailor Claude's responses. Like context, these are considered every time you chat with Claude. It's a good space to guide how Claude responds. For example, you can ask Claude to use a more formal tone or answer questions from a specific perspective, targeting a specific industry.

If you're on a Claude for work plan, you can share projects with other members of your organization, enabling powerful collaboration and knowledge-sharing capabilities. For example, a brand team can create a project with voice and tone guidelines that helps anyone at their company write like a marketer.

Okay, let's get started by creating your first project in three simple steps. First, click 'New Project' and give it a name. Next, describe your project and what you are hoping to achieve, for example: 'I would like to make brand guidelines to write a series of case study blogs for my flower business.' Then, click 'Create Project.' To the right of the project title, you'll see a few menu items. You can star this project for quicker access, edit project details, and archive or delete the project. Provide Claude with relevant instructions and information for the chats within the project. This will work alongside user preferences and the selected style. Choose visibility for your project: you can select 'Private' for personal use or 'Public' for team collaboration.

Provide Claude with relevant instructions and information for the chats within the project. This will work alongside user preferences and the selected style. Choose visibility for your project: you can select 'Private' for personal use or 'Public' for team collaboration.

From here, provide project instructions and information for the chats within the project. This will work alongside user preferences and the selected style. Click on 'Instructions' to define how Claude should respond. Within this space, you can specify tone, expertise level, response style, and desired outcomes, or simply give more context on what you're trying to achieve with this project. For instance, when providing the brand guidelines, explain the thought process and highlight tone and brand application. Once done providing instructions, click 'Save Instructions.' This will apply to every chat in the project.

You'll find the 'Files' menu on the right side of your project's main page. Anything you upload to this space will be used across all of your chats within this project. Click on the plus button to add content to the project. You can upload PDFs, documents, CSVs, text files, or connect to Google Drive. Now Claude can instantly reference this content in any conversation. Claude will process this information and use it as context in your chats within the project. For example, if you are working on creating new brand guidelines for a specific client, you can upload their existing branded materials, and Claude will reference that file in its response. Note that context is not shared across disparate chats within a project unless the information is added into the project knowledge base.

Sometimes your project knowledge will approach the context window limit. Claude will automatically enable RAG mode (Retrieval Augmented Generation mode) to expand your project's capacity.

Once your project is set up, you can initiate chats with Claude within the project. You can learn more about best practices for chatting with Claude by reviewing one of our other videos. You can make chats public so teammates can view and build upon your work. There are three permission levels that control who can do what in your projects. 'Can view' members can view project contents, access knowledge, and chat, but cannot make changes. Think read-only access with discussion rights. 'Can edit' members have full collaboration power. They can modify instructions, update knowledge, manage members, and actively contribute to the project. Project creators control everything; plus, they decide who sees the project. They can share with specific people or make private projects visible to the entire organization. The right permissions keep your projects secure while enabling smooth collaboration. So, pick the options that work best for your team. Here are some of Claude's collaboration features.

Check out the 'Shared with me' tab to easily find projects that others have shared with you. You will receive email notifications when someone shares a project with you, and project creators can modify permissions or remove access as needed. Multiple members can contribute documents, create chats, and work together within the same project environment, making projects ideal for team collaboration. Sometimes you need to use content without adding it to your project's knowledge base. No problem. Simply upload it during the conversation, and it stays separate from your project knowledge. It's a perfect way to share context or examples without cluttering the knowledge base.

Here are some examples of projects you can create. You can manage the development process of a new product from ideation to launch, such as an eco-friendly water bottle. This is useful for keeping all product-related information in one place, using Claude for creative ideation and tracking the evolution of the product design. Claude can streamline the content creation process by generating content ideas, providing writing assistance, and maintaining consistency across platforms.

You can design and develop an educational course, such as Anthropic's AI Fluency coursework. In projects, you can organize course materials, use Claude to help explain complex concepts, and iteratively improve the course content. You can create a project to track, analyze, and plan personal finances for your personal financial goals and budget. By keeping all financial information in one secure place, Claude can analyze spending patterns and help with financial calculations and planning.

Alternatively, you can plan and manage a home renovation, such as updating a kitchen space. This allows you to centralize all project information, use Claude to help with design ideas and budget calculations, and keep track of all decisions and communications. These examples demonstrate the flexibility of what can be done with projects in Claude. Whether you're working on professional tasks, personal goals, or collaborative efforts, projects can help you organize information, generate ideas, and streamline your work process. Remember, you can customize each project to fit your specific needs and workflow. For more information on getting started with projects, check out our help center article.