What Are Projects, and When Should You Use One?
If you only learn one feature in Claude, make it Projects. A Project lets Claude remember your context, your preferences, and your reference documents — so you never re-explain yourself.
The Problem Projects Solve
Without Projects, every chat is a blank slate. Claude doesn't know who you are, what Empower does, or how you communicate. So you either retype your background every time ("I'm an operations manager at...") or skip it and get generic answers.
Projects store your instructions and documents once. Every conversation inside that Project picks them up automatically.
What a Project Contains
1. Custom instructions (system prompt). Written once; Claude reads them at the start of every conversation inside the Project. Like the briefing you'd give a new assistant on day one.
2. Knowledge files. Documents uploaded to the Project so Claude can reference them — a template, a price list, a voice guide. No need to attach them again later.
3. Shared chat history. All conversations inside a Project stay together. Scroll back, pick up where you left off, reference what Claude said last week.
When to Use a Project vs. a Regular Chat
Rule of thumb: if you'd do the task more than once, it belongs in a Project.
| Situation | Use |
|---|---|
| One-time question | Regular chat |
| Reviewing proposals every week | Project |
| Drafting a single email | Regular chat |
| Managing ongoing client comms | Project |
| Quick math or fact check | Regular chat |
| Any recurring work with repeating context | Project |
Regular chats are scratch paper. Projects are your desk — organized, with your tools where you left them.
Example 1: Email Triage Project
An operations director gets 80+ emails a day. Her "Email Triage" Project:
- System prompt: "I'm the operations director at Empower. When I paste an email, summarize in two sentences and recommend a response. Keep replies professional but direct. Never be overly formal."
- Knowledge files: none.
- How she uses it: paste the difficult email → get draft in seconds. Claude already knows her role and tone.
Before: 90 min/day on email. After: closer to 40.
Example 2: Proposal Review Project
An account manager reviews vendor proposals before sending to clients. His Project:
- System prompt: "You are a proposal review assistant. Flag anything missing, identify risky scope language, and note anything we'd typically exclude."
- Knowledge files: their standard proposal template, a list of 12 common scope exclusions.
- How he uses it: paste a new vendor's scope → Claude runs it against the template and exclusion list in 30 seconds, instead of 20 minutes by hand.
How to Create a Project
- In the Claude sidebar, find the Projects section.
- Click New Project (or the "+" icon).
- Name it clearly — "Email Triage," "Proposal Review," "HR Docs."
- Add custom instructions (see Lesson 07) and knowledge files (see Lesson 08).
- Start a new chat inside the Project. It will apply your instructions automatically.
Most people end up with 3–6 Projects covering their main areas of work.
Finding Your Projects Again
Left sidebar, "Projects" heading. Click a Project name to open it. Previous conversations appear beneath it.
Tip. Don't build a "do everything" Project. One Project per job function or recurring workflow works better. Tight focus gives Claude better context and you cleaner results.
Try This Now (5 min)
- Create a Project named after one recurring task you do weekly.
- Add a one-sentence system prompt: "I'm <role> at Empower. When I paste something, <what you want done>."
- Start a chat inside it and do a real instance of the task.
You'll immediately feel the difference vs. a regular chat.