# How to Use Claude Projects

> Claude Projects keep files and instructions across chats. Free accounts get up to 5 projects; paid plans add RAG that expands knowledge up to 10x.

- Canonical: https://guides-ai.pages.dev/guides/claude-projects-getting-started/
- Plate 06.01 · Topic: Claude (https://guides-ai.pages.dev/topics/claude/)
- Published: 10 Jun 2026 · Updated: 06 Sept 2026 · 3 min read
- Source site: guides-ai — https://guides-ai.pages.dev/

A Project is a self-contained workspace with its own chat history and its own knowledge base,
so you stop pasting the same background into every conversation. Projects are available to
**all users, including free accounts** — free is capped at **five projects**, paid plans go
higher.

## 1. Create one, scoped to a single context

Open **Projects → New project** and name it. One project per client, per app, per manuscript.
A project covering three unrelated things retrieves the wrong document at the wrong moment,
which is worse than no project.

## 2. Upload the knowledge

Add the documents, specs, code or examples Claude should always have: the brand guide, the
architecture notes, a writing sample to match. They stay available in every chat inside the
project.

On paid plans (Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise), **enhanced project knowledge with RAG** kicks in
automatically as you approach the context limit, expanding capacity by up to 10x. On free
accounts the knowledge has to fit the context window, so be selective.

## 3. Write custom instructions once

```text
Always answer in British English. Be concise — answer first, then a short why.
When writing code, use TypeScript with strict mode.
If the project files don't cover something, say so instead of guessing.
```

What it does: standing guidance every chat in the project inherits, including the instruction
that most reduces invented answers — permission to say "not in the files".

## 4. Share it, if your plan allows

Team and Enterprise plans can share a project with named people or the whole organization, with
view and edit permission levels, shared tabs and email notifications.

## Verify it worked

Start a fresh chat inside the project and ask something only the uploaded documents answer. If
you get a plausible generic answer instead, the file isn't being retrieved — check it's in
*this* project, and cut it down if it's enormous.

This is [RAG](/glossary/#rag) with the machinery hidden: Claude searches your knowledge, pastes
the best passages into the prompt, then answers. Which is why the answer changes the moment you
update a document, and why quality is set by retrieval rather than by the model — see
[RAG explained simply](/guides/rag-explained-simply/).

ChatGPT's equivalent is [ChatGPT Projects](/guides/chatgpt-projects/); for output you want to
keep and iterate on, use [Artifacts](/guides/claude-artifacts/).

Source: [What are Projects?](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9517075-what-are-projects)