Every time you open a new chat with Claude, it knows nothing about your business. So you type out who you are, what you sell, how you like to write, and only then ask the question you came with. A Claude Project fixes that. You write the briefing once, add a few documents, and every chat inside the project starts with that context already in place.
This is a step-by-step guide for a beginner. It takes about 15 minutes and you need nothing except a Claude account.
What a Project actually is
According to Anthropic's help centre, a project is a workspace with its own chats, its own instructions and its own uploaded files. Anything you upload is used across all of the chats in that project, and the instructions apply to every chat in it too. Think of it as a folder on the desk with a note on the front that says "read this first".
The useful habit is one project per job, not one project per business. A project for customer emails, another for quotes, another for social posts. Each one holds only the context that job needs, so Claude is not wading through everything you have ever told it.
Step 1: Create the project
Open Claude, find Projects in the left-hand menu and choose the option to create a new project. Give it a plain name, such as "Customer emails". Anthropic's guide, How can I create and manage projects?, walks through this screen. Menu labels change from time to time, so if yours reads slightly differently, look for the same idea.
Step 2: Write the instructions
This is the part that saves you the re-explaining. In the project, look for the option to set project instructions and paste in a short briefing. Here is a prompt you can use to get Claude to write the first version for you. Paste it into a normal chat, answer its questions, then copy the result into the project instructions:
I want to set up a Claude Project for [the job, for example answering customer emails]. Ask me up to eight questions, one at a time, about my business, my customers and how I like to write. Then write a briefing of no more than 300 words that I can paste into the project instructions. Include who we are, who we write to, our tone of voice, three things we never say, and how long replies should be.
Keep it short. A tight 200 to 300 word briefing beats a long one, because the clearer the rules, the easier they are for Claude to follow.
Step 3: Add two or three files
Next, add the documents Claude would otherwise ask you for. Good starters for a small business are your price list, a few real replies you were pleased with, and your terms or FAQ. Remove names, addresses and anything you would not want sitting in a document. According to Anthropic's help pages, files you add are available to every chat in the project. The same help centre notes that very large knowledge bases are handled differently on paid plans, so start small.
Step 4: Start a chat and test it
Open a new chat inside the project and ask for something you would normally do by hand. For example: "A customer has asked for a quote by Friday and we are fully booked until Monday. Write a reply." You should get something in your tone, using your details, without having explained either.
If it is not right, do not fix it in the chat. Go back and fix the instructions, so that every future chat benefits.
Three projects worth setting up first
If you are not sure where to begin, these three suit almost any small business.
- Customer replies. Instructions: your tone, your opening hours, your refund and delivery rules. Files: your FAQ and five of your best past replies. Ask it to draft answers to the enquiries you get every week.
- Quotes and proposals. Instructions: how you price, what is included, what costs extra. Files: a past quote you were happy with, with the customer's details removed. Ask it to turn a few rough notes into a clean quote.
- Social posts. Instructions: who you are talking to, words you like and words you avoid. Files: a handful of posts that worked. Ask for a week of ideas, then edit them to sound like you.
For the quotes project, this is the kind of request that works well once the project is set up:
Here are my rough notes from a site visit: [paste notes]. Write a quote in our usual format, list what is included and what is not, and flag anything you had to assume so I can check it before it goes out.
That last line matters. Asking Claude to flag its assumptions turns a confident-sounding draft into something you can check in a minute, and you stay the person who signs it off.
We use the same idea ourselves for repeating work: write the briefing once, keep it in one place and improve it whenever the output misses. We have not tested every plan tier, so treat the steps above as a starting point and adjust to what you see on screen.
What it could save you
Here is an illustrative sum, not a promise. If you spend five minutes at the start of each working day re-explaining your business to an AI, that is 25 minutes a week. Over 48 working weeks it comes to 20 hours. On those assumptions, one project could hand you back about half a working week a year, before you count the better first drafts. Your own numbers will differ, so time yourself for a week.
One thing to watch
Plan limits and exactly which features sit on which plan change, and Anthropic's own pages do not agree on every point, so check the current wording on your account before you rely on a particular feature. As of Anthropic's help pages, free accounts can create up to five projects.
Where to go from here
Start with one project for the job that eats the most time. Once that works, add a second. We will cover connecting Claude to your email, calendar and files in a later guide.
Which job in your business do you explain to an AI from scratch most often, and would one project cover it?
