Claude Projects, fully explained

First, the distinction that trips everyone up

There are two things with confusingly similar names, and picking the wrong one wastes a week.

This page is about Claude Projects. Build them in the desktop app, because that is where they can work inside a folder on your computer, and that is exactly why they matter.

Why bother

People who have not found Projects end up in one enormous chat window. It works for a while. Then three things happen, in this order:

1. The context gets very long, so you burn through your usage much faster than you need to.
2. Claude starts making suggestions it already made an hour ago.
3. Mistakes you corrected once come back, because the correction has scrolled out of reach.

A Project fixes all three at once. You are more efficient with your usage, and the process is hardcoded into the Project rather than living in your memory of a conversation. Build it in the desktop app and the files actually land on your computer. That is the whole reason I set up anything repeatable there rather than in the browser.

Creating one

1. Open the Claude desktop app

   Claude is on your phone and in the browser as well, but the desktop app is the one that reaches folders on your computer, so build the Project there. Needs a paid plan.

2. Start a new Project

   Click Projects, then +. Name it under What are you working on?, then write a sentence or two under What are you trying to achieve?

3. Add the files

   Under Context, click Add context and add your files. There are five types, covered below. Start with the CLAUDE.md and add the rest as the job demands them. Then click Create project.

4. Write the instructions

   Keep it short. Two patterns cover almost everything, both below.

5. Run it once and fix what it got wrong

   The correction does not go in the chat. It goes into the CLAUDE.md, so it holds next time.

The instructions

This is the system prompt for the Project. Short beats clever.

I use one of two patterns.

You are a helpful, intelligent agent with a goal of helping me with [the task].

This project is to focus on [the task], for [the outcome].

That is genuinely it. The detail does not belong in the instructions box, it belongs in the files. Long instructions get read every single time and cost you context you would rather spend on the work.

The five files that go in a Project

Not every Project needs all five. Every Project needs the first one.

1. A CLAUDE.md, as the brain

The instructions and the context in one file. Who you are, what the business does, how this job is meant to be done, what good looks like, and what it must never do. This is the file you update when something changes, and it is the reason the Project keeps working after you have forgotten how you set it up.

2. A tracking file

Something like log.md. This one is not for you to read. It is for Claude to have in the background so it knows what has already happened: what has been sent, what has been published, what was decided. Without it, every run starts from zero and repeats itself.

3. A folder of task files, for anything multi-step

If it is a large job with several distinct stages, break each stage into its own file so Claude has a reference for each piece rather than one enormous document to hold in its head. One file per stage, named after the stage.

4. Connections, named in the CLAUDE.md

If the Project needs to reach a tool, say so in the CLAUDE.md: which connection, what it is for, and when to use it. Do not leave it to be discovered.

5. The template or source file it works from

If the output is meant to look a particular way, put the template in. If it is meant to be built from a specific document, put the document in. Describing a format in words when you could just hand over the file is a wasted round trip.

The CLAUDE.md template

Copy this, fill in the brackets, save it as CLAUDE.md in the Project.

# CLAUDE.md

## What this project is
This project exists to [the job], so that [outcome].
Read this file at the start of every session before
doing anything else.

## The business
- What we do: [one or two lines]
- Who we serve: [customer type]
- Who I am: [your name, your role]
- What makes us stand out: [our catchphrase, or
  the thing we're known for in our market]

## How this job is done
1. [First step, in the order you actually do it]
2. [Second step]
3. [Third step]

## What good looks like
- [A specific bar, not "high quality"]
- [Another one]
- Past work I was happy with is in examples.md

## Files in this project
- log.md: the running record. Read it before you
  start, add to it when you finish.
- [template file]: the format output must follow.
- [source file]: what the work is built from.

## Connections
- [Tool]: use it for [what], only when [when].

## Never
- Never invent a number, a price or a fact. If you
  don't know it, ask me.
- Never send anything. Draft it and stop.
- [Your own third rule]

Three Projects you can copy today

One per job. Create as many Projects as you need, one for each individual task.

Project 1: Sales follow-up

The job: nothing goes cold. Every enquiry, quote and proposal gets chased on time, in your words.

This project is to focus on writing and tracking my sales follow-ups, so that no enquiry, quote or proposal goes cold.

Files:

• CLAUDE.md: who we sell to, what we sell, how I write, the chase timings, and the boundaries (draft only, never send, never invent a price).
• log.md: who was contacted, when, what was said, what they replied.
• templates.md: the messages you actually send, for each stage of the chase.
• examples.md: one real follow-up that got a reply.

How you use it: paste in this week's enquiries, ask for the follow-ups that are due, read them, send them yourself.

Project 2: Content

The job: your rough ideas and voice notes turned into finished posts that sound like you.

You are a helpful, intelligent agent with a goal of helping me turn my rough ideas and voice notes into finished posts in my own voice.

Files:

• CLAUDE.md: who the audience is, the handful of subjects you post about, and the words you never use.
• log.md: everything published, with dates, so it stops suggesting the same angle twice.
• voice.md: how you write, with three real posts pasted in whole. Three rather than one here, because voice is the thing you are teaching and samples carry it better than adjectives ever will. Everywhere else in this guide, one good example is enough. Voice is the exception.
• ideas.md: the raw dump. Dictate into it whenever something occurs to you.

How you use it: dictate the idea into ideas.md, then ask it to draft the post. It reads the voice file and the log before it starts.

Project 3: Ops

The job: the recurring admin and the weekly report, so Monday morning takes ten minutes instead of two hours.

This project is to focus on my recurring admin and my weekly report, so that I know the state of the business in ten minutes on a Monday.

Files:

• CLAUDE.md: the business, the numbers that matter, who does what, and when each recurring job is due.
• log.md: what was done each week and anything left hanging.
• process/: one file per recurring procedure. Onboarding a client, chasing an invoice, closing the month. This is the multi-step folder from the list above.
• weekly-report-template.md: the shape the report has to come out in.

How you use it: drop in the week's numbers, ask for the report, and it comes out in the same format every time.

The one mistake that breaks a Project

A Project is not a folder you pour things into. It is a small, tidy set of current facts. Five accurate files beat thirty stale ones every time.

Put a note in your calendar for one month from today: open each Project, read the CLAUDE.md, delete what is no longer true.

If you would rather not write the CLAUDE.md by hand

There is a shortcut. The Business Context Pack is a prompt that interviews you for about ten minutes, then writes the whole business-context section for you, ready to paste into a Project.

Use that for the business half, then add the job-specific half from the template above.