Why people stay put
You have used ChatGPT for a while and it is genuinely useful. It knows your business, your customers, how you like things written. Then you hear that Claude is better for the work you actually do, and you are curious.
What stops you is one thing. Months of context, your preferences, your pricing, your team, all of it sitting inside ChatGPT. Starting fresh feels like training a new hire from scratch. So you stay.
This page fixes that. In about thirty minutes you move everything across. Nothing gets deleted, ChatGPT stays exactly where it is, and you end up with a Claude that knows your business, possibly better than ChatGPT did. The reason it ends up better is in Step 3.
I did not move mine. My ChatGPT memory was a mix of work and personal, and I wanted Claude to start as a clean business slate. If yours is the same mix, that is a legitimate choice: skip Step 1, run the Step 2 interview on a blank page instead, and let Claude build your business memory from your answers. The reel walks the full transfer because most people asking me about this want to bring it across.
Two moves, not one
ChatGPT holds what it knows about you in two places, and they go to two different homes in Claude.
| In ChatGPT | What it is | Where it goes in Claude |
|---|---|---|
| Memory + Custom Instructions | What it has learned about you across every chat, plus the standing preferences under Personalization that shape each new one. | Claude's memory. Even a brand-new chat will know you. |
| Custom GPTs + ChatGPT Projects | Job-specific setups with their own separate instructions and files. A custom GPT never sees your memory unless you pasted it in yourself. | Claude Projects. The equivalent workspaces, covered on Day 3. |
Steps 1 to 3 handle the first move. Step 4 handles the second. They are genuinely different jobs, which is why the kit does both.
Your ChatGPT account, a Claude account at claude.ai (memory is on the free plan, Projects need the paid one), and somewhere to save a document. No technical skills.
Step 1: Get your memory out of ChatGPT
Two jobs, because there are two sources. One screen hands you your Custom Instructions word for word. A prompt turns everything else into a document.
First, the settings screen
Click your profile icon, then Settings → Personalization → Manage memories. OpenAI moves menus around, but it will be under Personalization somewhere.
- Check memory is switched on. Off means there is nothing to export in the next part.
- Skim the saved facts and delete anything plain wrong, so the junk does not travel with you.
- While you are on this screen, open a document (Word, Google Docs, Notes) and copy your two Custom Instructions boxes into it, under a heading "My standing instructions".
That last one matters. Custom Instructions is the account-wide setting that applies to every chat. Nothing later in this page can retrieve that text for you, so grab it while it is in front of you. It is not the same as any individual custom GPT's instructions, which are a different screen and Step 4's job.
Then, the memory dump prompt
Open a new chat in ChatGPT. Switch to the most capable model you have (on a paid plan that is the deepest-reasoning one in the list; on the free plan, tap Think before you send). Paste this in, word for word.
I'm moving my memory to a new AI assistant and I don't want to lose anything you've learned about me. Write out everything you know about me, my business, and my preferences, from your memory and our past conversations (not my Custom Instructions, I've copied those separately). Organise it under these headings: - Me: name, role, and how I like to work - My business: what it is, who it serves, and how it makes money - People: my team, clients, and anyone I mention often - Tools and systems I use - My preferences: tone, formats, and anything I've told you to always or never do - Current projects, goals, and numbers - Anything else worth carrying over Write in full sentences and be specific; more detail is better. If you're not sure something is still true, include it anyway and mark it "CHECK THIS".
If it stops partway through, reply "carry on". When it is done, copy the whole answer into the same document, under a new heading "My AI Memory". Save it. One file now holds both jobs.
Some accounts store less than you would expect. Two fixes: make sure you are on the most capable model (or Think, on the free plan), and reply with "Check our past conversations too, and add anything else you know about me and my business."
One document now holds everything your AI knew about you, in your words, and it is yours forever. Read it through once. That is the fear handled before you have touched Claude.
Step 2: The Import Interview
The part most people skip, and the most valuable ten minutes of the move.
Claude has a built-in import screen that would take your document as it is, and we use it in Step 3. Do not paste anything yet.
Your ChatGPT memory is a photo of your business from months ago. The prices you charged when you first mentioned them. The employee who has since left. The goal you set in January and quietly replaced in May. Nobody goes back to correct these. Import it as-is and your new assistant starts life loaded with old news.
So before it is saved anywhere, make Claude interview you about what it is inheriting. Start a new chat at claude.ai, paste this, and paste your "My AI Memory" document underneath it.
Below is everything my old AI assistant knew about me and my business. Read it carefully. Before I save it as your memory, I want you to interview me about it: one question at a time, waiting for my answer before you ask the next. Focus on anything that looks out of date, vague, contradictory, or missing. Assume some of it is stale: prices, team members, tools, and goals all change. Anything marked "CHECK THIS" gets checked first. Don't stop until you're confident you understand my business as it is today. When you're done, write out a full corrected version of the document in one block I can copy.
Then just answer. Use voice if you can. It takes ten to fifteen minutes, and most owners are surprised how much has changed: "we do not use that tool any more", "that price went up twice". When it finishes, Claude writes out the refreshed document. Copy it, and update your saved file too.
Step 3: Save it as Claude's memory
Now the refreshed version becomes what Claude permanently knows about you, in every chat, without being asked.
At claude.ai: Settings → Memory → Start import, paste the refreshed document, then Add to memory. On some accounts Memory sits under Settings then Capabilities. Either way, find the memory section and its import option.
Usually within a few minutes Claude turns it into organised memory entries you can read on the same screen. Fix anything right there, or just say it in any chat: "remember that our sourcing fee is now £3,500". Claude updates its memory on the spot.
Anthropic labels memory import experimental, and says Claude's memory is designed to focus on work-related topics. In practice it keeps the business material and can drop personal odds and ends. That is why you kept the document. Skim the saved entries once and tell Claude anything it missed.
A ChatGPT custom GPT starts blind. It ignores your memory and your Custom Instructions unless you pasted them in yourself, so every one you built had to learn your business from scratch.
In Claude, memory and Project instructions stack. Your memory loads first, then the Project's own instructions add the job-specific layer on top. So once your memory is in, every Project you build in Step 4 already knows your business before you have written a word of its instructions. And you have just brought that memory up to date for the first time since you started using AI.
Step 4: Rebuild your custom GPTs as Claude Projects
Memory covers what Claude knows about you everywhere. Your custom GPTs and ChatGPT Projects are the second transfer. Claude's equivalent is a Project: a workspace with its own instructions box and files, where every chat inside it starts pre-loaded with both. For each one you actually use:
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Copy the brains out
In ChatGPT, open the GPT's edit or configure view and copy its instructions. Note which files it has.
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Create the Project
At claude.ai, go to Projects, click New project, and name it after the job. "Proposal Writer", not "GPT 2".
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Move the pieces in
Paste the instructions into the Project's instructions box. Upload the same files to its knowledge area.
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Run a two-minute interview
First chat in the Project, paste the prompt below. Answer, and it is live.
Read your instructions and files, then ask me up to three questions about anything unclear or out of date. One at a time. When I've answered, tell me what you'd change in your instructions and I'll update them.
Most owners find one or two Projects are all they need. Each one also keeps its own separate memory, so a "Proposal Writer" learns its job without muddying the rest.
Day one: prove it moved
Three things to try this week. A plain chat, no Project, now knows your business.
- Dictate a messy brief. Talk into your phone for a minute, half-formed thoughts and all, and ask Claude to turn it into a tidy plan or a clear email.
- Have it draft something in your voice. "Draft a reply to a customer who is unhappy about a delay, in my usual tone."
- Use it as a second opinion. Describe a decision you are weighing up and ask what it would want to know before deciding.
Nothing here is irreversible. ChatGPT is untouched and your document is saved, so run both side by side and see which one earns the seat.
The same four steps, laid out to print, are in the Move to Claude Kit. Comment SWITCH on the reel and it comes to your DMs, or take it straight from here: the Move to Claude Kit.
Where this goes
That closes Layer 1. Claude now knows who you are, which tool to use for which job, how to hold a Project, when to start fresh, and, if you use Claude Code, the one file that carries all of it.
Layer 2 is next, and it is about your numbers. Day 7 is what an MCP actually is, and how I plugged my CRM into Claude in five minutes.
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