What are Claude Projects?

Overview

A normal Claude chat is good for one-off questions. A Claude Project is better when the same topic, files, instructions, or context will support more than one conversation.

This foundation uses an ocean-waves research demo so you can see the core idea in a real interface. The point is not the ocean topic; the point is learning when a Project is the right container for files, instructions, and repeated questions.

What you need

• A Claude account with access to Projects. Anthropic's help center currently says Projects are available to all users, including free users, with a five-project maximum on free accounts.
• A repeated topic, workflow, or question set that keeps making you paste the same background into Claude.
• A few documents you want Claude to reference across chats. In the video, I use ocean-wave research notes, but you can use whatever documents fit your own Project.

Use this

1. 01Step

   Decide whether this should be a project

   Use a normal chat when the question is one-off. Use a Project when you expect repeated questions against the same files, topic, goal, or instructions.
2. 02Step

   Create your first Project

   Create a Claude Project for one repeated topic, class, client, research question, content workflow, or planning process. In the video, I use an Ocean Waves Research Demo so the pattern is concrete.
3. 03Step

   Add the documents you want Claude to use

   Upload the documents you want Claude to keep referencing. In the demo, these are ocean-wave research notes. Project knowledge is the shared context Claude can use across chats inside that Project.
4. 04Step

   Add lightweight project instructions

   Add a short instruction that explains the Project goal, how Claude should use the files, and what tone or audience to optimize for. In the demo, the instructions tell Claude to explain ocean waves for a beginner and use the uploaded notes as the source material.
5. 05Step

   Ask one project-grounded question

   Ask a question that depends on the files you uploaded. In the demo, I ask Claude to explain how ocean waves are created, organize the answer by the main ideas in the notes, and mention which notes it used.
6. 06Step

   Compare it to a regular chat

   Ask the same question in a normal chat. The difference should be clear: the Project answer can follow your files and instructions, while a normal chat starts with less of your chosen context.
7. 07Step

   Remember what Projects do not automatically solve

   Project chats stay inside the same Project, and Claude may use past Project context when it helps. But if a decision, rule, source, or note needs to persist reliably, save it back into Project knowledge, update the Project instructions, or ask Claude to remember it if memory is available in your account.