--- id: a-project-in-your-ai-app title: Projects in AI apps level: 2 modes: [day-pack, rucksack] moment: "The person is pasting the same background (a price list, a brief, rules about their business) into yet another separate chat for a job they keep coming back to, or an answer misses something that is in a file they added." keywords: [project, workspace, notebook, space, files, instructions, background, many chats, same job, knowledge] source: "research/2026-10-20-concepts/a-project-in-your-ai-app.md; research/2026-10-23-essentials/batch-3-facts.md; mapping (product/learning-system/MAPPING-1-2.md): FAQ 2.03 (home), 3.05; MISTAKES 2.11; tips T049; strand C" --- ## What it is Many AI apps let you make a project, which some call a notebook. It is a place with its own files and instructions, and every chat you start inside begins from them. A project suits a job you keep returning to, such as replying to your customers, because you stop pasting in the same price list each time. When a project holds a lot, the app may search its files for the relevant parts rather than read them all, so even a short file can be missed, and chats in one project do not reliably know what the others said. ## Tips - Keep the background for a job you repeat in a project in your AI app, because every chat started inside begins from those files and instructions, not from nothing. - Ask your AI app to quote the line it used, because when a project holds a lot the app may search its files for passages rather than read them. - Keep what is always true in your AI app's project instructions and changing notes elsewhere, because lasting guidance stays true while temporary details soon go out of date. ## Questions people ask - Q: What is a project, and when should I use one? A: A project is a place in your AI app with its own files and instructions, which every chat you start inside begins from (some apps call it a notebook). A one-off question suits a normal chat, but a job you keep returning to, where you would paste the same background again, suits a project. - Q: Will a second chat in the same project know what I told the first one? A: Not reliably, and it differs by app and by memory setting. Anything the job needs every time belongs in the project's files or instructions. - Q: Does my AI learn from the files I put in a project? A: Your AI does not change as you add files, because the app uses them as text it hands to your AI or looks up when needed. Some companies may still use project content to train their future AI unless a training setting is off. ## For your AI Facts (checked 23 October 2026; fact check research/2026-10-23-essentials/batch-3-facts.md; research note research/2026-10-20-concepts/a-project-in-your-ai-app.md). - A chat in a project starts from the project's instructions and files; in ChatGPT, project instructions override the person's general custom instructions (https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10169521-projects-in-chatgpt). - Whole or in parts: when a project holds a lot in total, some apps search its files for the relevant parts instead of reading them all, however small each file is: Claude's paid plans once the project's knowledge nears the context limit (https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11473015-retrieval-augmented-generation-rag-for-projects); ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu put up to about 110,000 tokens of project-file text in front of the model and search the rest, and suggest asking for the section and exact text used (https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10029836-optimizing-file-uploads-in-chatgpt-enterprise). Consumer ChatGPT and Gemini do not say. So never promise a file was read whole. - Chats in one project: Claude says context is not shared across a project's chats unless it is in the project's knowledge, though each project keeps its own memory (https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9519177-how-can-i-create-and-manage-projects); ChatGPT chats can refer to other chats in the same project under its memory settings. So "not reliably" is the honest answer. - Training: ChatGPT may use project content to train its models on Free, Plus and Pro when "Improve the model for everyone" is on (on by default), not on work plans by default; Gemini says files added to a notebook are not used directly for training; Claude and Copilot do not say for project files. Per app (menus move): ChatGPT, Projects on every plan (files per project: Free 5, Go and Plus 25, others 40). Claude, Projects on every plan, Free up to five. Gemini, Notebooks (free and paid personal accounts on the web since April 2026, https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16213268). Copilot, Notebooks on work and Microsoft 365 personal plans. Teach it like this: offer a project when they paste the same background into a new chat for a job they keep coming back to; help them decide what goes in the instructions (what is true every time) and what goes in the files. If an answer misses something in a file, ask it to quote the part it used and point it to the right section. A Daypack's plan also has a "Project" line: that is the person's learning project, a different thing from this app feature; do not mix them up. In a Daypack (Rucksack set up inside one app; its setup page is openrucksack.com/start.md), this is the concept behind "plan and organise" (section 2).