Pick one job you do every week and set Claude up for it once. After that you open the Project, paste in the new customer email or product, and get back something you can send.
What you’ll need.
Get these set up first. Everything below uses them.
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Pick one job
One Project, one job. A Project that does one thing does it well.
Think about the thing you explain to Claude again and again. That’s your Project.
Good first jobs are small, frequent and follow the same pattern every time.
- Answering customer emails and DMs
- Writing product descriptions for your shop
- Turning call notes into a follow-up email
- Writing the welcome message for each new client
Tell this page about the job
Your answers write your project instructions. They stay in your browser and nobody else sees them.
Create the Project
Two minutes. The name is for you, so make it obvious.
- Go to claude.ai/projects, or click Projects in the left sidebar.
- Click + New Project in the top right.
- Type your Project name and a short description. These are for you. Claude doesn’t read them.
- Create it. You’ll land on the Project’s main page.
Paste in your project instructions
These are the rules for this one job. Claude follows them in every chat inside the Project.
- On the Project page, click Set project instructions.
- Copy your instructions below and paste them in.
- Click Save instructions.
YOUR JOB IN THIS PROJECT [THE JOB IN ONE OR TWO SENTENCES] MY BUSINESS - Business name: [YOUR BUSINESS NAME] - What I sell: [WHAT YOU SELL] - My customers: [YOUR CUSTOMERS] HOW TO DO THE JOB - Read the files in this project before you start. They're my real examples, prices and policies. - Match the tone of my examples: [YOUR TONE] - Write in British English. - Keep it to about 3 to 5 lines. - Never make up a price, date, policy or promise. If the answer isn't in my files, write [CHECK: what you need from me] and carry on. HOW I'LL USE YOU I'll paste in what I've got (a customer message, product notes, a draft). You give me one finished version I can use straight away. Then list anything I should check before I use it.
Add your knowledge files
Your examples teach Claude your standard. Three real ones beat a page of rules.
- Find the project knowledge section on the right of the Project page.
- Click the + button and upload your documents or text files.
- If you’ve connected Google Drive, you can add Google Docs straight from Drive in a private Project.
What to add
- 3 to 5 of your best past examples of this job, exactly as you sent them.
- Your prices and what’s included.
- Your policies: refunds, delivery, booking, cancellations.
- The questions customers ask most, with your usual answers.
Use it
Open the Project, start a chat, paste the new thing in. That’s the whole routine.
Here's a real one. Do the job, then tell me which of my files you used and anything you weren't sure about. [paste the customer email, product notes or call notes here]
If it’s not right, tell it plainly
Shorter. Half the length. Warmer. Sound more like my examples. You missed the refund policy. It's in my files. Good. Now write two more versions so I can pick.
Take your downloads
Tick what you want. Each file is written from your answers in step 2.
Your tools, one more time.
If something goes wrong.
Claude ignores my examples
Tell it in the chat: "Read my example files first, then match their tone and length." If it keeps happening, add that line to the top of your project instructions.
It makes up prices or policies
Check the real ones are in your files. Your instructions already tell it to write [CHECK] when something is missing, so search the answer for [CHECK] before you send it.
I can’t see Set project instructions
Claude is rolling out a new version of Projects in stages, so the page can look different. Look on the Project page for instructions or the settings for the Project.
My files are too big
Cut them down to the parts Claude needs for this job. On paid plans, Claude makes room for bigger Projects automatically when the files get close to the limit.
I started a chat in the wrong Project
Click the arrow next to the chat name and move it. You can move chats into a Project, out of one, or between them.