Incognito Chats

Claude's incognito chats are temporary conversations that are not saved to your chat history or memory and are not used for training, on every plan. Anthropic still keeps them for 30 days by default for safety.

An incognito chat in Claude is a temporary conversation that is not saved to your chat history or to Claude's memory and is not used to train models, available on every plan: Free, Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise (as of Nov 6, 2026). You start one with the ghost icon at the top right of a new chat. It is private from your history, not invisible to Anthropic: incognito chats are still kept for 30 days by default, and on Team and Enterprise plans they appear in the organization's data exports. Anthropic added incognito chats on Sep 11, 2025.

Quick facts

Plans	Free, Pro, Max, Ultra, Team, Enterprise (as of Nov 6, 2026)
Start	Ghost icon, upper right of a new chat, outside a project
Saved to history	No; once closed it cannot be reopened
Saved to memory	No, and excluded from chat search and the monthly recap
Used for training	No, even with the Model Improvement setting on
Kept by Anthropic	30 days by default; longer under an Enterprise custom retention setting
In projects	Not available
Launched	Sep 11, 2025

Source for the table unless linked: Use incognito chats, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026.

How do I start an incognito chat in Claude?

Start a new chat, outside any project.
Click the ghost icon at the upper right.
A black border and an "Incognito chat" label show that it is on.
Chat as usual. When you leave the chat, it is gone from your side.

An incognito chat cannot be turned into a normal chat later, and once closed it cannot be reopened (Use incognito chats). Copy anything you want to keep before you leave.

What incognito does and does not do

Incognito keeps the conversation out of three places on your account: the chat list, Claude's memory (so nothing from it carries into later chats), and the past-chat search Claude can run on paid plans. It is also left out of the monthly recap in Settings (Memory and chat search). Anthropic says incognito chats are not used for training even if you have allowed your other chats to be (Who can view my conversations?).

0:19 It does not make the chat vanish from Anthropic's systems at once. Anthropic keeps incognito chats for 30 days by default, or longer when an Enterprise organization has set a custom retention period, in the same way it keeps other data for safety and legal reasons (Use incognito chats). Anthropic's Sep 14, 2026 video on data retention adds that, starting with Claude Fable 5, the last 30 days of prompts and Claude's outputs are stored for automated safety monitoring (How data retention works when using Claude). On Team and Enterprise plans, incognito chats are included when an owner exports the organization's data, and on Enterprise they are reachable through the Compliance API. So incognito hides a conversation from your own account and from memory, not from your employer's records. See Claude Privacy and Data Use.

Claude still uses your profile settings in an incognito chat: the Instructions for Claude in Settings and any custom styles (Styles and Personalization).

Limits of incognito chats

Not in projects. Incognito is not offered inside a project. To keep a project chat out of memory, open a new chat, click "+" and turn off "Memory" before the first message (Memory and chat search).
No file creation or code in the new Claude experience. Since chat and Cowork became one Claude in Sep 2026, incognito chats open in the previous chat experience, where Claude cannot create files or run code (Claude Cowork and chat are one Claude).
Nothing to come back to. Long work you may want to continue is better in a normal chat that you delete afterward.

Incognito or delete?

Deleting a normal chat removes it from your history, but memory built from it stays until you edit or reset your memory (Memory and chat search). Incognito keeps the chat out of memory and training from the start. Neither changes Anthropic's retention for safety purposes. For removing data you already have, see How to Export or Delete Claude Data.

ChatGPT's equivalent is called Temporary Chat; learn more at Temporary Chat on chatgpt.vi.ki.

Frequently asked questions

Is Claude incognito mode really private? Claude's incognito chats are not saved to your history or memory and are not used for training, but Anthropic still keeps them for 30 days by default, and Team and Enterprise owners can see them in organization exports.

Can I get an incognito chat back in Claude? No. Once an incognito chat in Claude is closed it cannot be reopened, and it cannot be converted into a normal chat.

Is Claude incognito available on the free plan? Yes. Incognito chats are on every Claude plan, Free included, as of Nov 6, 2026.

Can my employer see my Claude incognito chats? On Claude Team and Enterprise plans, incognito chats are included in the organization's data exports and, on Enterprise, in the Compliance API, so an owner can reach them.

Does Claude remember incognito chats? No. Claude does not save incognito chats to memory and does not search them when it looks through past chats.

Can I use incognito chats in a Claude project? No. Claude does not offer incognito inside projects; turning off Memory for a single chat is the nearest option there.