Projects

0:00 A Claude project is a self-contained workspace in the Claude app that keeps its own chat history, a knowledge base of files you upload and instructions that apply to every chat inside it; the Claude Free Plan allows up to five projects, and every paid plan allows an unlimited number (as of Nov 6, 2026). Projects suit work you come back to: a codebase, a book draft, a client account, a course. Anthropic introduced them on Jun 25, 2024 for Pro and Team customers, with a 200K-token context window per project at the time; today every plan lists a context window of up to 1M tokens (Claude Context Window).

Quick facts

How do I create a Claude project?

1. Open Projects in the sidebar of the Claude Web App or the Claude Desktop App and start a new project.
2. Give it a name and, if you like, a description.
3. Add project knowledge: upload documents, paste text or add code.
4. Write project instructions: the tone, the role, the rules Claude should follow in this project.
5. Start a chat inside the project. Every chat there sees the knowledge and the instructions.

Each project keeps its chats separate from your other conversations, so the sidebar's main history stays uncluttered (What are projects?).

Project knowledge and file limits

2:56 Project knowledge is whatever you upload: PDFs, Word files, text, code and other documents. The Help Center sets a limit of 30 MB per file and no set number of files, but the content must fit Claude's context window, and Claude reads only the text of most files (PDFs are the exception, read with their visuals) (Upload files to Claude). The same article gives larger figures for files attached to an ordinary chat; see Image and PDF Uploads.

What happens when a project gets too big?

3:43 On paid plans (Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise), Claude switches on retrieval when project knowledge nears the context limit: instead of reading every file in full, it searches the files and pulls in the relevant passages. Anthropic says this expands capacity by up to 10x "while maintaining response quality", a claim the Help Center makes without published measurements. Free projects do not get retrieval, so a Free project is limited to what fits in the context window at once.

Project instructions

2:27 Project instructions are standing directions that apply only inside one project, unlike the account-wide instructions described in Styles and Personalization. One Help Center page lists project instructions as a paid feature while projects themselves are on Free (Understanding Claude's personalization features); the projects article describes instructions for every project. If the field is missing on a Free account, that is the reason.

Project memory

Each project has its own Memory. Inside a project, Claude uses that project's memory plus your account memory, never another project's; "Use account memory" can be turned off for a single project, and deleting a project deletes its memory (Memory and chat search). Chat search can also be limited to one project. Incognito Chats cannot be started inside a project (Use incognito chats).

Sharing projects on Team and Enterprise

4:07 On Team and Enterprise, a project can be shared by email with one or several people, or with the whole organization, as "Can view" or "Can edit"; shared projects appear under a "Shared with me" tab, and Owners can turn project sharing off for the organization (What are projects?). Project sharing and permissions arrived on Aug 1, 2025. Individual plans (Free, Pro, Max, Ultra) cannot share a project, only single chats (Sharing Chats).

New projects (beta)

0:25 A newer design is rolling out, starting with Claude Code: a project becomes one conversation in which Claude splits the work into parallel cloud threads, each starting with the project's files, repositories, instructions and memory. Existing projects of some Pro, Max and Ultra users are being moved over (What are projects?). Separately, Claude Code Desktop added projects for grouping sessions on Sep 17, 2026. Neither is the API's "message threads" feature, which is a developer setting on the Messages API.

Frequently asked questions

How many projects can I make on Claude for free? Claude's Free plan allows up to five projects as of Nov 6, 2026; Pro and every higher plan have no limit.

Do Claude projects use more of my usage limit? A long knowledge base is read with each message, so chats in a big Claude project use more of the usage limit than short chats. Retrieval on paid plans reduces how much is read each time.

Can I share a Claude project with someone? Only on Claude Team and Enterprise, where a project can be shared as view-only or editable. On individual plans, share single chats instead.

What is the file size limit for Claude project knowledge? The Claude Help Center gives 30 MB per file, with no fixed number of files, as long as the content fits the context window or, on paid plans, the retrieval capacity.

Does Claude train on files in my projects? Claude's training setting is the same for projects as for chats: individual plans can opt out, and Team and Enterprise data is not used by default. See Claude Privacy and Data Use.

Sources

• Getting started with projects in Claude.ai, Anthropic, Dec 2, 2025 (video)
• Projects are now a conversation with Claude, Claude, Sep 17, 2026 (video)
• What are projects?, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Upload files to Claude, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Memory and chat search, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Understanding Claude's personalization features, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Use incognito chats, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Release notes, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Plans and pricing, claude.com, read Nov 6, 2026
• Claude Code, claude.com, read Nov 6, 2026
• Collaborate with Claude on Projects, Anthropic, Jun 25, 2024