If you use Claude for work, you have felt this pain: you open a new chat, and you are right back at square one. Re-explaining your project, your voice, your constraints. Every. Single. Time.
Claude Desktop with Projects fixes this. It is the single biggest time-saver in my entire AI stack. Here is exactly how I set it up.
The Problem: Context Amnesia
Most people use Claude like a search engine — one-off questions, one-off answers. That works for quick lookups, but it is terrible for deep work. When you are writing a script, planning content, or analyzing data, you need Claude to remember who you are, what you are building, and how you like to work.
Claude Projects let you save system prompts, project context, and reference files. Claude remembers everything within that project — forever.
Step 1: Create a Project
Open Claude Desktop and click "New Project" in the sidebar. Name it something clear — I use project names like "Keys to AI — Content" or "Keys to AI — Research".
The project becomes your workspace. Every conversation inside this project shares the same context, same system prompt, and same reference files.
Step 2: Write Your System Prompt
The system prompt is where the magic happens. This is where you tell Claude who you are, what you do, and how you want things formatted. Be specific. The more detail, the better the output.
- Your name and role (e.g., "I am Simone Keys, a solopreneur who teaches AI workflows")
- Your audience (e.g., "My audience is solopreneurs who are new to AI")
- Your voice and tone (e.g., "Warm, confident, straight-talking. No fluff.")
- Output format preferences (e.g., "Use bullet points for key points, include examples")
- Constraints (e.g., "Keep responses under 500 words unless I ask for more")
Step 3: Add Reference Files
This is the feature most people skip — and it is the most powerful. Upload documents that Claude should reference: brand guidelines, past scripts, research notes, audience profiles. Claude can read these and incorporate them into every response.
I upload my content calendar, my best-performing scripts, and a document describing my ideal viewer. When I ask Claude to help with a new video, it already knows my format, my audience, and my voice.
Step 4: Test and Refine
Start a conversation in your project and test it. Ask for something specific and see how close it gets to your ideal output. If it is off, refine your system prompt. This is an iterative process — expect to tweak it 3-5 times before it feels right.
Create separate projects for different types of work. I have one for content planning, one for script writing, and one for research. Each has its own system prompt tuned for that specific task.
The Result
With this setup, I open Claude, pick the right project, and start working immediately. No re-explaining. No re-contextualizing. Just consistent, high-quality output that sounds like me.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Claude Project?
A Project is a workspace inside Claude where you save a system prompt, reference files, and all related conversations. Everything inside the project shares that context, so Claude remembers who you are and how you work without re-explaining.
Do I need a paid Claude plan to use Projects?
Projects are available on claude.ai including the free tier, but paid plans give you more usage and larger file uploads. The setup in this guide works the same on any plan.
How many projects should a solopreneur create?
Start with two or three: one for content, one for research, and one for client or admin work. Each gets its own system prompt tuned to that task — that separation is what keeps the output consistent.
Download the AI Content Planning Worksheet to use alongside this setup.
Get the worksheet →