Keep related work
together.
Projects hold the context a piece of work needs. Agents are assistants you shape for a kind of task.
What a project holds
A project is a home for related work, like Projects in Claude and ChatGPT. Open Projects in the sidebar to see yours. Each project page has:
- Instructions that every chat in the project follows, for example “answer in British English” or “keep answers short and list sources”.
- Knowledge: files every chat in the project can use.
- Chats that use the project.
- Folders on your computer the agent can work in. They are optional.
Pick a project in the message box to give any chat its instructions and knowledge. Changing a chat's project affects new messages only. Earlier messages stay as they were.
Make a project
- Open Projects and press New project.
- Give it a name, and if you like an icon and a one-line description.
- Optionally add a folder, instructions and files now, or add them later on the project page.
- Press Create project, then start a chat from the project page.
In the desktop app you can also drop a folder anywhere on the window. The new-project form opens with the folder and its name filled in.
Deleting a project removes its instructions and knowledge files. Its chats stay and move to Recents, and your folders on disk are not touched.
Knowledge files
Add text, code, Markdown, CSV, JSON, PDF, Word (.docx) or image files, up to 25 MB each. Reading PDFs needs pdftotext, part of poppler, on this computer.
The bar above the files shows how much of the current model's context window the project's instructions and files take:
- When everything fits, it all goes into each chat in full.
- When it doesn't, each chat gets the parts most related to the question, and the agent can search the rest.
- When the model can see images, up to four go with each chat. When it can't, the bar says so and images are left out.
Switch the chat to a model with a larger window if you want more of a project sent in full.
Folders
Add a folder when the agent should work with files on your computer. Chats in the project can read and edit files there. With more than one folder, one is the default, and you can choose another in the message box.
Remove access stops the project's chats from using a folder. The folder and its files stay on your computer. Commands the agent runs can change files only in the project, through the operating system's sandbox. See Privacy & safety.
Project memories
Things the agent remembers while working in a project stay with that project. Memories about you apply everywhere. Tools & Skills → Memory shows whose each memory is, filters by project, agent or Cat, and lets you edit or add memories. See Memory.
Your own agents
Agents are assistants you make for a kind of task, like GPTs and Gems. Open Customize → Agents and press New agent, or start from a template such as Research assistant, Writing coach, Code reviewer or Patient tutor. A template fills in the editor, and you can change anything before you save.
| Part | What it sets |
|---|---|
| Picture, name and description | How it shows in the agent picker. The picture can be an emoji or an image you upload. |
| Instructions | Its role, tone, the steps to follow and what to avoid. This is the most important part. |
| Conversation starters | Prompts shown under the message box when someone picks the agent. |
| Knowledge | Files it should know. They go into its chats, or are searched when there are too many for the model. |
| Capabilities | What it may do: web search and browsing, files and code, documents and images, memory, email and feeds, and this computer and Asyncat. Anything switched off is not available to it at all. |
| Connectors | All connectors, or only the ones you pick. See Connectors. |
| Model | A model of its own, or whichever model the chat uses. |
Under Advanced you can pick the agent for new chats, let it run actions without asking, and limit how many steps it takes per answer. Only let an agent run actions without asking if you trust it with your files.
Pick an agent in the message box, or press Start a chat in the editor. A Cat can use one of your agents too. See Cats. Claude Code, Codex and ACP agents have their own tab, Coding agents. See Coding agents.