VideoProjects and memory

Write custom instructions once, save time every day

Tell your AI how you like to work so every new chat starts in the right place, without setting up a project.

1:45Updated Tested with ClaudeChatGPT
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Every new chat with AI starts from scratch. Custom instructions change that.

What you'll get

You will have personal instructions set up in Claude or ChatGPT that apply to every conversation, so answers fit you from the first reply.

Instructions or a project?

Personal instructions apply to every conversation. Use them for things that are always true: your role, your spelling preference, how you like answers laid out.

Projects apply only to chats inside them. Use them for a specific client, report or piece of work, with its own files.

Most people benefit from both. Start with personal instructions because they take five minutes.

What to include

Keep it short. Four or five lines is plenty.

Example instructions
I work in operations at a mid sized charity in Bristol. I mostly use you for drafting emails, summarising documents and planning.

Use UK spelling. Keep answers short unless I ask for detail. Use bullet points for lists of more than three items. Don't open with compliments about my question, and ask me a question when you need more information rather than guessing.

Set them up

Show steps for

In Claude

  1. Open your settings

    Select your name or initials at the bottom of the left hand sidebar, then Settings.

  2. Go to Account

    Choose Account from the settings menu, then scroll to Instructions for Claude.

    Claude's Account settings with Account marked 1 and the Instructions for Claude box marked 2
    Illustration of Claude's interface, October 2026.

  3. Paste and save

    Paste your instructions into the box. They apply to new conversations from now on.

In ChatGPT

  1. Open your settings

    Select your name or profile picture at the bottom of the left hand sidebar, then Settings.

  2. Open Personalization

    Choose Personalization. You will see a box for Custom instructions and one for information about you.

    ChatGPT's Personalization settings with Personalization marked 1 and the Custom instructions box marked 2
    Illustration of ChatGPT's interface, October 2026.

  3. Paste and save

    Put your answer preferences under custom instructions and the facts about your work under about you, then select Save. They apply to new conversations from now on.

Check it worked

Start a new chat and ask a simple question, such as “Help me write a short email declining a meeting”. The answer should already follow your preferences on spelling, length and tone.

Take it to your AI

Copy this into Claude or ChatGPT to get started

This prompt sums up the guide and asks your AI to walk you through it using your own work. Paste it in, then answer its questions.

Prompt · Write custom instructions once, save time every day
I want to write personal instructions that you'll follow in every conversation, so I don't have to explain my preferences each time.

Ask me five questions, one at a time, about my job, what I mostly use you for, how I like answers laid out, the tone I prefer and anything that annoys me in AI answers. Then write my instructions in under 120 words, in the first person, ready to paste into my settings.

Written for Claude and ChatGPT, Oct 2026

Step by stepProjects and memory

Set up a project so AI remembers your work

Create a project, add your instructions and files once, and every chat inside it starts already knowing the basics.

10 minClaudeChatGPT
VideoConversations

Push back when the first answer is not right

Watch a weak first draft become a useful one in three replies, and learn the phrases that get the biggest improvements.

ClaudeChatGPT
Quick tipWriting

Ask AI to interview you before it writes

Let it ask the questions first. You get a draft built on your facts, not its guesses.

3 minClaudeChatGPT

Try "meeting", "project" or "email".