--- title: "Keep your instructions in one place" url: https://aiguideson.com/courses/claude-for-beginners/keep-your-instructions-in-one-place/ course: "Claude for beginners" lesson: "4 of 5" minutes: 10 published: 2026-10-09 updated: 2026-10-09 author: "Jack Stovell" publisher: "Adapt Progress Evolve Limited" language: "en-GB" --- # Keep your instructions in one place Lesson 4 of 5 in [Claude for beginners](https://aiguideson.com/courses/claude-for-beginners/) · 10 minutes If you write the same kind of thing again and again, you shouldn’t have to explain yourself every time. In this lesson you’ll write instructions once, see what changes, and find out where Claude keeps them. ## You need - A Claude account - A job you do often, like a notice, an email or a post - About ten minutes A narrated walkthrough of this lesson is coming. The steps below cover everything in it. ## Steps ### Step 1: Do the job with no instructions First, let’s see what Claude does on its own. We asked for a short notice for the allotment gate, and it gave us a cheerful notice, in capitals, with no sign-off. The prompt (works in Claude): ```text Write a short notice for the allotment gate about the autumn work day on Saturday 24 October, 10am to 1pm. Bring gloves. ``` - This is the job with nothing else added. (Screenshot to come.) Checkpoint: You’ve got a first version to compare against. ### Step 2: Write your instructions Instructions are just how you want every reply done. Ours has three rules: plain British English and under 70 words, a fixed sign-off, and never invent a date, time or price. Write yours for your own job. Keep them short, and about the general job, not one task. The prompt (works in Claude (Instructions for Claude, or project instructions)): ```text You help the committee of Maple Street Allotment Society write notices for members. - Write in plain British English, friendly and short: under 70 words. - Sign off every notice "The Committee". - Never invent a date, time or price. If a detail is missing, write [TO CONFIRM] in its place. ``` - A word limit and a sign-off make replies the same every time. - “Never invent” plus a marker such as [TO CONFIRM] makes gaps easy to spot. (Screenshot to come.) Checkpoint: You’ve got a short set of instructions for your own job. ### Step 3: See where Claude keeps instructions Claude has two places for them. “Instructions for Claude” is account-wide, so click your initials in the lower left corner, choose Settings, and write them under Instructions for Claude. They apply to all your conversations. Project instructions only apply to chats inside one project, which suits a single job like ours. ![Anthropic’s help page “Understanding Claude’s personalization features”, showing Instructions for Claude, which apply to every conversation, and Project instructions, which apply only to chats in that project.](https://aiguideson.com/courses/claude-for-beginners/l4-personalization.png) (screenshot captured 9 October 2026) 1. Instructions for Claude: apply to every chat 2. Project instructions: only chats in that project Checkpoint: You know the difference between account-wide and project instructions. ### Step 4: Make a project A project is a workspace with its own chats and knowledge, where you can upload documents, give context and set instructions. Claude’s help page says free accounts can create up to five. Its plans page lists Projects under Pro, so if you can’t find them on your account, just use Instructions for Claude, or paste your instructions at the top of a chat as we do next. ![Anthropic’s help page “What are projects?”, with the line that free users can create a maximum of five projects.](https://aiguideson.com/courses/claude-for-beginners/l4-projects.png) (screenshot captured 9 October 2026) 1. Free accounts can make up to five projects 2. A project is a workspace with its own chats and knowledge Checkpoint: You’ve made a project and added your instructions, or you’ve got them ready to paste. ### Step 5: Do the job again Now run the same job with your instructions in place. We pasted ours at the top of the chat as a stand-in for a project, which gives every chat in it the same instructions. The notice came back shorter, signed “The Committee”, just as the instructions said. The prompt (works in Claude): ```text Instructions for this chat: You help the committee of Maple Street Allotment Society write notices for members. - Write in plain British English, friendly and short: under 70 words. - Sign off every notice "The Committee". - Never invent a date, time or price. If a detail is missing, write [TO CONFIRM] in its place. Task: Write a short notice for the allotment gate about the autumn work day on Saturday 24 October, 10am to 1pm. Bring gloves. ``` - The instructions come first, then the job. ![Two gate notices side by side. On the left, with no instructions, a notice with no sign-off. On the right, the committee’s instructions and a notice signed “The Committee”.](https://aiguideson.com/courses/claude-for-beginners/l4-notices.png) (screenshot captured 9 October 2026) 1. No instructions: no sign-off, a long cheerful notice 2. The committee’s instructions 3. Signed "The Committee", as the instructions say Checkpoint: The reply follows your instructions. ### Step 6: Test a job with gaps Now give it a job with details missing. We left out the time, the order deadline and the price for a compost order. Claude put [TO CONFIRM] in each gap, as we asked, but it also added a line telling people to say who’ll collect their bags if they can’t come, which we never gave it. Delete anything you didn’t say, or add a rule against it. The prompt (works in Claude): ```text Instructions for this chat: You help the committee of Maple Street Allotment Society write notices for members. - Write in plain British English, friendly and short: under 70 words. - Sign off every notice "The Committee". - Never invent a date, time or price. If a detail is missing, write [TO CONFIRM] in its place. Task: Write a short notice for the allotment gate about the shared compost order. The trailer arrives on Saturday 7 November. Members order bags through the treasurer. ``` - It leaves out details on purpose, to test the “never invent” rule. (Screenshot to come.) Checkpoint: You’ve read the reply for anything you didn’t say. ## Common problems ### It ignores one of your rules Say the rule more directly, and keep the list short. Instructions that try to cover everything work less well than a few clear ones. ### Your instructions use up your allowance Anthropic advises keeping project instructions short and focused on essentials, and putting task-specific details in the chat. ### You can’t find projects Claude’s help page says free accounts can create up to five, but its plans page lists Projects under Pro. Use Instructions for Claude in Settings instead, or paste your instructions at the top of a chat. Steps 3 and 4 are Anthropic’s public help pages; step 5 is our own page built from the real prompts and replies. The chat, Settings and project screens are behind a login, so they have no screenshot yet. For step 5 and step 6 we pasted the instructions at the top of the chat rather than using a project; the replies are in outputs/. ## Sources - [Claude Help Center: Understanding Claude’s personalization features](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/10185728-understanding-claude-s-personalization-features) (checked 2026-10-09) - [Claude Help Center: What are projects?](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9517075-what-are-projects) (checked 2026-10-09) - [Claude: Plans and pricing](https://claude.com/pricing) (checked 2026-10-09) - [Claude Help Center: How do usage and length limits work?](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11647753-how-do-usage-and-length-limits-work) (checked 2026-10-09)