A Cowork project collects everything Claude needs for a recurring area of work: the local folders to read and write, standing instructions, useful links, and a dedicated memory store. When you start a session inside a project, Claude is already set up with that context. Projects live on your computer. They aren’t synced to the cloud or shared with other people.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://claude.com/docs/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
What a project holds
Each project bundles the following, and you can change any of it after creation.| Item | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Description | What the project is for; Dispatch reads it when choosing a project for a task |
| Folders | One or more local folders Claude can read and write inside this project’s sessions |
| Instructions | Standing guidance applied to every session in the project |
| Links | Reference URLs (documents, dashboards, repositories) Claude can consult |
| Projects from Chat | Projects you made in Chat (claude.ai) whose knowledge this Cowork project can draw on |
| Memory | A project-scoped memory store that persists across sessions |
Create a project
Open Projects in the left navigation and choose the + button to start. You’re offered three starting points.Choose a starting point
Select Start from scratch to create an empty project with a new folder,
Import a project to bring an existing claude.ai project into Cowork, or
Use an existing folder to point at a folder you already work from.
Name and describe it
Give the project a name and a short description so you can tell it apart in
the sidebar.
Work inside a project
Select a project in the sidebar to start a new Cowork session with that project’s folders mounted and instructions applied. Files Claude creates land in the project’s folders; what Claude learns during the session is saved to the project’s memory for next time. Dispatch can also route background tasks into a project, so long-running work picks up the same folders, instructions, and memory. When you drag files or folders into a project, individual files are copied into the project’s first folder and folders are mounted as additional project folders. Claude reads individual files up to 50 MB.Cowork projects and claude.ai projects
A Cowork project is not the same thing as a project on claude.ai. They’re stored separately and have different capabilities.| Cowork project | claude.ai project | |
|---|---|---|
| Lives | On your computer only | In your Claude account |
| Holds local folders | Yes | No |
| Shareable with teammates | No | Yes, on Team and Enterprise |
Archive a project
Archiving removes the project from your list and deletes its metadata (name, instructions, links, memory). It does not touch the local folders you attached; your files stay exactly where they are on disk. To archive, open the project’s menu in the sidebar and choose Archive.Related
- Run tasks in the background with Dispatch to run work inside a project without watching each step
- Install plugins to extend what Claude can do in a project’s sessions
- Cowork overview for how projects relate to sessions and Dispatch