---
id: con-projects-and-knowledge
schema: concept/1
layer: garden
status: established
name: Projects and knowledge
aka: ["Projects", "Spaces", "notebooks", "knowledge base", "project files", "workspaces"]
summary: >
  A workspace where you keep the files, instructions and chats for one body of work together, so
  every conversation in it starts with the same background.
first_seen: "2024-06"
relations:
  builds_on: [con-context-engineering, con-custom-instructions]
  evolved_from: []
  related: [con-memory, con-privacy-and-data]
  parallels:
    - idea: "a case file"
      field: "law"
      note: "Everything about one matter in one folder, so anyone picking it up starts from the same facts."
    - idea: "a shared project folder"
      field: "office work"
implementations:
  - { provider: anthropic, name: "Claude Projects" }
  - { provider: openai, name: "ChatGPT Projects" }
  - { provider: google, name: "Gemini Gems with files" }
  - { provider: google, name: "NotebookLM" }
  - { provider: perplexity, name: "Perplexity Spaces" }
competencies: [cmp-describe-the-task, cmp-make-it-repeatable]
origin:
  kind: ai-proposed
  by: "seed agent 2026-10-16"
  rationale: "Same idea under five product names; a clear case for teaching the idea instead of the brand."
---

A project is a folder for AI work. You put in the documents that matter (a style guide, a strategy, past reports), write a few instructions for that work, and then every chat you start inside it already knows that background. You stop re-uploading the same files.

The products have different names. Claude and ChatGPT call them Projects, Perplexity calls them Spaces, and Google spreads the idea across Gems with attached files and NotebookLM notebooks. Underneath, they all do the same job: keep context for one area of work in one place.

Choose the files with care. A small set of current, relevant files works better than a dump of everything. Out-of-date documents get treated as true. And because files in a shared project may be visible to teammates, think about what belongs there.

## Example

A grants manager creates a project for one funder. It holds the funder's guidelines, last year's application, the budget template and the note "always match their language about outcomes." Each new section she drafts starts from the same facts.

## How it connects

- A practical tool for **context engineering**, combined with project-level **custom instructions**.
- Close cousin of **memory**: projects keep chosen files, memory keeps learned details.
- **Custom assistants** package a similar setup for others to use.

## Try it

List the three files you paste into AI most often and guess which one will make the biggest difference. Put all three in a project and try one of your usual requests.