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Claude Cowork1 min read

Claude Projects vs conversations — when to use which.

Projects give you persistent context. Conversations stay clean. Knowing which to use saves rework.

Haojun See
Haojun See

Founder & Director, On The Ground

Updated 6 June 2026

Overview

Pro and Max unlock Projects: a folder-like container that holds files Claude loads as system context for every chat in the project. Knowing when to use a Project vs a regular conversation saves you re-pasting context all day.

Use a Project when

• You're working on the same topic across many sessions (a client, a recurring report, a long-running research thread). • You have files you want Claude to always read first (you.md, brand-brief.md, knowledge-[topic].md). • You want history isolated from other work.

Use a regular conversation when

• It's a one-off query. • The context will get stale fast. • You're testing a prompt before promoting it to a Project.

The pattern that works

Most professionals end up with 3-6 Projects: one per major client or topic, one for personal brand work, one for research, and a catch-all for everything else. Don't over-structure — Projects work best when they map to real recurring contexts.

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