08 — Set Up a Project for Continuing Work

Project guide: separate sources, instructions and chats; keep approved learning and check retrieval in a fresh conversation.

A Project groups continuing work, usually with conversations, source material and instructions. Use one when you return to the same topic; a single invitation does not need one. Saving files, instructions and conversations are different actions. Do not assume every new chat knows what happened in another.

A small workspace you can test

Use these fictional source notes; copy only this block into the source/context area when the route below asks for notes.

Source notes — separate from instructions

Copy this prompt

Workshop notes

Day: Tuesday

Time: 3 p.m.

Place: Room A

Bring: a notebook

End time: not provided

Read only the route for the service you chose. Name your workspace “Workshop practice.” Keep it private; you do not need to share it with BLI.

ChatGPT web

  1. open the sidebar → New project → name it.
  2. Add the notes as pasted text or an available source/file.
  3. Open the Project's ••• menu → Project settings to add the instructions below.
  4. Start your practice chat inside that Project.

Claude web

  1. open Projects → new-project control → name it.
  2. In the Project's Context/knowledge area, use +/Add files → text-content option to paste the notes, or upload a permitted file.
  3. In Instructions, use the edit/set control, paste the instructions and save.
  4. Start the chat from the Project page.
  5. The name alone is not your source context.

Gemini web, if Notebooks is available

  1. sidebar → Notebooks → New notebook; name it and begin a chat.
  2. Use Add sources for the source notes.
  3. To save instructions: All notebooks → open this notebook → More → Notebook settings → instructions → Save.
  4. Gemini Notebook must be connected; review any connection request before deciding.
  5. Rollout and account access vary.
  6. Keep Activity affects saved chats and use of past conversations; do not change privacy settings just to complete this lesson.
  7. Use the pasted-context fallback below if the feature is missing or you prefer it.

If you cannot access one of those features, keep your instructions and notes in your own plain text note. Paste both into a new chat when you resume. It takes an extra step and does not promise automatic memory.

Add the instructions and the facts separately

Copy this block into the workspace's instructions field, or the beginning of your fallback chat. The workshop notes belong in source context, not in these general instructions.

Workspace instructions

Copy this prompt

Help me organize the workshop using the notes I provide. Use plain language. Distinguish a supplied fact from a suggestion. Ask me about missing details that matter. Do not invent dates, locations, commitments or approvals. When I request a draft, make it here; do not send or publish anything.

Challenge important unsupported details and let me choose corrections.

For the fallback chat, paste the source-notes block above after these instructions. For a Project or notebook, add those notes to its source/context area. For a notebook, add the notes as source text using the available source control. If that control cannot accept your notes, use the pasted-context fallback.

Check what it retained

Start a fresh conversation inside the saved workspace and ask: “From the workshop notes you can read, when and where is it, what should attendees bring, and is the end time known?” Do not repeat the answers in that test question.

Compare with your saved source: Tuesday, 3 p.m., Room A, notebook, end time unknown. If it cannot read the notes or adds a time, fix the source placement or ask for a correction and repeat the check. In the pasted-context fallback, supply the notes each time; you are checking whether it can read the notes now, not whether it remembers them later.

At a useful stopping point, save an approved decision or summary explicitly as source text or in your own note. Reopen it later and check it. Do not rely on “remember this” as proof of a saved copy you can reopen.

Web guide check: October 14, 2026. ChatGPT Projects · ChatGPT custom instructions · Claude Projects · Gemini notebooks. Features and names change; use the corresponding official guide rather than guessing another app's controls.

Next: lesson 09 helps you check and keep a result, then choose practical work.

This is alpha material. Report unclear instructions or errors through a public issue or email help@bigleverinstitute.org. Share only redacted or fictional material.