AI Guides › Step-by-step guides
By Nigel Guy · 6 min read
Most people sign up, type a question into the blank chat box, get a competent but generic answer, and conclude that this is simply what Claude is like. It isn't. The blank box knows nothing about your job, your spelling, your tone or what you are working on, so it averages. Every chat then starts from zero, which feels fine while it quietly costs you a paragraph of re-explaining each time.
The rule: tell Claude who you are once, in the four places built for it, and put each fact in the place where it belongs, not all in one pile.
You need a Claude account at claude.ai (or the desktop or mobile app) and about ten minutes if you do it properly. Strictly it is nearer sixty seconds per setting.
Cost: everything below is available on the free plan, with two caveats. Searching past chats needs a paid plan, and free accounts are capped at five projects. At time of writing, Pro is listed at $20 a month (about £15 to £16 at time of writing; the page also shows $17 a month billed annually). Check the £ price at checkout, as it varies with exchange rate and tax.
Menu names change from time to time. The paths below were checked against Anthropic's help pages on 2026-10-04. If a label differs on your screen, look for the nearest match in Settings.
This is the account-wide layer. It applies to every conversation, so it should only hold things that are true everywhere.
The help page suggests including preferred approaches, common terms you use, typical scenarios and general communication instructions. Keep it factual and short. "UK English. I run a two-person bookkeeping firm. Plain words, no bullet-point padding, ask me if something is unclear" does more than a page of adjectives.
To get a good first draft, paste this into a new chat:
You are helping me write the standing instructions I will save in Claude's settings.
Goal: a short block (under 120 words) that makes your future answers fit me without my having to repeat myself.
Ask me one question at a time, up to six, covering: my role and field [ROLE], the work I do most often [MAIN_TASKS], my spelling and tone [SPELLING_AND_TONE], what I dislike in answers [DISLIKES], and when you should ask me questions instead of guessing [WHEN_TO_ASK].
Then write the block in the first person, as plain sentences. Use only what I told you. Do not invent details about me, and do not include anything private such as health, finances or client names. Before you show it, check it is under 120 words and contains nothing that is only true for one project.
Fill in: nothing up front; answer the questions as they come. Paste the result into the Instructions for Claude field.
Memory is separate from Instructions: Claude builds it from your chats, rather than you writing it.
Two things worth knowing. Claude leaves out sensitive topics (health, religion, politics and similar) unless you switch on Include sensitive topics in memory. And each project has its own separate memory, so work context stays out of your general chats.
Instructions are for everywhere; a Project is for one body of work.
Start with the one task you do most weekly. Draft the instructions with this:
You are helping me write project instructions for a Claude Project.
Project purpose: [WHAT_THE_PROJECT_IS_FOR]
Typical task I will bring: [TYPICAL_TASK]
Who the output is for: [AUDIENCE]
Files I will upload: [FILES_OR_NONE]
Write instructions under 200 words with: the role you should take, what a good result looks like, the output format, and what to do when information is missing (ask me, do not guess). Add two or three firm limits, for example things you must never invent. If any bracketed input above is empty, ask me for it before writing. Check that nothing here repeats my general account instructions.
Styles change how Claude formats and delivers a reply, not what it knows. Presets at time of writing are Normal, Concise, Formal and Explanatory. In a chat, open the menu at the lower left of the message box (labelled "Search and tools" in the help page), choose Use style and pick one. You can also create a custom style by uploading samples of your own writing. The exact menu label may differ in your app version, so if you can't find it, search the help centre for "styles".
Open a fresh chat and ask something you would normally have to explain: "Draft a short reply to a customer who is late paying." You should see your spelling, your tone and some sign of your role without prompting. If not, work out which layer is missing: wrong spelling means Instructions, wrong facts about you means Memory, wrong format for that task means Project or Style.