What you will be able to do
- Set project instructions, and know which project details Claude can and cannot see
- Explain how organization instructions interact with individual instructions, including who sets them, the length limit, and propagation time
- Spot contradictory or mis-scoped instructions, and test instructions after you change them
1.Where project instructions go, and what Claude doesn't see
When you create a project, you give it a name and a description. Both help people find and recognise the project, but Claude can't see either of them. Anything you want Claude to act on goes into the project instructions. You add them by clicking Set project instructions, writing how you'd like Claude to behave and respond, and clicking Save instructions. From then on, Claude uses them in every chat within the project.
Instructions and project knowledge do different jobs. Uploaded documents give Claude background, and instructions tell Claude how to behave. Chats within a project don't share context with each other: unless information is added to the project knowledge base, what you settled in one chat isn't known in the next. If a decision should hold across the whole project, write it into the instructions instead of relying on an earlier conversation.
On Team and Enterprise plans, projects can be shared, and the instructions are visible to the people they're shared with. Members with Can view can see the instructions and chat in the project but can't change them. Members with Can edit can modify the instructions and knowledge. In a shared project, the instructions are effectively the team's agreed brief to Claude, and anyone you give edit access can change that brief for everyone.
Checkpoint 1 of 4· Put it in order
Put these steps for creating a project and giving Claude its instructions in order
- 1.Add instructions for how Claude should behave and respond, then click "Save instructions"
- 2.Give the project a name and description
- 3.Click "+ New Project" in the upper right corner
- 4.Click "Set project instructions"
You create the project first, then open the instructions panel and save your text. Once saved, the instructions apply to every chat in the project.
“Claude will use these instructions for all the chats within the project.”Source: support.claude.com
Sources1
2.Organization instructions sit above individual ones
Team and Enterprise plans add a level above the individual one. Organization instructions apply to every conversation across the organization. They suit communication standards, formatting requirements, compliance guidance, and domain context your whole team needs. Only Owners and Primary Owners can set them, and only Owners and above can view them.
| Level | Set by | Scope | Visibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organization instructions | Owners and Primary Owners | All people in your organization, every conversation | Only Owners and above can view or edit |
| Individual user instructions | Each user | That individual's conversations only | Only that user can view or edit |
When an individual instruction contradicts an organization instruction, the organization instruction takes precedence. The documented example: the organization says "Always respond in formal English" and a user's instruction says "use a casual tone". Claude responds formally. Individual instructions aren't thrown away, though. They still govern anything the organization instructions don't address.
Three practical limits affect how you write and roll these out. The text can be at most 3,000 characters, so organization instructions need to be concise and limited to what really applies everywhere. Saved changes may take up to an hour to reach all Claude products. And precedence works through prompt-level instructions, so Anthropic notes that directly contradictory instructions can behave differently in rare edge cases. Its advice is to test your instructions and confirm they produce the results you expect.
Checkpoint 2 of 4· Check yourself
Your organization instruction says "Always respond in formal English." Your personal instructions say "Use a casual tone" and "Use British spelling." The organization instructions say nothing about spelling. What should you expect?
The organization instruction wins on tone because the two conflict. The spelling preference doesn't conflict with anything, so it still applies.
“Individual instructions still apply for anything the organization instructions don’t address.”Source: support.claude.com
Sources2
3.Avoid conflicting and mis-scoped instructions, then test
Most failures in instructions that are otherwise well written come from two sources.
Contradictions within one set of instructions. Anthropic's guidance on instruction files warns that when two instructions contradict each other, Claude may pick one of them arbitrarily. "Keep every answer under 100 words" and "Always include a full worked example" can't both be followed. Instead of reliably choosing the one you meant, Claude may go either way. Read your instructions as a whole and resolve tensions yourself, for example by saying which rule wins when they collide.
Scope that doesn't match the work. Project instructions apply to every chat in the project, so the audience and role you write in are applied to everything done there. If the project is also used for a different audience, those chats get the same framing. Either keep the project to work that shares one audience, or write the instructions so they tell Claude explicitly how to handle each kind of request.
In a shared project, read the existing instructions before you assume something is wrong with Claude. Anyone with view access can see them, and they're often where an unexpected tone or format comes from.
Finally, test. Organization-level changes can take up to an hour to propagate, and Anthropic recommends confirming that instructions produce the results you expect. After any change, run a few representative requests, including the awkward edge cases, before you rely on the new instructions.
Checkpoint 3 of 4· Exam question
A project's instructions say "always write in plain language for non-specialists" and, further down, "use the full technical terminology our engineers expect". Team members report that outputs vary widely. What is the greatest concern with these instructions as written?
Correct answer: C — The two rules conflict, so Claude has no reliable basis for choosing a register and results vary between chats.
- A. Instruction wording does not trigger any reprocessing of uploaded documents.
- B. A predictable midpoint is not what happens; the observed symptom is inconsistency, not a stable compromise.
- C. Correct. Contradictory house rules are the direct cause: neither rule can be satisfied without breaking the other.
- D. There is no such rule that only the opening line of project instructions is read.
Checkpoint 4 of 4· Check yourself
A project's instructions contain both "Keep every answer under 100 words" and "Always include a full worked example." What is the documented risk?
Claude doesn't resolve a contradiction by a fixed rule. It may follow either instruction, so the author has to remove the conflict or say which instruction takes priority.
“if two instructions contradict each other, Claude may pick one arbitrarily.”Source: code.claude.com
Exam traps
Each one states something that sounds right. Open it to see what is actually true.
1.Writing the project's purpose in its description is enough for Claude to take it into account.Why is that wrong?
Claude can't see a project's name or description. Direction for Claude belongs in the project instructions.
Covered in Where project instructions go, and what Claude doesn't see
2.A user's personal instruction overrides the organization instruction because it is more specific to that user.Why is that wrong?
When the two directly contradict each other, the organization instruction takes precedence. Personal instructions apply only where the organization instructions are silent.
Covered in Organization instructions sit above individual ones
3.Organization instructions take effect immediately after you save them, so you can test straight away.Why is that wrong?
Changes can take up to an hour to propagate across Claude products, so test once they have taken effect.
Covered in Organization instructions sit above individual ones
Sources
Every claim above is drawn from one of these pages, quoted as it was written on the date shown.
- 1.
“Context is not shared across chats within a project unless the information is added into the project knowledge base.”
↩︎ Where project instructions go, and what Claude doesn't see“Can view: Members can see project contents, knowledge, and instructions, and chat within the project, but cannot edit it.”
↩︎ Where project instructions go, and what Claude doesn't see“Can edit: Members can modify project instructions and knowledge, update member settings, and actively contribute to the project.”
↩︎ Where project instructions go, and what Claude doesn't see“Give your project a name and description (note that Claude will not have access to these details).”
↩︎ Exam trap 1“Give your project a name and description (note that Claude will not have access to these details).”
↩︎ Prediction“Claude will use these instructions for all the chats within the project.”
↩︎ Checkpoint - 2.
“Organization instructions are available to Owners and Primary Owners on Team and Enterprise plans.”
↩︎ Organization instructions sit above individual ones“The maximum length is 3,000 characters.”
↩︎ Organization instructions sit above individual ones“Test your instructions to confirm they produce the results you expect.”
↩︎ Avoid conflicting and mis-scoped instructions, then test“When both are set, organization instructions take precedence.”
↩︎ Exam trap 2“Changes may take up to an hour to take effect across Claude products.”
↩︎ Exam trap 3“Individual instructions still apply for anything the organization instructions don’t address.”
↩︎ Checkpoint - 3.https://code.claude.com/docs/en/memoryOfficial docs
“if two instructions contradict each other, Claude may pick one arbitrarily.”
↩︎ Avoid conflicting and mis-scoped instructions, then test