Project instructions best practices

How projects work

• Projects are single-user and each chat can belong to at most one project.
• Projects store simple instructions that act as project context.
• When a chat has a project slug, the chat completion routes prepend the project's instructions to the system prompt.
• In /chat, opening a project shows a Projects panel with the chats list, an instructions editor, and a files uploader; new chats started there are bound to the project slug.
• Deleting a project deletes its chats; moving a chat to another project or the main list updates chats.project.
• Files use the project slug (files.projects) to stay associated with the project.

AI help for instructions

• An update_project_instructions tool is available when a project is active; ask the AI to update instructions as work progresses.
• The tool overwrites the existing text, so include all important details each time you update.
• Treat project instructions as a lightweight log—refresh them after new decisions or file uploads.

Writing effective instructions

• Keep the instructions concise so they fit well as a prefixed system prompt.
• Anchor the AI with durable context: current goals, decisions, and any links or files the AI should trust.
• Use small Markdown sections to stay organized, for example:

## Goals
- Ship the feature that enables project-scoped chat

## Sources
- Repo doc link or file names stored in the project

## Constraints
- Keep responses concise; prefer bullet points

• Update after notable events (new files, renamed project, or changed priorities) so the injected context stays accurate.

Lifecycle notes

• Deleting a project removes the project and its chats.
• Moving a chat between projects or back to the main list just updates its project slug; instructions and files remain tied to their project.