Claude offers several ways to personalize your experience: profile instructions, project instructions, and styles. Each serves a different purpose in helping Claude better understand and meet your needs.
Instructions for Claude
Instructions are account-wide settings that help Claude understand your general instructions that Claude should consider in responses.
To set your instructions:
Click your initials in the lower left corner.
Select "Settings."
Under "Instructions for Claude," describe your instructions, such as:
Your preferred approaches or methods
Common terms or concepts you use
Typical scenarios you encounter
General communication instructions
Any instructions you add here will be applied to all of your conversations with Claude.
Project instructions
Project instructions help Claude understand the specific context and requirements for a particular project. These instructions only apply to chats within that project.
Projects are available to all users, including those with free Claude accounts. Free users can create a maximum of five projects.
Use project instructions when you want to:
Provide project-specific context
Set guidelines for a particular workflow
Establish requirements for a specific set of tasks
Define roles or perspectives Claude should adopt within the project
Project instructions are particularly useful when you're working on focused tasks or need Claude to maintain consistent context across multiple conversations within the same project.
For detailed information on using projects, see our article on creating and managing projects.
Skills
Note: Styles are moving to skills. If you previously used a default style or created custom styles, see styles are moving to skills.
Skills add specific behaviors or capabilities to your conversations with Claude. They can customize how Claude communicates, apply specialized expertise, or define repeatable behaviors you activate on demand.
Use skills when you want to:
Adjust the tone and format of Claude's responses
Apply communication patterns based on your own writing or preferences
Add specialized capabilities for particular tasks or topics
For more information, see What are skills?
Choosing the right feature
Use profile instructions for account-wide settings that affect all your interactions with Claude.
Use project instructions when you need specific guidance or context for a particular project (paid plans only).
Use styles when you want to customize how Claude formats and delivers its responses.
You can use these features independently or in combination to create the most effective experience for your needs.