Doc Summary
Learn what CRAFT projects are, how they organize your work, and how they maintain context across sessions.
Reading time: About 5 minutes Skill level: Beginner
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
After reading this article, you will understand what a CRAFT project is, how projects maintain persistent context, and how to set up your own project workspace.
WHAT IS A PROJECT
A project is your workspace for a specific initiative, containing project-specific settings, variables, and ongoing work context.
Think of it like your personal kitchen setup. You have your preferred tools arranged a certain way. You have ingredients you use regularly. You have notes about what you are making and where you left off. Everything is organized for your specific cooking goals.
A CRAFT project works similarly. It holds your settings, your persistent information, and your work-in-progress state. When you start a session, the AI loads your project and immediately understands your context, preferences, and current position in the work.
WHY PROJECTS MATTER
Without projects, every AI conversation starts from scratch. You explain your situation. You provide background. You remind the AI of decisions you made previously. This repetition wastes time and introduces inconsistency.
Projects solve this by creating persistent context. Information you define once remains available across all sessions. The AI starts each conversation already knowing who you are, what you are building, and where you left off.
Projects also provide organization. If you work on multiple initiatives, each gets its own project. Your branding work stays separate from your content work. Each project maintains its own context without interference from the others.
THE TWO PROJECT FILES
Every CRAFT project uses two files that work together.
The Project File contains your persistent configuration. This is the stable information that rarely changes: project identity, settings, team information, and long-term variables. Think of it as the foundation of your workspace.
The Chat History File contains your session-to-session context. This is the working state that changes frequently: what you accomplished, what decisions you made, and what comes next. Think of it as the notes you leave for yourself between work sessions.
Together, these files give the AI everything it needs to continue your work seamlessly.
INSIDE THE PROJECT FILE
The Project File follows a standard structure with several sections.
Project Meta contains identity information. Your project ID, name, version, and current phase. This tells the AI which project it is working with.
Project Variables holds persistent data. Settings, configuration, team information, and any facts that should be available across all sessions. When you define a variable here, it persists until you change it.
Project Instructions defines how the AI should behave for this project. Comment system preferences, recipe behavior settings, and any project-specific rules.
Cookbook Configuration specifies which cookbooks are active for this project. You might enable the Brand Identity Cookbook for a branding project or the Content Cookbook for a writing project.
Persona Configuration sets the default persona and lists allowed personas. This ensures the AI starts with the right character for your work.
INSIDE THE CHAT HISTORY FILE
The Chat History File maintains session continuity through handoff snapshots.
Each time you end a work session, you create a handoff. The handoff captures what happened during the session, what decisions were made, what tasks remain, and what the next session should focus on.
Handoffs are organized in reverse chronological order, with the most recent at the top. When you start a new session, the AI reads the latest handoff and picks up exactly where you left off.
This system enables true continuity. Even though each AI conversation technically starts fresh, the handoff provides all the context needed to continue seamlessly.
PERSISTENCE VS HANDOFF
Understanding the difference between persistence and handoff helps you use projects effectively.
Persistence is for long-term information. Put things in your Project File that should be true for weeks or months: your project name, team members, configuration settings, and stable facts. This information rarely changes.
Handoff is for short-term context. Put things in your Chat History that describe your current work state: what you just finished, what problems you encountered, what you plan to do next. This information changes every session.
A simple rule: if it defines what your project is, persist it in the Project File. If it describes where you are in the work, capture it in a handoff.
CREATING YOUR OWN PROJECT
Starting a new project involves creating and customizing both project files.
Begin with the master templates. CRAFT provides template files with the standard structure and placeholder values. Copy these templates and rename them for your project.
The naming convention follows a specific pattern. Your Project File might be named CFT-PROJ-CP-001_MY-PROJECT-v1125a1.txt. The numbers identify your project. The name describes it. The version tracks changes.
Customize the Project Meta section first. Set your project ID, name, and description. Define your goals and success criteria.
Add your persistent variables. What information should the AI know every session? Your business context, team structure, key constraints, and configuration settings all belong here.
Configure your cookbooks and personas. Which cookbooks are relevant to this project? What persona should the AI use by default?
Save your files and you have a working project ready for use.
WORKING WITH YOUR PROJECT
Each session with a project follows a simple pattern.
At session start, you load your project files. Upload the Project File, Chat History, Framework Specification, and relevant cookbooks to your AI. The AI reads these files and initializes your session.
During the session, you work normally. Run recipes, create content, solve problems. The AI operates within your project context, maintaining your settings and following your preferences.
At session end, you create a handoff. Capture what happened, what decisions you made, and what comes next. Add this handoff to your Chat History file.
Next session, the cycle repeats. Load your files, and the AI continues from your handoff.
MULTIPLE PROJECTS
You can maintain multiple projects simultaneously.
Each project has its own pair of files. Your branding project has its Project File and Chat History. Your content project has different files. Your development project has its own.
When you want to work on a specific project, you load that project’s files. The AI adopts that project’s context, settings, and continuity. Other projects remain separate and unaffected.
This separation keeps your work organized. Context from one project does not bleed into another. Each initiative maintains its own clean workspace.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Q: How many projects can I have? A: As many as you need. Each project is just a pair of text files. Create projects for different clients, different initiatives, or different areas of your work.
Q: Can multiple people work on the same project? A: Yes. Share your project files with collaborators. They can load the same files and continue the work. Handoffs help everyone stay synchronized.
Q: What if I make a mistake in my project file? A: Edit the file directly. Project files are plain text that you control. Fix errors, update values, or restructure as needed.
Q: How often should I create handoffs? A: At the end of every work session where meaningful progress occurred. Handoffs are lightweight, so err on the side of creating them too often rather than too rarely.
Q: Do projects work across different AI platforms? A: Yes. Because projects are text files, you can use them with any AI that accepts file attachments. Switch between Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini while maintaining your project context.