What are ChatGPT Projects?
ChatGPT Projects are workspaces that keep related chats, files and instructions together, so every chat in the project starts with the same context. OpenAI's projects documentation frames the choice simply: create a project when work continues over time, produces several outputs, or depends on the same files and sources, and use a plain chat for self-contained work.
A project has two main parts. The Chats section holds the conversations that belong to the work. The Sources section holds uploaded files and connected context that should be available across those chats. On top of that sit project instructions and a memory setting that decides how much the project draws on the rest of your account.
Projects are now in the ChatGPT desktop app too. OpenAI's What's new page notes that "ChatGPT Projects are available in the desktop app" (July 2026), where the Projects view also includes local projects that connect to folders on your computer.
Which plans include ChatGPT Projects?
All of them, with different limits. As of October 2026, OpenAI's help article Projects in ChatGPT lists projects on Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu. Projects reached Free users on September 3, 2025, according to the ChatGPT release notes.
| Plan | Files per project | Collaborators on a shared project |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 5 | Up to 5 |
| Go, Plus | 25 | Up to 10 |
| Pro | 40 | Up to 100 |
| Business, Enterprise, Edu | 40 | Up to 100 per workspace project |
On personal plans the cap depends on the project owner's plan. In Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces, a project can have up to 100 collaborators, and workspace owners decide whether project sharing is on. For current plan prices, see OpenAI's pricing page.
How do you create a project and add chats?
- Select New project in the sidebar.
- Enter a project name, then pick an icon and color.
- Choose the memory setting (default or project-only). You can change it later in the project's settings.
- Open the project's ••• menu, choose Project settings and add instructions.
- Add files to Sources, or start chatting.
To bring in existing work, use Move to project on a chat. Chats created with a GPT can't be moved into a project, so if the option is missing, start a new chat inside the project.
You can pin projects and chats, rename and archive chats, and search both. OpenAI's docs point out that pinning "doesn't add context or change what ChatGPT can access," so a pinned chat outside a project gets none of the project's files or instructions.
How do project files work?
Files you add to a project's Sources are available to every chat in it. Files attached to a single chat stay with that chat. Besides uploads, you can paste text, and OpenAI's help center lists Google Drive files and folders and Slack channels as sources you can link where those apps are available.
Limits to plan around, as of October 2026:
- Files per project: 5 on Free, 25 on Go and Plus, 40 on Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu.
- Upload batch: up to 10 files at the same time.
- Shared projects: every member can view and download project files, and deleting a file removes it for everyone.
Because the file count is small on lower plans, merge related notes into fewer, well-labeled documents. A single "product facts" file with clear headings is easier for ChatGPT to use than ten fragments, and it leaves room for the files that actually change.
How do project instructions work?
Project instructions apply across all chats in the project. OpenAI's help center says they apply only within that project and override your account-wide custom instructions there. That makes them the right place for anything specific to one body of work: the audience, the format, the source of truth, and the mistakes you keep correcting.
A useful set of project instructions is short and concrete:
This project is for drafting release notes for Acme Billing.
- The files in Sources are the current changelog and style guide. Treat them as the source of truth.
- Write for customers, not engineers. Plain language, no internal ticket numbers.
- Group changes under New, Improved and Fixed. Keep each item to one sentence.
- If a change isn't in the changelog, ask before including it.
Keep broad preferences (your role, tone, preferred length) in custom instructions, which apply everywhere. Put only project-specific rules here, so the two don't contradict each other.
How does memory work inside a project?
Each project has a memory setting, chosen when you create it and changeable later in Project settings:
- Default memory: the project's chats can use your account memory as well as context from the project.
- Project-only memory: saved memories from outside the project are not referenced in its chats. Chats can still reference other conversations inside the same project.
Plans differ in detail. OpenAI's help center says that on Enterprise and Edu, project chats stay within the project even with default memory, while on other plans, including Business, default-memory project chats can also reference conversations outside the project. There is no global switch: each project's memory setting is set one project at a time and still respects your personal and workspace memory settings. Changes can take a few hours to apply.
Shared projects are always project-only. They don't have access to a member's custom instructions, memories or context from outside the project, which keeps one person's preferences from leaking into a teammate's answers. For how memory works across the rest of ChatGPT, see the ChatGPT memory guide.
How does project sharing work?
Project sharing is available on Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu, on the web and in the mobile apps. The release notes say sharing opened to all users, including Free, on October 23, 2025.
- Inviting: owners can invite people individually or share a link. On Business, Enterprise and Edu they can also invite workspace groups.
- Edit access: members can change instructions, upload or remove files, and invite others, but can't remove existing members.
- Chat access: members can view the project and chat in it, but can't invite others.
- Single chats: you can still share one conversation by link, which shows only that conversation, not the whole project.
The collaborator cap depends on the owner's plan (5 on Free, 10 on Go and Plus, 100 on Pro, and up to 100 in a workspace project). Because shared projects use project-only memory and every member can download the files, treat them like a shared drive folder: put in only what everyone in it should see.
ChatGPT Projects vs Claude Projects
The two features solve the same problem with different details. Claude Projects center on a knowledge base with retrieval on paid plans, and Claude limits project sharing to Team and Enterprise. ChatGPT Projects cap files per plan, let every plan share, and add a per-project memory switch. The full side-by-side table is in ChatGPT Projects vs Claude Projects, and the Claude side is covered in the Claude Projects guide.
Keep project instructions somewhere you own
Project instructions are easy to lose: they live inside one project, and a good set often gets copied by hand into the next. Kipt keeps prompts and instructions like these as Markdown in a private GitHub repo you own, with Cmd+K search and blanks such as {{product:Acme Billing}} that you fill in when you copy. When a set of instructions grows into a repeatable procedure, the free SKILL.md generator turns it into an Agent Skill in your browser, with no sign-up.