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FlintFlintby Torch
← Level 2Builder · L2

Save your context so you never paste it again

Build-along · ~20 min at your own keyboard

Pasting the same background into every chat is slow, and you will forget. Every assistant has a standing place for this. It may be called custom instructions, personal preferences, saved info, or a project. You write a context block once. Then every new chat starts with it. One difference matters. Instructions are what you wrote: you decide what is in them. Memory is what the assistant chose to keep from your chats: it decides. Memory is useful, but it can save wrong things or things you did not mean to share. Open it now and then and delete what is wrong. The test of a saved context is simple. Open a brand-new chat. Paste nothing. Ask for work only your context can do. If the answer is right, it works.

Ladder · Level 2 gateThe long version: Context ↗

Do this

0/6

Checkpoints

  • ▸You should now see your context block saved in a settings page or a project, not only in a note.
  • ▸You should now see a brand-new chat with nothing pasted into it.
  • ▸You should now see an answer in that chat that uses your business details and voice without being given them.
The three ways this goes wrong
  • The new chat ignores your context and answers like a stranger. — Check you saved it, not only typed it. Check the toggle that turns instructions on. Check that you opened a new chat after saving, outside any project that has other instructions.
  • The assistant saved something wrong or private in its memory. — Open the memory list, delete the wrong item, and write the right fact in your instructions instead. Instructions you control. Memory you only review.
  • The assistant is stiff. It repeats your business facts or never-do list in every answer. — Shorten the block to rules that change the answer. Add: 'Use this background silently. Do not repeat it back.'

Dated facts in this lesson: ChatGPT has Saved memories, Reference chat history and Custom instructions, with the toggles under Settings > Personalization. Projects hold their own files and instructions (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Claude has an editable Memory and an 'Instructions for Claude' (personal preferences) setting, on Free, Pro and Max. Projects hold files and instructions, and Free gets 5 projects (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Gemini has 'Personal context' (on by default, needs Keep Activity) and 'Saved info'. Gems are being replaced by Skills, with conflicting rollout dates in October and November 2026 (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Consumer Copilot has Memory and Personalization in its settings. Copilot Notebooks hold files and instructions and come with Microsoft 365 Personal, Family or Premium (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Grok has 'Personalize with Memories' under Data Controls, and Projects that hold files and instructions (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Perplexity has Memory, including on Free. Spaces hold files and instructions: Pro allows 50 files per Space, and Spaces are not on Free (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it).

Share what happened

Paste the saved context block (with any private details removed). Then paste your cold-chat proof: the request you made in a brand-new chat with nothing pasted, and the answer. Say in one line where you saved the block and whether memory is on or off.

Strip API keys, passwords, and tokens before you paste. Swap them for [KEY].

🔒 Don't paste confidential, personal-health, or payment info.