Share an AI project (a team workspace)

Stand up one shared space — the same files, standing instructions, and chats — so a group works inside it together. Everyone starts every chat with the same context loaded, and what one person adds, the rest see.

Time: ~10–20 min to set up the space (files + instructions), then sharing is a couple of clicks. This is mostly a manual web-app job: your agent can write the instructions text and tidy the files, but creating the project, uploading, and inviting all happen in the browser. [estimate] The catch: a true team space — shared with your whole workspace — needs a paid Team/Enterprise (Claude) or Business/Enterprise/Edu (ChatGPT) seat. On Claude, project sharing exists only on those plans. [confirmed] Last verified: 2026-06-07 · Claude steps from support.claude.com; ChatGPT steps from OpenAI's help center. [confirmed]

Before you begin

A paid team workspace. For Claude: a Team or Enterprise plan — sharing a project does not exist on Free or Pro. [confirmed] For ChatGPT: a Business, Enterprise, or Edu workspace for the "share with the whole workspace" path (per-person sharing now works on personal plans too, but the workspace-link path is the team one). [confirmed]
The people you want in it are already members of that workspace (an admin added their email). You share within the org; outsiders can't be pulled into a workspace project. [confirmed]
The stuff that goes in — the files (briefs, data, style guides) and the standing instructions (tone, role, what to always do). Have these ready before you start clicking.
A browser. Both flows live entirely in claude.ai / chatgpt.com. There is no terminal step.

New to letting an agent help? Your agent can't click these buttons for you, but it can draft the project instructions and clean up the files first — see Set up Claude Code and How to ask your agent. Come back with the text ready to paste.

Let your agent prep it first

The clicking is yours, but the writing isn't. Before you open the browser, have your agent produce the two things you'll paste in:

Draft project instructions for a shared ChatGPT/Claude project where my team
does <the work>. Cover the tone, the role to take, and what to always include.
Then list the files we should add and clean up any I point you at.

You paste its output into the instructions box and upload the files it tidied. Everything below is the part only a human at the keyboard can do.

=== "Claude"

## Build the space

1. **Make the project.** In [claude.ai](https://claude.ai), open **Projects** (left sidebar), then click **+ New Project** (top-right). Give it a name and description — note Claude doesn't read these, they're just labels for your team. `[confirmed]`
2. **Add the files.** On the project's main page, click the **+** on the right to upload documents, text, or code. Claude treats these as standing context for every chat in the project. `[confirmed]`
3. **Add the standing instructions.** Click **Set project instructions**, paste your agent's draft, and click **Save instructions**. These apply to *every* chat anyone starts in the project. `[confirmed]`

## Share it

1. Click **Share**, to the right of the project name. `[confirmed]`
2. **Whole org:** under **General access**, choose **Everyone at [your organization]** — now anyone in the workspace can open and use it. `[confirmed]`
3. **Named people:** add them by name or email and set each to **Can view** or **Can edit**. Paste a list of emails to invite in bulk. `[confirmed]`

**One reassuring detail:** sharing the *project* does **not** expose your *chats*. When a project is shared, each person's own chats inside it stay private to them unless they deliberately share a chat. `[confirmed]`

To lock it back down: **Share → Only people invited** (private). Remove a named person there and they're out at once. `[confirmed]`

=== "ChatGPT"

## Build the space

1. **Make the project.** In [chatgpt.com](https://chatgpt.com), click **New project** in the left sidebar; give it a name (and an icon/colour to spot it). Make sure you're in your **work workspace**, not your personal account — switch via the workspace name at the top if needed. `[confirmed]`
2. **Add the files.** Inside the project, upload PDFs, spreadsheets, docs, or paste text. ChatGPT uses them as context for every chat in the project. `[confirmed]`
3. **Add the standing instructions.** Click the **⋯** (three dots, top-right of the project) → **Project settings** → add your agent's draft as the project instructions. They apply to every new chat in the project. `[confirmed]`

## Share it

1. Click **Share** (top-right of the project). `[confirmed]`
2. **Whole workspace:** generate and send a **workspace link** — anyone in your Business/Enterprise/Edu workspace who opens it joins with **chat access** by default. `[confirmed]`
3. **Named people:** invite by individual email or group, and grant each **chat** or **edit** access. `[confirmed]`

**The two access levels — get this right:** `[confirmed]`

- **Chat access** — see and use the project's chats, files, and instructions. *Can't* invite others or change the setup.
- **Edit access** — all of the above, plus update instructions, add/remove files, and invite more people (but not remove existing members).

Workspace-link joiners always land on **chat access**; you bump individuals up to edit afterwards from the sharing pane. You can't hand edit to the whole workspace in one go. `[confirmed]`

To stop sharing: switch the project back to **only those invited**, or remove a person from the sharing pane. `[confirmed]`

If it doesn't work

No Share button at all (Claude) → you're on Free or Pro. Project sharing is a Team/Enterprise-only feature — there's no per-person share on personal Claude plans. You'd need a paid team seat. [confirmed]
Teammate clicks the link and gets "you need access" → they're not a member of the workspace, or the project is still private. They must be added to the org first (an admin does this), then you share — you can't invite an outside email into a workspace project. [confirmed]
You shared it but they can't find it → check you shared the project, not a single chat. A shared project shows in their projects list; a shared chat is just one conversation. [confirmed]
They opened it but can't change the instructions or add files (ChatGPT) → they have chat access, not edit. Bump them up in the sharing pane. Workspace-link joiners default to chat; that's expected. [confirmed]
It's in your personal account, not the team's (ChatGPT) → you made the project while in your personal workspace. There's no move button — recreate it inside the work workspace (switch via the name at the top), then share. [confirmed]
Upload rejected / "too many files" → there's a knowledge cap per project. On ChatGPT it scales with the owner's plan (Free ~5 files, Plus/Go ~25, Pro ~40 in a shared project); on Claude, big knowledge bases switch to a retrieval mode automatically rather than hard-blocking. Trim or consolidate files. ChatGPT caps [confirmed]; Claude's exact per-project file/size limit isn't published [unclear].
Your teammate sees old context → project knowledge only updates when someone with edit access changes the files or instructions; a chat that's already open won't pick up a mid-conversation file swap. Start a fresh chat in the project. [estimate]

Watch / read

Best written walkthrough — Claude: Anthropic's own Manage project visibility and sharing, paired with How can I create and manage projects for the build side — the authoritative source for the exact buttons and the Team/Enterprise gate. [confirmed]

Best written walkthrough — ChatGPT: OpenAI's Projects in ChatGPT help article and the Using projects Academy guide — current on the share flow, access levels, and workspace-link path. [confirmed]

Short videos (YouTube transcripts couldn't be verified from this machine this session, so source/title/length are the signal):

Shareable Projects in Claude — Anthropic — 0:55 — why this one: the official, on-task clip showing exactly the Share → org / named-people path, fastest way to see the buttons.
Getting started with projects in Claude.ai — Anthropic — 7:08 — why this one: official build-side walkthrough (create, add files, set instructions) before you share.
How To Use Projects in ChatGPT for Beginners — Corbin — 5:47 — okay start — why this one: a clean create-add-files-instructions run for ChatGPT; the sharing pane is newer than some of these, so cross-check against the OpenAI help article above.

A note on the "by hand" path

There isn't a faster one. These are web apps — the create-upload-invite clicks above are the manual path, and an agent can't press the buttons for you. The only thing it saves you is drafting the instructions and tidying the files first (above).

Just handing over a finished thing they click and use, not a workspace to chat in? → a Claude Artifact or a deployed website — opens in any browser, no seat, nothing to set up.
They'll build on files or code together, with every version tracked? → a GitHub repository.
Want to package a reusable routine for an agent, not a chat workspace? → create and share a skill.

Sources

Manage project visibility and sharing — Claude Help Center (Team/Enterprise-only; Share button; General access → Everyone at org; Can view / Can edit; chats stay private; revert to private) — checked 2026-06-07
How can I create and manage projects? — Claude Help Center (+ New Project; + to add knowledge; Set project instructions → Save; Free-plan 5-project cap; RAG mode at the context limit) — checked 2026-06-07
What are projects? — Claude Help Center (files + instructions + memory as standing context) — checked 2026-06-07
Projects in ChatGPT — OpenAI Help Center (New project; add files; ⋯ → Project settings for instructions; Share by email/group/workspace link; chat vs edit access; workspace-link defaults to chat; per-plan file/collaborator caps; sharing to all plans from 2025-10-22) — checked 2026-06-07 (accessed via OpenAI; help-center pages block automated fetch)
Using projects — OpenAI Academy (create, add files, set instructions, share flow) — checked 2026-06-07
More ways to work with your team and tools in ChatGPT — OpenAI (shared-projects launch: Business/Enterprise/Edu first, workspace-link sharing, edit vs chat) — checked 2026-06-07