Switch from ChatGPT to Claude – step by step

You've been using ChatGPT for a while. You've created projects, built custom GPTs, and maybe even refined prompts that really work. Now you want to move to Claude.

Good news: you do not have to start from scratch. Most of it can be saved.

Bad news: if you get the first step wrong, you lose everything you have built.

First decision: solo or team?

Before you create an account or configure anything, one question: do you want to use Claude on your own or with a team?

This is not a minor point. Claude distinguishes between three licence types – and if you start on your own and switch later, you will have to reconfigure everything:

Free – Entry level, limited use, no memory management
Pro (~$20/month) – For individuals who do serious work. Full model selection, Projects, Memory.
Team (~$25/person/month, minimum 5 seats) – For teams. Shared Projects, central administration, no training on team data.

Decision rule: If even one more person is likely to use Claude in the next few months, choose Team straight away. The effort needed to move a solo setup into a team later is significant.

Step 1: Migrate ChatGPT Memory

Claude has a built-in import flow for ChatGPT Memory.

1. Open claude.ai/settings/capabilities

2. Click «Import memory from other AI providers» → Start import

3. Claude generates a prompt

4. Copy this prompt and paste it into ChatGPT

5. Copy the result from ChatGPT and paste it back into Claude

Claude processes the import and adopts the context.

Step 2: Save projects and custom GPTs

This is the most time-consuming, but most valuable step. This is where all the knowledge you have built sits.

Create folders – one folder per project or custom GPT:

For each ChatGPT project and each custom GPT you want to save, create a separate local folder. Put everything you need to rebuild the project in Claude into that folder.

What goes into the folder:

• Context documents: Download all files you uploaded in the ChatGPT project and put them in the folder.

• Custom GPT instructions: Open the custom GPT, copy the instructions and save them as a Word or Google Doc in the folder.

• Important chats: Go to your ChatGPT projects and open the chats you want to keep. Add the project handover prompt at the end of the chat (from the cheatsheet above "download"). You will receive two Markdown blocks – copy both into the folder.

Now build Claude:

1. Create a new Project in Claude

2. Paste in the instructions (from the custom GPT or from block 1 of the project handover)

3. Upload the context documents

4. For each chat you want to bring across, paste the project handover block as the first input

Claude then knows your full context – just as it did in ChatGPT before.

Team benefit: You can share Claude Projects with your team members. Everyone can start their own chats based on the same instructions and context files.

Step 3: Classify custom GPTs

Not every custom GPT becomes a Project. The decision rule:

Create as a Claude Project if the custom GPT is specific to a topic, a client or a project. The shared context is then the value.

Create as a Claude Skill if you want to call the custom GPT centrally from many different chats — not tied to a specific project. A Skill is a reusable capability: your writing style, your corporate design, your meeting minutes format.

Many custom GPTs you use today as «tools» will become Projects in Claude – with the benefit that instructions, context and chats come together in one place.

Final step: Transfer your custom instructions

ChatGPT has «Custom Instructions» – global instructions active in every chat. Claude has the equivalent:

claude.ai/settings/general → «Instructions for Claude»

Enter your key instructions there: writing style, language, role, what Claude should always know. These apply in all chats – except outside Projects, which have their own instructions.