How to Use Projects
Projects are workspaces for research that should stay together.
If a normal chat is a single conversation, a project is the container around a whole body of work: related chats, shared instructions, uploaded files, and saved papers.
Project files are available to chats in that project for context retrieval. Saved papers are a project curation surface today: they keep important sources attached to the workspace, but they are not a separate automatic retrieval pool for every answer.
What a Project Contains
A project can hold:
- chats tied to the same research effort
- custom instructions that apply across those chats
- reference files shared across the project
- saved academic papers you want to keep with the work
This makes projects the right place for multi-step tasks like diligence, market research, client work, and paper development.
Creating a Project
- Open Projects in the sidebar (under the collapsible Projects group).
- Start a new project from the list page.
The create dialog asks for:
- a required project name
- an optional description
- an optional icon
- an optional color
Custom instructions are not part of the create dialog. After the project exists, open it and use the Custom Instructions tab to add standing guidance for all chats in that project.
Plan limits and billing prompts
How many projects you can create, and how many reference files each project may hold, depends on your plan. Corbis reads those limits from your subscription entitlements and surfaces the current caps in the project UI (for example on the projects list and in the Files area).
Some tiers treat reference files as unlimited internally (the product uses a sentinel value of -1 for “no numeric cap”). When that applies, the interface shows unlimited instead of a number.
If you are already at your project count limit, you stay on the same screen: the app shows a Project limit reached notice with an explanation and a Go to Billing link to Settings → Billing (/settings?tab=billing). The create flow on the list page can show the same kind of alert inside the dialog when creation fails for that reason—again, a prompt and link, not an automatic redirect.
Chats and Projects
Assigning a chat to a project
Each chat can be linked to one project or to no project.
- Open the chat.
- Use the folder-style project control in the chat header (next to other header actions). It shows the current project name, or No Project.
- Pick a project from the menu, or choose No Project to clear the link.
Behind the scenes, that choice is saved on the chat: the app sends an update to the server so the chat’s stored projectId matches what you selected. The next time you open that chat, it loads with the same project association until you change it again.
Changing project after the thread has started
Once the conversation has at least one message (from you or the assistant), you cannot move that same thread to a different project from the header menu. That rule keeps long transcripts tied to one project’s context.
If you try to switch anyway, Corbis explains that you need a new chat and offers Start new chat. Confirming opens a fresh chat; your newly chosen project is pre-selected there so you can continue under the right workspace without reassigning manually.
On a brand-new chat—with no messages yet—you can change or clear the project from the header as many times as you need before the first send.
Working Inside a Project
Open a project from Projects in the sidebar, then use the tabs across the top.
Chats
Lists chats that belong to this project. New chats you start with this project selected appear here over time.
Custom Instructions
Use this tab when every chat in the project should follow the same standing guidance. These instructions are applied together with Corbis’s default system behavior for chats in this project.
Examples:
- writing style preferences
- recurring analysis rules
- deal-specific framing
- a consistent output structure
Files
Upload reference files that should be available across the project. How many files you can store depends on your plan; the project UI shows your effective cap (including unlimited, when your tier allows it).
Papers
Saved academic papers live here. This is useful when you want to keep the most relevant sources attached to the project instead of hunting for them again later. There is no separate “papers quota” in entitlements—the emphasis is on useful curation, not an arbitrary paper count cap.
If you want a specific saved paper used in an answer, refer to it directly in chat or use the paper-search/detail tools so the response can cite the source it actually retrieved.
Guide
The project Guide tab explains how project context works and how to use the available space well.
When to Use a Project
Use a project when:
- the work will last more than one chat
- multiple chats should share the same instructions
- you want reference files available across conversations
- you want to keep saved papers with a specific deliverable
Do not force everything into projects. For one-off questions, normal chat is usually faster.
Good Project Habits
- Create one project per deliverable, thesis, or major workstream.
- Keep custom instructions short and specific.
- Upload only the files that are genuinely useful for the project.
- Save the most important papers instead of trying to save everything.
- Delete old projects carefully. The UI treats deletion as permanent.