How to Give Claude Background Information That Helps

Give Claude background information in a short, labeled summary before your request: explain the project, who it serves, the sources to trust, the constraints and what people have already decided. Then ask Claude to restate the relevant facts and identify gaps before producing the work. This makes misunderstandings visible while they are still easy to correct.

For ongoing work, fenbs keeps the shared project record outside any one conversation, so you can update the background once and ask connected assistants to read it. Start by making the information useful to a new colleague, rather than collecting everything your company has ever written.

What should you write before asking for the work?

1. Name the project and its purpose. Describe the outcome in ordinary language, including who benefits and what would count as a useful result.
2. Describe the audience and situation. Include what readers already know, what they need next and any relevant business terms.
3. List the reliable sources. Give each document a name, version or date, and explain which part supports this request.
4. Separate constraints from preferences. A required accessibility standard is different from a preference for a friendly tone.
5. State settled decisions and unresolved questions separately. Include why an earlier option was rejected if Claude might reasonably suggest it again.
6. Finish with the immediate assignment and its output format. Ask Claude to flag missing evidence rather than quietly inventing details.

You do not need a personal biography or a full company history for most assignments. Include a fact when it could change the answer, the wording or the next action. A company founding date matters for an anniversary announcement; it probably does not matter when reviewing the labels on a checkout form.

Anthropic recommends clear instructions and useful context↗ (opens in a new tab). Its prompting guidance↗ (opens in a new tab) also recommends explaining the reason behind important instructions. A reason helps distinguish a real requirement from a detail that can change.

What does a useful background example look like?

Imagine a small design studio preparing a service page. Its assistant needs the approved offer and the customer’s situation before it needs old drafts. The following example is a starting structure; replace the contents with facts you can check.

Project: A service page for a residential design studio.
Purpose: Help homeowners understand the initial consultation.
Audience: First-time clients who have not hired a designer before.
Source: Approved service description, version 3, section 2.
Constraints: Do not promise a completion date or include unapproved claims.
Decided: Explain the process before discussing deliverables.
Still open: Whether the consultation can be booked online.
Task: Draft the introduction and three process steps.
Before drafting: Restate the offer and list anything you cannot verify.

Notice that the unresolved booking question stays unresolved. Calling it out prevents a plausible sentence about online booking from becoming an accidental promise. The source also has a specific identity, so a colleague can check whether version 3 is still the approved description.

For a visual project, include an approved example and explain what to learn from it: spacing, language or the order of information. Do not expect an example to communicate every requirement by itself. Our guide to Claude for design work covers the broader creative workflow.

Where should the background information go?

For one assignment, paste the summary into the same chat as the request. Keep the source names next to the statements they support. When the information is reusable, give it a clear home and update it there instead of letting several almost identical copies drift apart.

Claude’s knowledge-based chat Projects support project files and instructions↗ (opens in a new tab). Use instructions for recurring guidance, such as the audience and tone, and source documents for the material to consult. Check that help page for the version of Projects available in your account.

Choose a location according to the work, rather than assuming all Claude products use background in the same way. If you are new to the app, start with what Claude AI is. Practical setup for the information needed in one session belongs in how to give Claude context.

How do you make sources useful without adding an archive?

For each source, say what it establishes. “The approved offer is in section 2” gives Claude a better starting point than “see the attachment.” Keep the original document intact when wording matters, and distinguish your explanation from the text someone approved.

If two documents disagree, tell Claude which is authoritative or ask it to show you the conflict. Do not make it guess whether the newer draft overrides the signed agreement. A newer date alone does not mean a person approved the change.

Only share information you are permitted to use in that environment. You can often replace names and identifying details with descriptive labels without losing the background needed for the task. Instructions to keep a secret do not replace your organization’s rules about where that information may be stored.

The mechanics of supplying files and links are covered separately in how to give Claude documentation. For a lasting record of which sources support the work, fenbs keeps references alongside project context; see how it works.

How can you check that Claude understood?

Ask for a short understanding check before the deliverable: the audience, the source of truth, the constraints and the missing information. Compare that response with your own summary. Correct the wrong premise before asking for more polished language.

Use a concrete test when possible. For the studio example, ask whether the draft can promise online booking and why. A useful response should recognize that this is still open. That check is more informative than asking whether Claude has understood everything.

After the work, ask which claims depend on assumptions. Review those claims against the sources yourself. A confident explanation of understanding is not evidence that every sentence in the final answer is correct.

How to do this with fenbs

1. Create a free account and add the project whose background you keep repeating.
2. Write concise AI context notes for its purpose, audience and key terms. Record what a person has approved in Decisions and rules, keeping unanswered questions open.
3. Save your reusable background-summary structure in Skills and prompts. Fill it with the current project facts when preparing a session.
4. Connect Claude using the integration guides. Ask it to read the AI context, check its understanding and then work on the assignment.
5. Before stopping, ask the assistant to save progress and update the facts that changed. Review the saved account before treating it as the next session’s starting point.

fenbs is free for one person, with no credit card. It fits work that needs a continuing record across sessions or assistants; a single pasted paragraph is enough for a one-time question. fenbs does not import your Claude chats or turn every previous conversation into approved background.

Keep the reusable structure stable and the project facts current. When the audience, approved offer or source changes, update the record before starting another draft. The context engineering hub has more guidance on choosing what an assistant needs for its next task.