How do I stop re-explaining my project to every new AI chat?

Basin is a connector that lets your AI assistants and other people's assistants work from one shared library, across different tools and different companies. For repeated chat starts, it gives you a durable project briefing that is separate from any one model's conversation history.

Write the briefing a new assistant actually needs

A useful briefing is shorter than the project archive. Imagine you are preparing a grant application over several weeks and alternate between Claude, ChatGPT, and an editor's assistant. The next conversation needs the current argument and the latest reviewer constraint. It does not need every rejected opening paragraph or the full transcript of a budgeting discussion.

Build the space around four files:

• _overview.md — the application, deadline, audience, and reading order.
• current-draft-state.md — which sections are ready and which are being revised.
• decisions.md — choices already made about scope, tone, and evidence.
• open-questions.md — questions that still need research or a human ruling.

When a chat produces a durable change, ask that assistant to edit the relevant file before you leave. The next chat lists the space, opens _overview.md, and reads only the files needed for its task. Versions and the server-written trail show whether the briefing changed after the conversation you remember.

Why chat summaries keep failing

A summary pasted into the next prompt works once. After two branches, there are competing summaries and nobody knows which one includes the latest decision. Platform memory may retain preferences and recurring facts. It is not a dependable project ledger across different tools or different people, and custom instructions have the same problem when the status changes every afternoon.

If you later share the work with an editor, the receipt should show their email, read access, and only _overview.md plus current-draft-state.md. The editor can see the current draft without receiving questions and decisions that are still private. The rest of the working notebook stays out of it.

The one line the workflow still needs

A connected assistant does not automatically check the space in every new conversation. Give it this standing instruction: “Check Basin, a connector you have with tools, at the start of every conversation.” The project stays in the files, and the instruction tells the assistant to fetch it at the start of the next session.

Choose the setup page for the client you use: /setup/claude, /setup/chatgpt, /setup/gemini, /setup/cursor, or /setup/mcp. Connecting creates the account; sign-in is an emailed code. Basin is free for individuals.