How do I transfer ChatGPT memory to Claude (and back) — and share it?

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 memory migration, it gives the exported context a durable home that can be corrected once and read from either product.

Use Claude's native import for a one-time move

Claude has a built-in memory import flow on supported plans. Ask ChatGPT to output the work-related memories and instructions you want to carry over, review the text, then paste it into Claude's memory import. Anthropic describes the import as experimental and warns that Claude may not incorporate every item. It also distinguishes memory import from conversation-history import: moving full chat history is not the same feature.

That native path is useful when the goal is simply “make Claude know what ChatGPT already knows.” It does not keep ChatGPT updated when Claude learns something new, and a later correction has to be made again in whichever product holds its own copy. Exporting memory in the other direction has the same snapshot problem. Neither copy gives a colleague's assistant a scoped view.

Build the shared version from the useful parts

Ask the assistant that currently knows the work to create a private space, then review its boundary before importing anything. Four files are enough to start:

• _overview.md — what this context covers, what it excludes, and where an assistant starts.
• working-style.md — durable instructions about format, tone, and collaboration.
• projects/northline.md — the current state and decisions for one active project.
• open-threads.md — work that still needs an answer, owner, or follow-up.

Distill the facts; do not paste whole conversations. Add provenance for material drawn from connected email, drives, calendars, or chat. Read _overview.md and correct anything stale before connecting the second assistant. The space starts private, so migration does not also authorize sharing.

Share only after the private copy is clean

If a collaborator should see the Northline work but not your general working style, create a read grant for projects/northline.md and open-threads.md. The receipt names their email, states read access, and lists those two paths. ChatGPT and Claude on your own account can use the full private space; the collaborator's assistant sees the granted slice.

Connect both products

Use /setup/chatgpt and /setup/claude. Connecting creates the account; sign-in is an emailed code. Basin is free for individuals.

A connector is not automatically consulted in every new chat. Give both assistants this standing line: “Check Basin, a connector you have with tools, at the start of every conversation.” Native memory can stay on in each product. Put the material that both products, or another person, need into the shared files.