# Give it standing instructions

Web page: https://academy.memberpress.ai/courses/same-skills-any-assistant/l2/

Lesson 2 of 6 in [Same Skills, Any Assistant](https://academy.memberpress.ai/courses/same-skills-any-assistant/), 7 min.

You shouldn't have to repeat who you are and how you like to work at the top of every chat. Every tool has a place for instructions that stay in force. They just call it different things.

**The habit**

Write your standing instructions once: who you are, what you're working on, the tone you want, and what to never do. Keep them short. A long list gets skimmed by the model the same way it gets skimmed by a person.

**Side by side**

- **Claude:** a Project has its own instructions that apply to every chat in it. In Claude Code, the same job is done by a `CLAUDE.md` file in your project; `/init` writes a first one.
- **ChatGPT:** a project has project instructions that "apply across its chats".
- **Grok:** we didn't find standing instructions in xAI's Grok docs, so paste your short version at the top of the chat.
- **Cursor:** project rules live in `.cursor/rules` as `.mdc` files, and Cursor also reads an `AGENTS.md` file in your project. You can add your own User Rules too.

**One file, many tools**

`AGENTS.md` is worth knowing: Cursor reads it, OpenAI's Codex reads it, and Claude Code reads it when there's no `CLAUDE.md`. If you work in more than one coding tool, put your project's rules there. If you also keep a `CLAUDE.md`, add the line `@AGENTS.md` to it so Claude Code reads both.

Checked against each vendor's docs on 2026-10-14: [Claude Projects](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9517075-what-are-projects), [Claude Code memory](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/memory), [ChatGPT projects](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/projects), [Grok FAQ](https://docs.x.ai/grok/faq), [Cursor rules](https://cursor.com/docs/context/rules), [Codex AGENTS.md](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/agent-configuration/agents-md).

## Try these prompts

- Draft standing instructions for an assistant that helps me run a membership site. Keep it under 150 words, plain language, and include what to avoid.
- Read these instructions and tell me which line an assistant is most likely to ignore, and why.

Next: [Bring your own material](https://academy.memberpress.ai/courses/same-skills-any-assistant/l3/)