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Projects, Skills & Connectors

The three features that turn Claude from a chat window into a tool that knows your work.

For: All Hopper & Hopco staff Plan: Claude Team Reviewed: [Month Year] · Owner: [Team]
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Each feature answers a different question: Projects give Claude the background, Skills teach it how you work, and Connectors give it live access to your tools. You can use all three at once.

At a glance

The three, side by side

If you remember one thing: it’s background vs. know-how vs. live access. That tells you which one you actually need.

Background

Projects

A workspace that remembers your files and rules across many chats.

What it gives Claude
Static reference material, always loaded.
Reach for it when
You keep re-pasting the same docs or context.
Set it up in
Projects (left sidebar) → New project
Know-how

Skills

Reusable instructions that teach Claude a repeatable task or style.

What it gives Claude
A procedure it loads only when relevant.
Reach for it when
You want consistent output every time.
Set it up in
Customize → Skills
Live access

Connectors

Links Claude to outside tools so it can read data and take action.

What it gives Claude
Live access to a service via MCP.
Reach for it when
You want Claude to work in your real tools.
Set it up in
“+” in chat → Connectors
Feature 01

Projects

A self-contained workspace with its own chat history, its own uploaded knowledge, and its own custom instructions — so Claude stays on-topic across days or weeks of work.

How to set one up
Create the projectClick Projects in the sidebar (or go to claude.ai/projects), then New project. Give it a clear, specific name.
Add knowledgeUse the Files / “+” area to upload PDFs, docs, spreadsheets, code, or text. Everything you add is available to every chat in the project.
Write custom instructionsTell Claude the tone, role, and rules to follow for every chat in this project — so you don’t repeat yourself.
Share it (Team plan)Choose Can use (view & chat) or Can edit (modify knowledge & instructions), or share org-wide where your admins allow it.

Worth knowing

  • On paid plans, when project knowledge gets large, Claude automatically switches on retrieval (RAG) to expand capacity — you don’t manage this.
  • The project name and description are for you, not Claude. The real context has to live in the instructions and the knowledge base.
  • Chats inside a project don’t share context with each other — only the shared knowledge base does.
  • Archive finished projects to declutter; note that archiving resets sharing to private.
Hopper rule: project knowledge is just a file upload — so it follows the one rule. Never put patient files, exports, or anything identifying into a project’s knowledge base. De-identified and synthetic data is fine. See the data-handling guide

What are projects? · Create & manage projects

Feature 02

Skills

Folders of instructions (and optionally scripts) that Claude loads only when they’re relevant. They make Claude consistent at specific, repeatable tasks — like formatting a report your way every single time.

Two ways to use them

1 — Use the built-in skills. Claude already ships with skills for Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and PDF creation. With code execution on (it’s on by default for your Team plan), Claude uses them automatically — ask for “a PowerPoint of Q3 results” and the right skill kicks in. You don’t invoke them by name.

2 — Create your own. A skill is a folder with one SKILL.md file: a short name and description (the description is what tells Claude when to use it), followed by your plain-English instructions.

Write the skillDraft SKILL.md — or just ask Claude to interview you and write it for you.
Upload itGo to Customize → Skills, click “+”, then Create skill, and upload your folder as a ZIP.
Toggle & testSwitch it on, start a relevant chat, and Claude loads it when the task matches. Tighten the description if it doesn’t trigger.
Share (Team plan)Share with specific colleagues or publish to your org directory. Owners can also provision skills that appear for everyone.

Worth knowing

  • Your Skills list on Team splits into Personal, Shared (sent to you, off until you enable), and Organization (provisioned or published org-wide).
  • Shared skills are view-only; if the author updates one, you automatically get the new version.
  • There’s a Skills Directory with partner skills (Notion, Figma, Atlassian) built to pair with their connectors.
  • Skills follow an open standard (agentskills.io), so a skill you write can work in other tools too.
Hopper rule: never hard-code secrets (API keys, passwords) or any PHI into a SKILL.md, and review any skill you download before enabling it. Use a connector for external access, not pasted credentials.

What are skills? · Use skills · Create custom skills

Feature 03

Connectors & MCP

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard for linking Claude to outside tools and data. A connector is the friendly, click-to-set-up version: connect a service and Claude can read from it and act in it, within your permissions.

How it works on Team
An Owner adds the connector firstOn Team plans, an admin adds the connector at the organization level before members can use it.
You authenticate as yourselfClick Connect and sign in via OAuth. Claude never sees your password, and you can revoke access anytime.
Enable it per conversationUse the “+” button in the chat, choose Connectors, and toggle the ones you want on for that chat.
Just ask“Pull my open Linear issues” or “summarize this Notion page” — Claude calls the tool only when your request maps to it.

Worth knowing

  • Connectors respect your individual permissions — you can’t reach a teammate’s data through Claude that you couldn’t reach yourself.
  • Remote connectors connect from Anthropic’s cloud, not your laptop — so a server behind your VPN or firewall won’t connect unless it’s reachable on the public internet.
  • There’s a Connectors Directory of pre-built, reviewed integrations; you can also add custom ones by URL.
  • Custom connectors reach services Anthropic hasn’t verified. Only connect servers you trust.
Hopper rule: never connect a system that holds PHI — the EHR / Athena, claims, billing, or member databases — under this plan. Approved, PHI-free tools (GitHub, Linear, internal wikis, checked Drive folders) are fair game. When in doubt, ask an Owner before adding a connector.

Get started with connectors (remote MCP)

Quick decision

Which one do I reach for?

“Claude keeps forgetting my context.”

Project. Put the docs and standing instructions in one place so every chat starts informed.

“I want the same format / process every time.”

Skill. Write the steps once; Claude applies them consistently whenever the task comes up.

“I want Claude to use my actual tools.”

Connector. Link the service so Claude can read and act on live data — within your permissions.

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