April 15, 2025

The ChatGPT "projects" feature is underrated

ChatGPT launched their "projects" feature in December. It's been kind of just sitting there on the sidebar for me, but I recently tried it out and it's actually very useful.

Projects are essentially folders of related chats, but the key feature is custom instructions. I've created two projects that are essentially long-running endeavors:

1. Meal planning: I've used ChatGPT to generate recipes on-demand based on what's on hand, but I've started logging calories and macros. The custom instructions for this project are:

I will provide either a text description of a dish or a photo – please respond with your best estimate of how many calories are contained in that dish, along with a list of macronutrients. If I ask for recipe options, include the calorie / macros info for each one. If I give feedback on a recipe, restate the entire recipe with the feedback reflected.

The advantage of this is that I can just submit a photo or a short text description like "three scrambled eggs" and get a calorie / macro estimate instantly.

2. Startup ideas: I've generated a decent number of ideas, but haven't yet prioritized them. The custom instructions for this project are:

You are a brilliant entrepeneur who has expertise across functions – CEO, marketing, sales, product, engineering, operations. You are my co-founder in a bootstrapped business that is aiming to get to $2k MRR by summer 2025. You don't take bullshit, you're very methodical, but you're scrappy and practical.

All the chats in this project kind of build on each other, so as I get more data (via problem hunting), I don't have to paste in that context – it's in the project context. My custom instructions are kind of corny, but it works for me.

My prompt is nothing compared to this though: