A new AI chat can see what you changed, not why. Write four lines after every real fix and keep them where the AI reads first.
Swipe or tap Next · checked on 2026-10-04
Every new chat is the AI's first day on the job. Because it is. Claude Code's docs put it plainly: "Each Claude Code session begins with a fresh context window." (A session is one stretch of work. The context window is everything the AI can see while it works.) And Claude's help page on projects says context isn't shared across chats in a project unless you add it to the project's knowledge.
So say you changed how bookings get confirmed. Tomorrow's chat sees the new setup, not the reason. It looks a little odd, so the AI "fixes" it and puts the old way back. You explained the reason once, in some chat, somewhere. Good luck finding it.
Honestly, this one's mostly for me. I bounce between projects all day. The note is how I stop explaining the whole business again.
The note doesn't retrain the AI or change it for good. It's information the AI reads at the start, like a sticky note on the monitor for whoever sits down next.
Some apps now carry things between chats. Claude's memory is on by default on the Free, Pro and Max plans, and it saves things on its own. OpenAI says ChatGPT's memory "does not retain every detail from every conversation." Use memory if you have it. The note is the part you control: your words, the reason included.
After every real fix, write these four lines. A real fix is one you'd hate to see undone. One or two sentences each, plain words, date on top.
The four-line note
HANDOFF NOTE · [date]
What changed:
Why:
How we checked it:
What's still open:Put the note where the AI reads it at the start of every chat, not buried in an old chat. Newest note on top.
CLAUDE.md file in your project folderAGENTS.md file in your project folderAGENTS.md files before doing any work.Keep the newest notes in the instructions. Move older ones to a notes file in the same project: in Claude, add it to the project's knowledge with the + button; in ChatGPT, add it as a project file. ChatGPT can also save a reply to the project with Save to project (OpenAI says the label may vary).
If you share a project, the people you share it with can see its instructions. Write the note like a coworker will read it. They might.
You don't have to write the note from memory. At the end of a session, ask the AI to draft it, then check it yourself. At the start of the next one, tell the AI to read it first. These work in Claude, ChatGPT, or any AI assistant.
1 · End of a session: write the note · Part 1 of 2 · Copy copies all 13 lines
Before we stop, write a handoff note for this session, so the next chat can pick up without me explaining everything again.
Use exactly these four lines, one or two plain sentences each, with today's date on top:
What changed:
Why:
How we checked it:
What's still open:1 · End of a session: write the note · Part 2 of 2 · Copy copies all 13 lines
Rules:
- Only include what we actually did and decided in this chat. If we didn't test something, write "Not checked yet." Don't guess.
- "Why" matters most. Give the real reason for the change, in my words if I said it.
- No passwords, API keys, login codes, or customer names, numbers or addresses. If one matters, say where it's kept instead.
- If we made more than one real fix, write one note per fix.2 · Start of a session: read it first
Before you change anything, read the handoff notes in this project's instructions (or in CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md if we're working in a code folder). Then tell me in three short bullets: what we changed most recently, why, and what's still open. If anything I ask for today would undo one of those changes, stop and ask me first.3 · Once in a while: clean up old notes
Here are my handoff notes. Find any that conflict with each other or look out of date, list them, and tell me why. Don't delete or rewrite anything until I say so. Then suggest a shorter version that keeps every decision that's still true, newest first.
[paste your notes]Read the draft before you save it. If the "Why" line is vague, fix it. That's the line you'll need most.
Before you save the note
BEFORE YOU SAVE THE NOTE
[ ] Date on top
[ ] What changed, in plain words
[ ] Why: the real reason
[ ] How we checked it
(or "Not checked yet")
[ ] What's still open
[ ] No passwords, keys or codes
[ ] No customer details
[ ] Saved where the AI reads
it first
[ ] Old notes it replaces are
deleted or updatedEverything here is made up: a demo project and a test customer.
Northside Heating & Air uses an AI assistant to help run its booking messages. Customers used to get a booking confirmation by text and by email. Some thought they'd booked twice and called to cancel. So the team switched to text only, and wrote this note:
A filled-in note (DEMO)
HANDOFF NOTE · 2026-10-02 (DEMO)
What changed: Booking
confirmations go by text only.
The email copy is turned off.
Why: Customers got a text AND an
email and thought they'd booked
twice. Some called to cancel
the "extra" visit.
How we checked it: Booked a test
visit for "TEST Jordan Sample"
on the office test phone. One
text came. No email.
What's still open: Reschedule
messages still send an email.
Switch those too? Decide Friday.The next day, someone asks the AI to "make sure every customer gets a confirmation email." With the note in the project's instructions, the AI can see the email was turned off on purpose, and why. With prompt 2 above, it's told to stop and ask before undoing it. Without the note, all it sees is a missing email.
What each page backs up is listed at the end of the full guide.
Four lines after every real fix: what changed, why, how we checked it, what's still open. Keep them where the AI reads first, keep them current, and keep secrets out. I already explain enough things twice. I'm not paying a computer to forget the same thing I forgot.
Want help setting this up? Receipts Group builds these systems.
Open the full guide as a page (every file in full, plus the table of contents).