How to Set Up
Claude in 1 Day

Most people use Claude like a search box. They type a question, get an answer, and stop there.

But Claude can do a lot more once you set it up. These seven steps turn it into an assistant that knows you and works inside your real tools. You can do all seven in one afternoon.

There is a model dropdown at the top of every chat. Each model is good at a different kind of work. Click it and pick the one that fits your task.

• Sonnet 5 is the everyday default. It is the best balance of speed and smarts, and it is right for most work.
• Opus 4.8 is for your hardest, most important work. Use it for complex reasoning, big analysis, and anything where a wrong answer is costly.
• Haiku 4.5 is the fastest. Use it for quick, simple stuff.
• Fable 5 is the most capable model. It is worth reaching for on the most demanding tasks.

Right next to the model picker is an effort control. It has levels from low up to max, and it tells Claude how hard to think. Turn it up for hard problems. Turn it down for quick answers.

Claude can remember you across every chat. Your name, your style, your projects. Turn it on once and here is where to do it:

1. Click your profile icon, then Settings.
2. Go to Capabilities.
3. Turn on "Generate memory from chat history."

Now it stops making you re-explain yourself. It is on every plan.

A Project is a workspace that holds your files and instructions in one place, so everything stays in context. Here is how to make one:

1. Click Projects in the left sidebar, then New project in the top right.
2. Fill in "What are you working on?" (the name) and "What are you trying to achieve?", then click Create project.
3. Click Set project instructions, add the background Claude should always know, and click Save.
4. Click the + to add files.

Make one Project for each big thing you are working on.

Connectors plug Claude into your Gmail, Drive, Notion, and Slack, so it can pull from and act on your real tools. Here is how to add one:

1. Click your profile icon, then Settings, then Connectors.
2. Click the + to add one and follow the sign-in for that app.
3. Or turn one on for a single chat with the + button at the bottom-left of the message box, then Connectors.

You sign in through each app's own login, Claude asks before it does anything, and you can disconnect any tool in one click.

Ask Claude to build something and it makes the real thing right there in the chat. A doc, a spreadsheet, a working web page. Not just text about it, the actual tool.

Just ask. For example: "build me a simple weekly meal planner I can edit."

A Skill is a workflow you save once and run with a slash command forever, so you stop retyping the same long prompt.

Claude has a skills area with ready-made ones, like a skill creator and design tools, plus your own.

This is Claude working right on your computer, going through your files and apps to finish a whole task start to finish. Give it a task, walk away, and come back to finished work.

Cowork is on the paid plans, and it uses your limits faster than regular chat, so save it for the big jobs.