Setting Up Claude for Your Team: Projects, Knowledge Bases and Roles
You set up Claude as a team tool with shared Projects, knowledge bases and permissions.
Why this lesson matters
You now know how Projects and Knowledge Bases work for you. But what if you work in a team? How do you make sure colleagues use the same AI instructions, consult the same knowledge sources, and get consistent output?
Claude has team features that let you collaborate at project level. In this lesson you learn how to set up Claude as a team tool, on top of using it as your own assistant.
Shared Projects with permissions
On the Team plan you can share projects with colleagues. Every shared project has two levels of access:
| Role | What you can do | When to grant it |
|---|---|---|
| Can use | Hold conversations within the project, consult the Knowledge Base | Team members who use the project |
| Can edit | Change project instructions, manage the Knowledge Base, change settings | Project owners and administrators |
A practical example:
You create a project "Customer Service" with:
- Project instructions: tone, house style, standard answers
- Knowledge Base: product catalogue, FAQ document, returns policy
The whole customer service team gets "can use": they can ask Claude questions and get answers that match your policy. The team lead gets "can edit" to update instructions and documents.
Conversations within a shared project are private per user. Your colleagues can't see what you asked Claude. Only the project instructions and the Knowledge Base are shared.
Knowledge Bases as the team's knowledge store
Knowledge Bases become even more useful at team level. Instead of everyone uploading their own documents, you build one central knowledge store the whole team uses.
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Good candidates for a team Knowledge Base:
- Company handbook and procedures
- Product documentation
- Style guide and communication guidelines
- Frequently asked questions with standard answers
- Contract templates and legal frameworks
Update your Knowledge Base regularly. Outdated documents lead to outdated answers. Plan a monthly moment to review and replace documents.
Roles and visibility
Claude Team has two types of project when it comes to visibility:
Private projects
- Only you have access
- Ideal for personal work, experimenting, confidential tasks
Shared projects
- Visible to the team members you invite
- Central management of instructions and knowledge sources
- Ideal for team processes and standard ways of working
Think about what you share. Sensitive information (salary conversations, confidential strategies) belongs in private projects. Operational knowledge (processes, templates, product info) is exactly what you want to share.
Best practice: 1 project per business function
The most effective way to set up Claude for your team:
| Business function | Project | Knowledge Base |
|---|---|---|
| Customer service | "CS · Customer questions" | FAQ, returns policy, product info |
| Sales | "Sales · Proposals" | Price lists, case studies, templates |
| Finance | "Finance · Reporting" | Annual report, budget, policies |
| HR | "HR · Recruitment" | Job description templates, interview guides |
| Marketing | "Marketing · Content" | Style guide, tone of voice, campaign calendar |
Each project has its own instructions that fit that function. The sales project gets instructions about a persuasive tone and customer-focused communication. The finance project gets instructions about accuracy and formal reporting.
Pro vs Team plan: what's the difference for collaboration?
| Feature | Pro (individual) | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Create Projects | Yes | Yes |
| Share Projects | No | Yes |
| Knowledge Bases | Yes (private) | Yes (sharing possible) |
| User management | N/A | Admin panel |
| Combined billing | No | Yes, per seat |
| Share custom instructions | No | Yes, via shared projects |
Getting started: setting up your first team project
Follow these steps to set up your first shared project:
- 1Pick a business function, start with the team that benefits most
- 2Gather your knowledge documents, which documents does the team need every day?
- 3Write project instructions, define the persona, tone and standard format
- 4Invite team members, give them the right roles (can use / can edit)
- 5Test with the team, have everyone ask a few questions and evaluate the output
- 6Refine, adjust instructions and knowledge store based on feedback
Quiz
What is the main advantage of a shared project with a Knowledge Base for a team?
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