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AI Guide
The AI Project Vault: What To Save Outside Any Chatbot
A project folder can start with just a goal note, one source and an accepted output. Add the other pieces when they make it easier to find or resume the work.
These are suggestions to adapt to your situation. Check important details against current original sources before acting.
Task
Start a small project record
Make the source, accepted output and next step easier to find.
Approach
Save the recipe and decision, not every chat turn
Keep the request that worked, why you chose an output and what you still need to check.
Takeaway
A restart note reveals missing context
Try resuming from the saved files alone. A missing source or unclear next step tells you what to add.
The task
When a chat becomes work you want to keep
You may have a useful draft in one chat, the source in another tab and the reason for an edit somewhere in between. A small project folder gives those pieces a place you can return to when the work needs another pass.
This starter is for ordinary work you expect to revisit: an article, a comparison, a research note or a small plan. A quick brainstorm may need no folder at all. Below is a structure you can copy, along with note fields and an example for revising an article.
Starting point
A folder can start with three useful pieces
You might choose one project and a place you already use for its files. Think about who can open or receive that folder before adding material. It may help to keep passwords, API keys, recovery codes and account credentials out of these notes.
You can begin with just a project note, a source and a draft. The fuller structure below is an optional personal starter; use the parts that earn their upkeep. It may help to keep originals or copies you are permitted to retain, and record a link when copying the material is not appropriate.
Try it
A starter structure you can copy
Copy these names into a project folder or use them as headings in one document. The numbers are only a way to keep the order. You do not need to create nine empty folders before doing the work.
00 Project note — Goal: [what you want to make]. Status: [what is done]. Next action: [one small step].
01 Sources — File or link: [original material]. Date or version: [when it matters]. Passage used: [page, heading or cell]. Keep the original separate from your summary.
02 Prompts — Task: [what you asked]. Context: [audience, sources and constraints]. Format: [the output shape]. Useful follow-up: [the change that improved it]. Keep the reusable recipe.
03 Decisions — Choice: [what you accepted]. Reason: [why]. Other option: [what you set aside and why]. Assumption: [what may change]. Revisit when: [a concrete trigger].
04 Examples — Keep a useful output, a weak one or a tricky case when it helps you judge future work. Add one sentence explaining what makes it useful or what went wrong.
05 Checks — Claim checked: [what]. Source and location: [where you looked]. Result: [what the source supports]. Still uncertain: [what remains open]. Revision: [what you changed]. A saved answer is not evidence that its claims were checked.
06 Outputs — Save the accepted draft, table, code or plan in an ordinary file you can open. Name the current version clearly; keep an earlier version when the change matters.
07 Settings — Tool, model or mode: [what affected the result]. Needed source files: [which versions]. Export or setup detail: [what you would need again]. Record the setup without credentials.
08 Recovery — Stopped at: [the unfinished part]. Open first: [the current file]. Need to resolve: [the unanswered question]. Next action: [what to do].
Worked example
A worked example: returning to an article draft
A small example: revising an article. Suppose your source is an interview transcript and you want a short article for newcomers. You could keep the transcript in Sources and ask for a draft using only that material, with unresolved details marked for you.
Your decision note might read: Choice: use the shorter opening. Reason: it explains the subject before introducing specialist terms. Other option: set aside the anecdote because it needs context we have not established. Assumption: the audience is new to the topic. Revisit when: the editor changes the audience.
A check note might read: Claim checked: the speaker said the project began in 2024. Source: interview transcript, opening section. Result: the transcript says 2024. Still uncertain: the month. Revision: removed the month from the draft. This records what that source says; it does not establish the date independently.
Your restart note could be: Stopped at: the second draft. Open first: article-draft-02.docx. Need to resolve: one quotation still needs comparison with the transcript. Next action: check that quotation before sending the draft. These are illustrative notes; replace them with what happened in your own project.
Check the result
Try resuming from the saved record
Close the chat and open the folder. Can you tell which output is current, what it was made from and what still needs work?
You could pick one factual statement in the output. Can you open the passage named in its check note and see what it supports? If no check was made, leave that visible.
You could look at one decision. Is its reason your own explanation, and can you see which assumption would make you reconsider it?
After a break, try the next action using the recovery note. Add a missing file, setting or question if you get stuck. This tests whether the record helps you resume; it does not prove the output is correct.
Next step
Keeping the record as small as the work allows
You could try the smallest version on one piece of work this week. If a section gives you nothing useful to return to, leave it out. Add a prompt, decision or check note when you would otherwise have to reconstruct it later.
If the work depends heavily on one app, the app-dependency guide offers a separate fallback exercise: see what you can still open and continue when that app is unavailable.
AI Guide note
How to use this guide
AI Guides are general editorial guidance, not professional advice or guarantees about accuracy, safety, suitability, performance, or outcomes. Tools, terms, prices, features, and laws can change. Check important details against original sources, product terms, reliable references, and qualified help where needed.
Related reading
More help with the work you save
The work-continuity guide explains why keeping your own record may help when tools change. The other guides cover choosing an app, writing a prompt, checking an answer and working with source material.
What to explore next
Use the vault when a tool changes
Pair the folder with a practical exit-path check and a clearer decision about what a chatbot should remember.