> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cortex-labs.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Use project memory and reference material > Select reusable context, check memory availability, and manage facts within your own chat project. This draft describes the intended Arc update. Memory controls, reference-selection actions, and visible failure states need release-build verification before publication. Use project instructions and reference material for context you deliberately choose. Use optional project memory for durable facts, such as a stated preference or a key decision, that later conversations in the same project can recall. ## Before you begin Open the chat project you want to work in. You need the applicable access to manage its context. Memory operations also require memory to be enabled and the relevant management controls or permitted tools to be available. If you need a project first, follow [Create a chat project](/arc/projects-and-context/create-chat-project). ## Choose the kind of context | Context | Use it for | Check before relying on it | | - | - | - | | Chat history | Continuing the discussion in one conversation. | You are in the intended chat. Its messages remain that chat's history. | | Project instructions | Guidance for the project's conversations. | The saved instructions express the guidance you want to reuse. | | Reference files or selected output | Background material later chats can use. | You selected it deliberately, have access, and can inspect the available content. | | Project memory | A durable fact, preference, or decision. | Both memory settings permit it and the saved fact is accurate. | For the transport example, keep the collection brief as reference material, use instructions to request citations, and use memory for a decision such as “This project's research covers buses only.” ## Add reference material deliberately 1. Open the project and choose the instructions and files you want its conversations to use. 2. Inspect file processing and preview the available content. Keep missing or inaccessible material explicit. 3. If a model answer contains useful reusable context, verify it, then explicitly select the output you want to add as project reference material. Generating an answer does not add it automatically. 4. In a later project chat, request the relevant material and check the response against its source. Keep unsupported suggestions distinguishable from retrieved facts. For example, select a checked scope summary from the transport chat rather than carrying an unverified source list into later conversations as established fact. A search result does not enter project memory automatically either. ## Check and enable memory Project memory requires two settings: the deployment setting and the project's own memory setting. Both must be enabled. If either is disabled, project memory is unavailable. If the platform cannot establish availability, it treats memory as disabled. Check the project's memory setting and whether the deployment permits the feature. Enable the project setting when available and when you want remembered facts for this project. If deployment availability is unclear, have the person responsible for deployment configuration check it. Memory is scoped to both your user and the selected project. Another project or another participant does not inherit these facts. A workspace alone does not supply project-memory access. ## Save, inspect, and correct a fact Use the available memory management interface or permitted memory tools to add, search, update, or delete a fact. Keep the fact concise and specific. One memory entry is limited to 4,000 characters. After adding a fact, inspect the saved text. Correct it when the decision changes, or delete it when it should no longer be retained as project memory. Saving a fact grants no additional source, tool, or execution authority. Later conversations can recall relevant facts in the same project. Check recalled information against the current task before using it. Recall has a three-second timeout; failure allows the turn to continue without recalled memory. A successful response is therefore not proof that recall succeeded. If a decision is essential to the current answer, state it explicitly and check the response rather than assuming recall succeeded. ## Use context within its access boundary The selected model's provider must be permitted to receive the full request, including instructions, files, and memory. Project settings do not bypass provider security limits. In shared chats, project context can be used only when it is authorised for the conversation's audience. Participants' personal memories do not become a shared store. See [Understand project sharing boundaries](/arc/projects-and-context/sharing-boundaries) for examples. ## Check the result Confirm the intended reference material is selected, its available content is readable, and any memory entry records the correct fact in the correct project. Verify a later response against that material and keep unavailable context visible. To retrieve source material from previous work, follow [Find and verify earlier research](/arc/chats-and-research/find-earlier-research). This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.