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Switch kit · ChatGPT to Claude

Moving from ChatGPT to Claude

thecontinuitylayer.com/switch/chatgpt-to-claude

Checked on 24 October 2026. Sources: OpenAI's and Anthropic's own help pages only. No affiliate links, no recommendation.

Your chats, your memory, your instructions and your project files each leave ChatGPT a different way, and each arrives in Claude a different way. Some pieces do not arrive at all. Here is what each provider's own help pages say, piece by piece, then a checklist you can follow on a phone.

On the Scorecard · Leaving

ChatGPT app
  • PartlyYou can export all your chats yourself
  • NoThe export includes your files and projects
  • NoYou can bring your chats in from another AI
  • PartlyYour chats stay if you cancel a paid plan
Claude app
  • PartlyYou can export all your chats yourself
  • NoThe export includes your files and projects
  • PartlyYou can bring your chats in from another AI
  • NoYour chats stay if you cancel a paid plan

1. What you can take out of ChatGPT

  • Chats Yes, as a download

    Go to Settings, then Data controls, then Export data, and confirm. Free, Go, Plus and Pro accounts can do this, in the iPhone and Android apps too; some app versions send you to the web to finish.

    ChatGPT emails or texts you a link when the export is ready, which can take up to 7 days. The link expires 24 hours after you receive it. You get a ZIP file with your chat history and other account data; OpenAI's page does not list the files inside it. An export cannot bring back chats you already deleted.

    Source: OpenAI: Exporting your ChatGPT history and data; OpenAI: ChatGPT iOS app FAQ; OpenAI: Export your data from the ChatGPT Android app

  • Memory Partly: you can read it, not export it

    Your memories are under Settings, then Personalization, then Memory. The labels vary by account: Memory summary, Manage, or Saved memories. OpenAI's pages describe no memory export button, and say the memory summary does not include everything ChatGPT remembers from your chats.

    Source: OpenAI: Memory FAQ

  • Custom instructions Partly: you can read them, not export them

    They are under Settings, then Personalization (on a phone, through Customize ChatGPT). You can view and edit them at any time. OpenAI's pages describe no export for them, and the export page does not list them.

    Source: OpenAI: ChatGPT custom instructions

  • Projects Partly: files one by one

    Open a project and its sources list, then open each file to download it. A project's instructions are in its settings menu. OpenAI's pages describe no export of a whole project.

    Source: OpenAI: Projects in ChatGPT

2. How to bring each piece into Claude

  • Memory Yes: a guided import

    In Claude on the web or the desktop app, go to Settings, then Your Claude, and in the Memory section choose Start import. Claude shows a prompt: copy it into ChatGPT, copy ChatGPT's answer, paste it into Claude and choose Add to memory. Claude saves it as separate memory entries you can review. You can edit the prompt first to leave out anything sensitive.

    Anthropic lists this for Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise on the web and the desktop app. It calls the import experimental, says Claude may not always take in imported memories, and says Claude's memory focuses on work topics, so personal details unrelated to work may not be kept.

    Source: Anthropic: Import and export your memory; Anthropic: Chat search and memory

  • Chats No

    Anthropic's help page says you cannot import conversation history from another AI provider at this time. It points to the memory import instead. Keep your ChatGPT export as your own record.

    Source: Anthropic: Import and export your memory

  • Custom instructions Yes: paste them in

    Go to Settings, then Your Claude, and paste them under Instructions for Claude. They apply to all your conversations.

    Source: Anthropic: Claude's personalization features

  • Projects Yes: rebuild them

    Create a project in Claude, add the files you downloaded from ChatGPT, and choose Set project instructions to paste in the old project's instructions. Free accounts can create up to five projects. Each project file can be up to 30MB; there is no fixed number of files, but everything must fit in what Claude can read at once.

    Anthropic's projects pages say any account can set project instructions; its personalization page lists them for paid plans only. If the setting is missing on a Free account, that is why.

    Source: Anthropic: Create and manage projects; Anthropic: What are projects?; Anthropic: Upload files to Claude; Anthropic: Claude's personalization features

3. What does not carry over

4. Checklist, step by step on a phone

  1. 1.In the ChatGPT app, open Settings, then Personalization. Copy your custom instructions into your phone's notes.
  2. 2.Copy the blank switch kit below into your notes and fill it in: who you are, how you like answers, your projects and decisions.
  3. 3.In ChatGPT, open Settings, then Data controls, then Export data, and confirm. If the app sends you to the web, finish there.
  4. 4.Watch your email or texts; the link can take up to 7 days. Download the ZIP within 24 hours of getting it and keep it somewhere you control.
  5. 5.For each ChatGPT project you need: open it, download each file from its sources list, and copy its instructions from the project's settings.
  6. 6.Open Claude at claude.ai in your phone's web browser. Anthropic lists the memory import for the web and the desktop app, not the phone apps. Go to Settings, then Your Claude, then Start import in the Memory section.
  7. 7.Copy the prompt Claude shows. Paste it into ChatGPT, copy ChatGPT's answer, paste it back into Claude and choose Add to memory. Read the entries Claude saved.
  8. 8.In Claude, go to Settings, then Your Claude, and paste your custom instructions under Instructions for Claude.
  9. 9.For each project: create a project in Claude, add the files you downloaded, and paste its instructions with Set project instructions.
  10. 10.Start a new chat in Claude and paste your switch kit at the top.
  11. 11.Keep your ChatGPT account until you have checked that everything you need is in Claude. When you are ready to close it, see how to delete your ChatGPT data.

Every step above comes from the pages cited in sections 1 to 3. Menu names can differ between app versions.

Your switch kit

The memory import carries what ChatGPT chooses to write down. This note carries what you choose. Keep it short and keep it current.

MY SWITCH KIT  (last updated: ____)
Paste this into a new AI at the start of a chat.
Keep it short. Only what a new assistant needs to help me well.

1. WHO I AM
- Name / what I go by:
- What I do (one or two lines):
- Where I am / time zone:

2. HOW I LIKE ANSWERS
- Length: (short / detailed)
- Format: (steps, bullets, plain prose)
- Tone:
- Spelling and units:

3. ACTIVE PROJECTS  (name — status — next step)
-
-
-

4. KEY DECISIONS ALREADY MADE  (so you don't reopen them)
-
-

5. PEOPLE AND TOOLS
- People who come up (name — who they are):
- Tools and accounts I use:

6. WHAT TO AVOID
-
-

Providers change these features without much notice. If a step here no longer matches the app, report a change. For how every big provider handles memory, see Import yes, export no.