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CCAO-F · Study Guide

← Domain 5: Configuration and Knowledge Management

5.1 · Lesson 1 of 4

Projects: Instructions and Knowledge

What you need to know

Domain 5 is Configuration and Knowledge Management (12%). Lesson 5.1 is the placement rule: a Project has layers, and each layer has a job. Instructions hold standing rules. Knowledge holds reference material. The individual prompt holds what is specific to this one request.

Which layer holds what

  • Project instructions

    How to behave — role, tone, format, hard constraints, what to do when information is missing.

  • Project knowledge

    What is true — policies, style guides, product facts, past examples, price sheets.

  • Chat prompt

    What is new this time — the one-off request and its details.

Avoid layer confusion

Mixing layers causes trouble: pasting a long policy into every prompt wastes effort, and burying a one-off task in instructions changes every future chat. Instructions say how to behave. Knowledge says what is true.

Worked example

Support billing Project: instructions cover role, plain tone, and “ask when the answer is not in the documents.” Knowledge holds refund policy, pricing sheet, and FAQ. Five realistic questions in the Project use the files; the same five in a blank chat do not. If an answer is wrong, check whether the fact is in knowledge before rewriting instructions.

Exam traps

  • Put facts into the instructions

    Facts belong in knowledge; instructions set behavior.

  • Paste a long policy into every prompt

    What repeats belongs in the Project. Prompts hold the one-off request.

  • Bury a temporary request in standing instructions

    One-off details pollute every future conversation in that Project.

  • Add more instructions when the fact in the file is wrong

    If the answer is factually wrong, check knowledge first.

Practice scenario

A support team wants Claude to always use a plain tone, ask when a figure is missing, and rely on the current refund policy and price sheet. Where should each piece live?

Choose one answer

Build exercise

Configure a Project for a Support Team

5.1 · Intermediate · ~40 min · claude.ai

What you will practise

  • What belongs in Project instructions and what belongs in Project knowledge.
  • How a Project keeps context across chats.
  • How to test that a Project behaves differently from a blank chat.
  • How to name and scope a Project for one purpose.

Build the Domain 5 Project exercise and compare five questions inside vs outside the Project.

Open Domain 5 exercises

Path: /learn/claude-associate/exercises/5-configuration-knowledge

Sources

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