Guide

How to move your context from ChatGPT to Claude (or any AI)

By Anna (AB) Sutton · Updated September 25, 2026

Short answer

Put your context in a Carrierfile, a plain-text file that any AI can read. Paste it into Claude, Gemini, Copilot, or any other assistant and type unpack. The AI picks up where the last one left off. The file travels with you, so you’re never locked into one platform.

Why switching AIs is painful

Each AI keeps what it learns about you inside its own product, and how much it keeps depends on your plan; free accounts often get little or none. ChatGPT’s memory doesn’t move to Claude. Claude’s projects don’t move to Gemini. Try a new model, or use two side by side, and you’re re-introducing yourself from scratch.

That’s a small version of a bigger problem: your context belongs to you, but it’s stored in someone else’s product.

Make your context portable

A Carrierfile is model-agnostic by design. It’s plain text with clear sections: who you are, how you work, your projects, your preferred tones, your memories, and a session log. Every modern AI can read that. The same file has been tested across Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Grok, and DeepSeek, with consistent results.

Step by step

Gather what you want to carry. If you’ve been using ChatGPT’s Memory or Custom Instructions, open them and copy anything worth keeping.
Build your Carrierfile. Use the builder and add those details to the bio, projects, and working-style steps. Or ask your current AI: “Summarize what you know about me in five bullet points,” and paste the useful parts in.
Open the new AI. Paste the file into a new chat in Claude (or Gemini, or anything else) and type unpack.
Keep using it everywhere. Type pack up at the end of each session and save the updated file. Next time, paste it into whichever AI you feel like using.

What carries over

Who you are: name, location, a short bio.
How you work: “Keep answers short,” “challenge me,” “no bullet points,” whatever matters to you.
Your projects: what you’re focused on right now.
Tones: named presets like Strategist or Editor you can switch between.
Memories and a log: short, approved notes from past sessions.

Questions people ask

Can I transfer ChatGPT memory to Claude?

Not directly; each AI keeps its memory inside its own product. The simplest way is to copy what matters into a Carrierfile, a plain-text file that you paste into Claude or any other AI.

Which AIs does a Carrierfile work with?

Any AI you can paste text into. It has been tested with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Grok, and DeepSeek.

Will the new AI behave exactly the same as the old one?

Close, but not identical. Models have their own personalities. The file keeps the important parts consistent: who you are, your projects, and how you want to be worked with.

Does it cost anything?

No. Carrierfile is free, open, and MIT licensed. There is no account.

Build your Carrierfile. It takes about five minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and works in any AI. Free, no account.

Build yours →