Claude project knowledge fills instantly: cap is total context tokens, four workarounds

AOE_234 · reddit · 2026-08-18

A longtime ChatGPT user moving 8 markdown biochem/ochem textbooks into a Claude project hit the knowledge cap after just 7 files. The reason: Claude loads project knowledge into the context window, so the limit is summed tokens across files — not file count or storage quota like ChatGPT; RAG kicks in past a threshold but can't bypass the upload cap.

Workarounds listed: split into two projects by subject; use the Google Drive connector so files stay in the cloud and are searched per query; use a Cowork/desktop project pointed at a local folder (no cap, but phone access requires the computer on); or just use NotebookLM, which is arguably built for this. They also ask for a remote option like ChatGPT's phone-to-desktop connection.

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