Switching from ChatGPT to Claude without losing your business context

By Ricardo Cardona · September 21, 2026

To switch from ChatGPT to Claude without losing context, get what ChatGPT knows about your business out as text, clean it into one file you keep, and give that file to Claude. Claude can import memories from another assistant, but the step that lasts is the file: it comes with you to the next assistant too.

What ChatGPT actually holds

Two things, and only one of them moves easily.

Saved memories. The facts ChatGPT kept on purpose: your business, your preferences, how you like things written. You can review and delete them in ChatGPT’s settings, under Personalization.
Chat history. What it picked up from past conversations. ChatGPT can refer to it, but there’s no list of it to copy. It lives in the chats.

Then there’s the context you never told it and keep re-typing: prices, clients, this month’s priority. That usually lives in your head, and it’s the part most worth writing down.

Step 1: get it out as text

Before you leave, ask ChatGPT for an inventory:

List what you know about me and my business: saved memories and
what you've learned from our chats. Group it under the business,
customers, offers and prices, how I like things written, tools I
use, and ongoing projects. Quote saved memories exactly. Mark
anything you're unsure of.

Check the answer against the saved memories in settings, since a summary can drop items. ChatGPT’s data export also sends you a copy of your conversations. That’s useful to keep for search, but it isn’t context an assistant can use.

Step 2: clean it into one file you own

The inventory will be long, repetitive and partly out of date. Turn it into a one-page context file in a folder you keep, and move the details into files of their own:

# About this business
What we sell: [offer and price]
Who we serve: [the customer]
This month: [the one priority]

# How I work
Voice: [plain, direct, no jargon]
Always: [the rules you keep repeating]
Never: [what every assistant gets wrong]

# Details
Prices: money/pricing.md
Clients: clients/, one file each

Delete what’s stale while you’re there. An old price in an assistant’s memory does more harm than no price at all.

Step 3: give it to Claude

Pick the route that matches how you use Claude:

Claude’s memory. Claude has an import flow for memories from other assistants: Settings, then Memory, then Start import, and paste the text. It’s on the Free, Pro, Max and Team plans, on the web and in Claude Desktop, and Anthropic labels it experimental. Claude’s memory focuses on work, so some personal details may not stick.
A Claude project. Add the context file to a project, so every chat in it starts with the file.
Claude Code. Name the file AGENTS.md, put it at the top of your folder, and open Claude Code there (what AGENTS.md is).

The same file works in ChatGPT’s projects, in Codex and in Cursor. Once it exists, switching stops being a migration.

Step 4: keep one source

The usual failure is three copies: one in ChatGPT’s memory, one in Claude’s, one in a project. Within a month they disagree. Treat the file as the source and each assistant’s memory as a copy of it:

Change the file first, then update the copies that need it.
Every few months, ask each assistant what it remembers, and delete what the file doesn’t say.
Write decisions into the folder as you make them, not into a chat.

For more on keeping one context file current, see how to stop re-explaining your business to every AI.

Where Oknola fits

This is the job Oknola does. Your business lives in one folder of plain markdown, and Oknola types, tags and files what lands in it while you work, so the context any assistant reads is current. Each assistant gets only the tags you allow. Claude, Codex, Cursor, or whatever you switch to next year: if it can read a folder, it can work on your business, and nothing breaks when you drop one assistant for another. What is available today is on the roadmap.

Questions people ask

Can I move my ChatGPT chat history to Claude?

Not as history. You can export your conversations from ChatGPT and keep them, but Claude won’t take them in as its own. Move the conclusions instead: the facts and decisions those chats produced, written into your file.

Does Claude’s memory import copy my memories exactly?

No. Claude reads the text you paste and folds it into its own memory, and Anthropic calls the feature experimental. The file you wrote is the version to trust.

What about moving from Claude back to ChatGPT?

The same steps in reverse. Claude shows its memory in settings, or you can ask it to write its memories out word for word. Update your file from that, then give the file to ChatGPT.

Is it safe to put business details in an assistant’s memory?

Keep secrets out: passwords, API keys, card numbers, and client information your contracts protect. Memory is convenient, but a file you control is easier to check, and easier to keep away from an assistant that doesn’t need it.