Christi Loucks Join The Group Chat

Setup / Multi-tool

Move Your AI Memory Between ChatGPT and Claude

You're not married to your AI, and moving your memory either direction takes about 10 minutes.

August 2026

I wrote this in August 2026. Menus move, so if a button isn't exactly where I say it is, look nearby (the idea doesn't change).

A year in, ChatGPT knew things about me I don't tell people at parties, like how I write, what I'm building, my kids' names and the way I talk about money when I'm being careful about it.

So when I wanted to move to Claude, I put it off for weeks. It felt like walking out on a coworker who had finally figured me out.

But it's a file, and that's all it ever was. I just hadn't copied it yet.

Steps 1 to 3 move you from ChatGPT into Claude, and steps 4 to 6 go back the other way. Do both, even if you're only switching one direction, because the point is knowing you can.

1. Get the export out of ChatGPT

Open a brand new ChatGPT chat, on a computer. Skip your phone for this one, because you're about to copy a long block of text and phones make that miserable.

Paste this in. It's long, and it needs to be:

I'm moving to another service and need to export my data. List every memory you have stored about me, as well as any context you've learned about me from past conversations. Output everything in a single code block so I can easily copy it. Format each entry as: [date saved, if available] - memory content.

Make sure to cover all of the following - preserve my words verbatim where possible:

- Instructions I've given you about how to respond (tone, format, style, "always do X", "never do Y")
- Personal details: name, location, job, family, interests
- Projects, goals, and recurring topics
- Tools, languages, and frameworks I use
- Preferences and corrections I've made to your behavior
- Any other stored context not covered above

Do not summarize, group, or omit any entries. After the code block, confirm whether that is the complete set or if any remain.

Then copy the block it gives you back (there's a copy button in the top corner of it).

The mistake that makes it fail: asking "what do you remember about me," because you'll get a friendly paragraph and lose half your context.

Every line in there is doing work. Stored memories and what it picked up from your conversations are two different piles, and it only hands over the second pile if you ask.

The checklist is there because otherwise it skips entire categories, and the response instructions are the ones you'd miss most. "One code block" makes it copyable in one click, and "Do not summarize, group, or omit" stops it from being helpful at you. The last line asks it to confirm whether that's everything, which catches the entries it held back the first time.

2. Import it into Claude

Claude built a real import for this, so this part is just four clicks.

The exact path:

  1. Click your initials in the bottom left, go to Settings.
  2. Go to Memory.
  3. Click Start import.
  4. Paste the block in, then click Add to memory.
Claude settings with Memory selected in the left sidebar and a Start import button next to Import memory from other AI providers
This is the screen you want, with Memory down the left sidebar and Start import over on the right, next to "Import memory from other AI providers." My own entries are blurred out, and yours will fill that space once the import runs.Tap the picture to see it bigger

If you don't see a Memory tab, look under Settings, then Capabilities. Where it sits depends on your plan and how far the rollout has reached you.

That part takes 1 minute.

3. Read your entries and put back what got dropped

This is the step everyone skips, and it decides what the other five actually got you.

Go back into Settings, Memory, and actually read what landed.

The import is experimental and it leans hard toward work, so mine came over knowing every business I run and almost nothing about my life. It kept the client names but dropped the two kids under three, which is the single fact that changes every answer it gives me about scheduling anything.

Type back in whatever it dropped that matters to you. You can edit the entries right there on that screen.

It takes 2 minutes, and they're the 2 minutes that count.

4. Get your memory out of Claude

Now for the other direction, because you should be able to walk out of any of them, including the one I like.

The exact path: click your initials in the bottom left, go to Settings, then Memory, then View and edit your memory. Then select all and copy it.

It's plain text, so read it on the way past. For most people this is the only time they ever see what their AI actually thinks of them.

That one takes 1 minute.

5. Turn it into ChatGPT instructions

ChatGPT has no import button, so this side is by hand, but it still only takes 3 minutes.

The exact path:

  1. Open a new ChatGPT chat and paste the full export in.
  2. Underneath it, paste this: 
    Read this data export and summarize the most important facts and points so I can update my personalization settings.
  3. Copy what it hands back.
  4. Go to Settings, then Personalization, then Custom instructions, and paste it in.

The mistake that makes it fail: pasting the raw Claude export straight into custom instructions. There's a character limit on that box and a year of memory is longer than it, so the summarize step is what makes it fit.

6. Check what actually stuck

Open Settings, Personalization, Manage memories, and read the list.

It won't be everything (it never is), because custom instructions and saved memories are two separate systems and you only just filled in one of them.

So take the 3 or 4 facts you'd be annoyed to re-explain and just say them in a chat: "Remember that I run three businesses and one of them is physical." That writes a real memory instead of an instruction.

Your chats are a separate export

Your chats aren't part of your memory, and neither import touches your conversation history.

That's a separate export in a separate menu, and it arrives as a zip file emailed to you. In ChatGPT it's Settings, Data controls, Export data. In Claude it's Settings, Privacy, Export data.

Do it once a quarter and forget about it until you need it.

What 10 minutes buys you

I'm not telling you to switch (I use both).

The point is that you can leave. A tool you can walk out of is one you're choosing, and a tool you can't walk out of is one you're stuck with. Right now a better one shows up every few months, so stuck gets expensive fast.

I run everything this way now. For every system I build, I know what it takes to get my data back out, because the answer tells me who's in charge of it.

If you only do one thing: do step 3, because an import you never read is a backup you never tested.

Copy the file, and then pick whichever one you actually want.

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