Projects in ThinkForge

Projects are the main way ThinkForge keeps your work organized. A project is a dedicated space for a specific client, product, research effort, campaign, codebase, or body of work.

It gives your documents, chats, captures, imported files, and AI memory a clear home instead of mixing everything into one shared space. When you work inside a project, ThinkForge keeps the right context nearby and keeps unrelated work out of the way.

What a project is

A ThinkForge project is both:

  1. A workspace in the app
  2. A real folder on your computer

Each project has its own folder under your ThinkForge projects location. Inside that folder, your content is stored as normal files and folders. ThinkForge also creates a hidden system folder named .fire that stores project settings, memory data, cache files, and other internal project information.

A typical project looks like this:

Project Name/
  .fire/
    project.json
    memory/
      semantic-memory.db
    cache/
  _captured/
    Notes.md
    Imported Article.md
  Research/
    Source Notes.md
  Drafts/
    Homepage Copy.md

The _captured folder is the default place ThinkForge saves new or unfiled content. You can also organize files into your own folders inside the project.

Why projects matter

Projects give ThinkForge a boundary for context.

Without projects, every note, document, chat, and imported file would compete for attention. With projects, each space can develop its own memory around a specific goal.

Use separate projects when the work should stay mentally and contextually separate, such as:

  • One project per client
  • One project per product
  • One project per research area
  • One project per marketing campaign
  • One project per software or app build
  • One project per internal business initiative

This makes it easier to search, retrieve, and reuse information without pulling in unrelated material.

Projects and SK Memory

SK Memory is ThinkForge's project-aware memory system. Each project gets its own SK Memory database stored inside that project's .fire/memory folder.

When content is saved or indexed, ThinkForge breaks it into searchable chunks and stores useful metadata so the app can retrieve it later. This supports semantic search, document lookup, chat context, tagging, and AI-assisted workflows.

Project isolation: Each project has its own memory database. Search focuses on the current project, and AI context is grounded in the project you are working in. Other projects do not automatically pollute the current project's memory. When needed, ThinkForge can search across all projects.

This lets you build a long-running body of knowledge around a project while keeping that knowledge scoped to the right work.

What gets stored in a project

A project can contain several kinds of content:

  • Markdown and text documents
  • Notes created inside ThinkForge
  • Chat-related documents and saved conversation context
  • Imported web content
  • PDFs and images
  • Code and structured text files
  • User-created folders for organization

ThinkForge can display many common file types, including Markdown, text, JSON, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C#, Python, XML, images, PDFs, and common video formats. Text-based files are the most useful for SK Memory because they can be indexed and searched semantically.

How to create a project

  1. Open ThinkForge.
  2. Go to the Projects view.
  3. Select Create New Project.
  4. Enter a project name.
  5. Choose a project type, such as app/software development, research, marketing, content creation, startup planning, or custom.
  6. Optionally add a short project description.
  7. Choose either a guided setup or a generic project.
  8. Confirm creation.

After the project is created, ThinkForge creates the project folder, initializes the .fire system folder, creates the _captured folder, and prepares SK Memory for that project. The new project is then available from the project list.

Guided setup vs. generic projects

When creating a project, you may see two creation paths:

  • Guided setup collects more detail about the work, such as technologies, architecture, development environment, or project category.
  • Generic project creates a standard project quickly with minimal setup.

Both options create a usable project with its own files and SK Memory. The guided path simply gives ThinkForge more structured information about the project from the beginning.

Linking an existing folder

ThinkForge can also link an existing folder as a project. This is useful when you already have a working folder for a client, research area, codebase, or campaign.

When you link a folder, ThinkForge adds the project system data it needs and prepares SK Memory for that folder. Your existing files remain in place. ThinkForge stores a small link file in its projects location so the external folder appears in your project list.

This is useful when you want ThinkForge's memory and organization features without moving your existing work into a new location.

Working inside a project

Once a project is selected, ThinkForge treats it as the active workspace. New documents and captures save into that project. Project search, memory lookup, document graph features, and AI context use that project's files and memory.

For best results:

  • Keep related work in the same project.
  • Split unrelated clients or initiatives into separate projects.
  • Use clear document names.
  • Store source material, notes, and drafts near the work they support.
  • Add descriptions and tags when they help future retrieval.

The more consistently you keep project material together, the more useful project memory becomes.

Removing a project

Removing a project does not have to delete your documents.

ThinkForge can remove its own project association data while leaving your files in place. If you choose to permanently delete project files, that deletes the folder contents from disk, so use that option carefully.

Linked projects: Removing a linked external project normally unlinks it from ThinkForge and removes ThinkForge's project data, while leaving your documents where they are.

The main idea

Projects are how ThinkForge turns a collection of files, notes, chats, and source material into a focused working context. They keep your work organized on disk, give SK Memory a clear boundary, and help the app retrieve the right information when you need it.

Use projects whenever a body of work deserves its own memory.

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