Projects, Collections, and Persistent Memory: Which to Use
Vincent holds context in three ways. Learn what a Project, a Collection, and persistent memory each do, and which one the task in front of you needs.
Summary
Vincent holds context in three different ways. This guide explains what a Project, a Collection, and persistent memory each do, so you can tell which one your task needs.
Why This is Important
All three keep you from repeating yourself, which makes them easy to confuse. They differ in one respect that decides everything else: who the context belongs to.
A Collection is a set of documents. Persistent memory is yours. A Project is the team's.
How They Differ
Collection
Persistent memory
Project
What it holds
Documents you group for analysis
What Vincent retains about your work across sessions
Files, conversations, outputs, tasks, matter details, and an activity log
Who it belongs to
You, or your organisation if you set it that way
You alone
The members you invite, each with a role
Visible in the Collections list
Yes
Not applicable
No, a Project's files are held internally
Use it when
You need Vincent to read a defined set of documents
You want your own preferences and prior work carried forward
A team is working the same matter or programme
Which to Choose
One person, one set of documents, one analysis. Use a Collection.
Several people, one matter or programme, work that continues over time. Use a Project.
You are not choosing. Persistent memory is not something you set up. It works across your own use of Vincent, including inside Projects.
What Does Not Move Between Them
A Project's files are held in a collection behind the scenes, but that collection is internal. It does not appear in your Collections list.
A Project's document set cannot be copied out to a Collection.
A Collection cannot be turned into a Project.
Inside a Project, Vincent's context is the files plus the matter summary or project instructions. It does not carry context from one conversation in the Project to another.
Best Practices & Pro Tips
Start in a Project if there is any chance a second person will join. Because a Collection cannot become a Project, the decision is harder to reverse than it looks. A Project used by one person costs nothing; a Collection that needed to be a Project costs the re-upload.
Keep the reusable document sets as Collections. A standard bundle you run against repeatedly, a client's template suite, a body of regulation, belongs in a Collection, because a Project's files cannot be lifted back out for the next matter.
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