Give the work a place to live.

Choose the system of record

Select the folder or approved workspace that will contain the authoritative files. It should make sense without opening an AI chat.

• Name an owner.
• Confirm who can access it.
• Record the backup or recovery method.

Create a Local Codex project

For this system, Local is the default because Codex works directly with the selected project folder. Remote can fit an approved connected machine; Cloud needs a separate export and preservation path.

Add instructions and sources

Place AGENTS.md at the project root. Add a clear intake location for documents, images, spreadsheets, research, and templates.

Create the first named work product

Save a brief, plan, decision record, research note, or draft early. Do not wait for the conversation to become too long to reconstruct.

Checkpoint this discussion into the appropriate working documents.

Test the handoff

Start a fresh task and ask it to summarize the project from the files. Restore a test file from version history or backup. If either test fails, the project is not durable yet.