Claude for Architects: Project Context That Travels With You

Published June 2026 · 5 min read

Architecture work lives across dozens of half-remembered decisions. The reason you specified that structural system. The client's exact brief on acoustic requirements. The planning constraint that ruled out the ground-floor option. The contractor who had trouble with that facade system on the last project.

Every time you open Claude to work through a design problem, you re-explain the project from scratch. Stash changes that: a lightweight MCP connector that stores your project context so Claude is briefed before you type the first word.

What architects store in Stash

Common collections by practice type:

• projects — brief, programme, site constraints, planning history, client preferences
• clients — decision-making style, aesthetic preferences, past feedback patterns, procurement method
• specs — specification decisions and the reasoning behind them (why this system, why not that one)
• contractors — track record notes, preferred working methods, known issues
• planning — LPA contacts, local policies, precedent decisions, inspector notes
• materials — research notes, supplier contacts, performance data you've gathered

This is institutional knowledge — the kind that lives in senior architects' heads and gets lost when they leave. Stash externalises it into a searchable store Claude can reason from.

Before and after a design review session

Without Stash:

You: Help me prepare talking points for tomorrow's planning pre-app.
Claude: Happy to help! What's the scheme — residential, commercial, mixed-use?
        What's the site context? Conservation area? Listed building?
        What are the planning authority's known concerns?
        What's the current scheme massing?

With Stash:

You: Help me prepare talking points for tomorrow's planning pre-app.
Claude: For the Millfield Road scheme — 48-unit residential in the Article 4 area
        with the LPA's known sensitivity on roofline height and the heritage setting
        concern raised at the last pre-app — here are the strongest points to lead with:

        1. The setback from the conservation boundary exceeds policy minimum by 15%...
        [continues with your actual project]

Patterns architects find useful

Design decision log

After each significant design decision, add a one-line record explaining the reasoning. Six months later when a client asks why you chose that structural system:

search specs for "structural grid decision"

Instant recall. No hunting through emails.

Client brief evolution

Clients change their minds. Log brief changes with dates. When a change causes programme impact, Claude can trace exactly when the client brief shifted and what they asked for.

"Start my day" for architects

context() and tell me what's live across my projects and any upcoming deadlines

Claude pulls your project collection and gives you a morning briefing across everything in the store.

Contractor intelligence

Notes on contractors accumulate across projects. Before recommending a contractor on a new scheme:

search contractors for "cladding experience M&E coordination"

Surfaces your notes from past projects — good and bad.

For engineering and quantity surveying

The same pattern works across the AEC disciplines. Structural engineers store calculation assumptions and load-path reasoning. QS professionals store cost benchmarks, procurement intelligence, and value-engineering decisions. Project managers store programme constraints and stakeholder commitments.

Any context-dense professional role benefits from the same thing: a store that travels with your thinking instead of disappearing at session end.

What Stash doesn't do

Stash isn't a project management tool, a drawing management system, or a BIM platform. It doesn't store files, drawings, or models. It stores the contextual notes and decisions that make Claude useful for thinking through the work you do in those systems.

Free tier covers most small practices

A solo architect running five projects at a time, with client notes, spec decisions, and contractor records, typically uses 200–400 records. Well within the free tier (2,500 records, 50 queries/month).

A larger practice with multiple live projects may benefit from Pro (£8/month, 100,000 records, 1,000 queries). Pricing may change; cancel anytime.

Adding Stash to Claude takes three minutes

1. Sign in at stashlite.com — Google, one click
2. Copy your personal connector URL
3. Claude → Settings → Integrations → Add MCP server → paste URL
4. Open a conversation, type context() — Claude prompts you to add your first project