i could be wrong, i’m inferring from your use of the word ‘fresh’ when describing the incognito claude conversation
but just fyi, ‘incognito’ probably does not mean what you think it means. claude, in an incognito convo, still has access to all your custom instructions, preferences, etc and can still choose to access your memories and past conversations (although you’ll see the UI indicator if this happens)
i think ‘incognito’ is meant to imply that there’s an info barrier between {you and claude} and {anthropic and perhaps your browser/os}, but i’ve definitely seen a lot of people assume it means there’s an info barrier between your consumer account data and claude. i think this could probably be better signposted, if any anthropic interface folk happen to see this. lots of people, perhaps the OP included, seem to assume that starting up an incognito conversation means they’ll be getting the exact same context that a fresh user with zero prior context would get, and the fact that this is not true is kind of important, especially when people are trying to do research on and draw conclusions about llm behavior
i consider him a pretty authoritative source, but still doublechecked
i tested it by asking claude in an incognito convo what info was actually in the context window, and what tool calls it could make to retrieve more info. at the time, claude reported seeing my custom instructions and ‘style’ settings but not the ‘memories’ text, and reported that it had tools for retrieving the memories text as well as searching past conversations. it then posited that the incognito conversation probably would not be read by the memory updating agent, which satisfied the meaning of ‘incognito’. i would share a convo link… but it was incognito lol. so, this is just my memory, maybe take with a grain of salt.
it’s possible I am misremembering, or that I was misled, or that things have changed since then.
i could be wrong, i’m inferring from your use of the word ‘fresh’ when describing the incognito claude conversation
but just fyi, ‘incognito’ probably does not mean what you think it means. claude, in an incognito convo, still has access to all your custom instructions, preferences, etc and can still choose to access your memories and past conversations (although you’ll see the UI indicator if this happens)
https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12260368-using-incognito-chats
i think ‘incognito’ is meant to imply that there’s an info barrier between {you and claude} and {anthropic and perhaps your browser/os}, but i’ve definitely seen a lot of people assume it means there’s an info barrier between your consumer account data and claude. i think this could probably be better signposted, if any anthropic interface folk happen to see this. lots of people, perhaps the OP included, seem to assume that starting up an incognito conversation means they’ll be getting the exact same context that a fresh user with zero prior context would get, and the fact that this is not true is kind of important, especially when people are trying to do research on and draw conclusions about llm behavior
Interesting, I did have this misconception. Both Claude and the help-reporting-a-problem chatbot seemed to believe the opposite.
hm i’m surprised re: the support chatbot also thinking otherwise, and it’s making me less certain
i guess i should lay out my evidence, since i’m genuinely doubtful now. on jan 5, i had this exchange with paul crowley (ciphergoth) on x: https://x.com/JohnWittle/status/2008877668855660776
i consider him a pretty authoritative source, but still doublechecked
i tested it by asking claude in an incognito convo what info was actually in the context window, and what tool calls it could make to retrieve more info. at the time, claude reported seeing my custom instructions and ‘style’ settings but not the ‘memories’ text, and reported that it had tools for retrieving the memories text as well as searching past conversations. it then posited that the incognito conversation probably would not be read by the memory updating agent, which satisfied the meaning of ‘incognito’. i would share a convo link… but it was incognito lol. so, this is just my memory, maybe take with a grain of salt.
it’s possible I am misremembering, or that I was misled, or that things have changed since then.