🧠 Stop Reuploading Files: RAG Custom GPTs vs. ChatGPT Projects for Engineers

If you’ve ever uploaded the same PDF to ChatGPT more than once, only to ask it the exact same question, you’ve felt the inefficiency. It’s like reinventing the wheel — every single chat.

For engineers, time spent hunting through project files, SOPs, or calculation archives is time not spent solving problems. And while ChatGPT’s new “Projects” feature seems like a fix, there’s a far better solution if your questions are repeatable: Custom GPTs powered by Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).

Why RAG-Powered Custom GPTs Are Game-Changers

These GPTs aren’t just chatbots — they’re reusable expert tools. Here’s what makes them valuable in engineering workflows:

• 🔁 Upload Once, Use Forever: Load your Ops Manual, QA/QC templates, or past calcs once — and the Custom GPT remembers across all sessions.

• 🔍 Smarter Retrieval: It chunks and embeds your documents, letting the GPT find and cite exactly what matters.

• ⚙️ Instructional Control: You can define how it responds, what tone to use, and what to prioritize (e.g., always cite sources or prefer standard specs).

• 👥 Sharable and Repeatable: Anyone on your team can use the same GPT and get consistent outputs.

  
  

At Singularity, we built Custom GPTs around our SOPs and Prompt Library. The result? Instant access to relevant information, complete with citations — no more folder diving or re-uploading docs.

The Case for ChatGPT Projects (and Its Limits)

Projects offer a simpler, more disposable way to analyze up to 20 files at once. They’re perfect for:

• Reviewing a client handoff

• Researching a technical report

• Drafting something from scratch with new inputs

But here’s the catch:

• ❌ No source citations

• ❌ No GPT instructions or personality

• ❌ Not sharable

• ❌ No memory outside that single project

  
  

If you need to revisit the same files, Projects start to feel repetitive — and that’s where RAG wins.

The Bottom Line for Engineering Teams

Use Case	Best Tool
Writing blogs from SOPs	✅ Custom GPT
Reviewing a unique project file	✅ Project
Answering repeat engineering questions	✅ Custom GPT
Ad-hoc document Q&A	✅ Project
Building a team-wide assistant	✅ Custom GPT

Want to stop reuploading and start engineering faster?

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