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Using Projects With Sidekick Build

How to set up reusable project foundations—so your team can build consistent deliverables without starting from scratch every time

If you're using Sidekick Build to create a community health improvement plan, you probably don't want to re-describe your priorities for every section. If you're applying for multiple grants, you probably don't want to upload the same organizational documents every time. If you're creating reports for five different districts, you don't want to input the same framework five different times. That's what Projects solve.

What Is a Project?

A project is your foundation: context, preferences, documents, and data—all in one place. Set it up once. Use it repeatedly. Share it across your team.

The things that go into a Project, are the things that make your work yours:

  • Your goals
  • Your audience
  • Your tone preferences
  • The documents that inform your work—PDFs, prior assessments, style guides, strategic plans

Everything you'd normally have to re-explain with every new deliverable now lives in one place.

How to Create a Project

Creating a project is straightforward.

  1. Start from the mySidewalk homepage. Click the Create New dropdown in the top left and select Project.
  2. Fill in the basics. Sidekick asks for:
    1. Project name – Make it specific. Reflect the initiative, deliverable type, or geographic scope so your team knows what it's for.
    2. Description – A brief summary of what this project covers.
    3. Goal – What you're ultimately trying to achieve.
    4. Audience – Who will read your deliverables.
  3. Click Create.
  4. Upload your project knowledge. Add the documents that should inform every deliverable in this project—strategic plans, style guides, previous reports, program descriptions.

Using Your Project

Once your project is set up, you can start building in two ways:

  • From inside the project – just start prompting Sidekick directly in the project
  • From the main Sidekick screen – enter your prompt, make sure you're in Build Mode, then select your project from the dropdown

When you start a Build session inside a project, Sidekick already has the context you've added. It knows your priorities. It can reference your documents. It understands how you talk about your work. Less time setting up. 

Team Collaboration

This is where Projects get really powerful. Everyone on your team can draw from the same foundation.

Let's say you've set up a project for your organization's grant applications. You've uploaded your mission statement, program descriptions, and standard organizational language.

Now a colleague needs to build a community needs assessment for a new grant. They hop into the project you created. Sidekick has all that context ready to go.

The result is consistent deliverables across your organization—without the coordination headaches. Everyone works from the same foundation, and the outputs reflect that.

Three Project Types That Work Well

1. Initiative-Specific Projects

For big, ongoing efforts

Examples:

  • 2026 Comprehensive Plan
  • Downtown Mobility Initiative
  • Community Health Improvement Process
All the context for that initiative lives in one place. When you need to build something related—a section of the plan, a stakeholder presentation, a progress report—Sidekick already knows the background. Upload your strategic documents, stakeholder input, and previous reports. Every deliverable draws from the same source of truth.

2. Recurring Work

For regular deliverables on a cycle

Examples:

  • Quarterly grant applications
  • Monthly economic reports
  • Annual housing assessments
Each time, you follow the same structure, but you don't have to re-upload or re-explain your core documents. Your organizational profile, standard language, and style preferences are already there. Just tell Sidekick what's new this cycle, and it builds from the foundation you've already laid.


3. Multi-Jurisdictional Projects

For the same deliverable across multiple geographies

Examples:

  • Housing assessments for 5 council districts
  • Needs analyses for 3 neighborhoods
  • Economic reports for multiple counties

Create the framework once—the structure, data approach, narrative style, and context. Sidekick adapts it for each geography. Consistent quality across all your reports, in a fraction of the time.