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Claude Code Configuration Guide

Overview

Claude Code reads instructions hierarchically:

  1. ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md — User-global (highest personal priority)
  2. ./CLAUDE.md — Project root (highest project priority)
  3. ./.claude/rules/*.md — Modular project rules
  4. ./subfolder/CLAUDE.md — Directory-specific (overrides parent)

Key Behavior

  • CLAUDE.md content is treated as immutable system rules
  • Higher priority than user prompts
  • Claude Code follows these instructions more strictly than chat input
  • Keep directives concise — every line is treated as a strong directive

Setup

  1. Copy CLAUDE.md to your project root
  2. Copy .claude/rules/ to your project root
  3. Customize for your project

File Format

  • Pure Markdown (no YAML frontmatter)
  • No glob patterns (use directory-based CLAUDE.md files for scoping)
  • Keep concise: aim for 800–1500 tokens in CLAUDE.md
  • Use .claude/rules/*.md for detailed topic-specific rules

Hierarchy

~/.claude/CLAUDE.md              ← User-global rules
├── ./CLAUDE.md                  ← Project root (main config)
├── ./.claude/rules/*.md         ← Modular project rules
└── ./subfolder/CLAUDE.md        ← Directory-specific overrides

Tips

  • CLAUDE.md should be MORE CONCISE than other IDE configs
  • Use .claude/rules/ for detailed rules that don't need to be in every prompt
  • Put "non-negotiable" rules in CLAUDE.md, detailed guidelines in .claude/rules/
  • Claude Code does not read AGENTS.md natively — use symlink if needed

Examples

See examples/ for a complete FocusFlow project configuration.

Cross-IDE Compatibility

To use the same rules across IDEs, create an AGENTS.md and run:

../../scripts/symlink-setup.sh

This creates a CLAUDE.md symlink pointing to AGENTS.md.