How Claude remembers your project changedmemory
Nearest release: v2.1.295, published an hour before upstream edited the page. Shown because the two are within 24 hours of each other. Nothing here says the release caused the edit.
Upstream edited this page at 8 Oct 2026 19:29 UTC, give or take a minute or two: the time comes from Anthropic’s own sitemap rather than from a commit. This site recorded the change at 8 Oct 2026 19:37 UTC.
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140140All discovered files are concatenated into context rather than overriding each other. Across the directory tree, content is ordered from the filesystem root down to your working directory. For the `foo/bar/` example, `foo/CLAUDE.md` appears in context before `foo/bar/CLAUDE.md`, so instructions closer to where you launched Claude are read last. Within each directory, `CLAUDE.local.md` is appended after `CLAUDE.md`, so your personal notes are the last thing Claude reads at that level.
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142Claude also discovers `CLAUDE.md` and `CLAUDE.local.md` files in subdirectories under your current working directory. Instead of loading them at launch, Claude Code includes them when Claude uses the [Read](/docs/en/tools-reference#read-tool-behavior), [Write](/docs/en/tools-reference#write-tool-behavior), or [Edit](/docs/en/tools-reference#edit-tool-behavior) tool on a file in those subdirectories. If Claude already used one of those tools on a subdirectory's `CLAUDE.md` itself, that file isn't loaded this way, because Claude Code treats it as already in the conversation. For files inside a worktree under `.claude/worktrees/`, see [Isolate subagents with worktrees](/docs/en/worktrees#isolate-subagents-with-worktrees).
142Claude also discovers `CLAUDE.md` and `CLAUDE.local.md` files in subdirectories under your current working directory. Instead of loading them at launch, Claude Code loads each one once Claude reads, writes, or edits another file in that subdirectory. Reading includes viewing the file with a Bash command that [counts as a read](/docs/en/tools-reference#edit-tool-behavior), such as `cat` or `head` on a single file. For files inside a worktree under `.claude/worktrees/`, see [Isolate subagents with worktrees](/docs/en/worktrees#isolate-subagents-with-worktrees).
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144144If you work in a large monorepo where other teams' CLAUDE.md files get picked up, use [`claudeMdExcludes`](#exclude-specific-claude-md-files) to skip them. For the full layout of root and per-directory CLAUDE.md files and rules, see [Monorepos and large repos](/docs/en/large-codebases).
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202202- Include OpenAPI documentation comments
203203```
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205Rules without a `paths` field are loaded unconditionally and apply to all files. Path-scoped rules trigger when Claude uses the Read, Write, or Edit tool on a file matching the pattern, not on every tool use. Matching also works when Claude reaches a file through a symlinked path to the project directory, for example in a symlinked checkout.
205Rules without a `paths` field are loaded unconditionally and apply to all files. A path-scoped rule loads when Claude uses the Read, Write, or Edit tool on a matching file. It also loads when Claude views a matching file with a Bash command that [counts as a read](/docs/en/tools-reference#edit-tool-behavior), such as `cat` or `head` on a single file. Matching also works when Claude reaches a file through a symlinked path to the project directory, for example in a symlinked checkout.
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207207Use glob patterns in the `paths` field to match files by extension, directory, or any combination:
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