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HomeDocsClaude Code CLI 23 Oct 2026
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How Claude remembers your project changedmemory

Nearest release: v2.1.309, published 4 hours 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 23 Oct 2026 00:36 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 23 Oct 2026 00:37 UTC.

Upstream edited
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First seen 14 Aug 2026 this site's first read of the page
Recorded edits45to this page, all time

### Claude ignores the end of my subdirectory CLAUDE.md

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8181 
8282Keep your files short, organized, and consistent:
8383 
84* **Size**: target under 200 lines per CLAUDE.md file. Longer files consume more context and reduce adherence. Move instructions that matter for only part of the codebase into [path-scoped rules](#path-specific-rules), which load only when Claude works with matching files. [Imports](#import-additional-files) help you organize a long file but don't reduce its context cost, because imported files also load at launch.
84* **Size**: target under 200 lines per CLAUDE.md file. Longer files consume more context and reduce adherence. Move instructions that matter for only part of the codebase into [path-scoped rules](#path-specific-rules), which load only when Claude works with matching files. [Imports](#import-additional-files) help you organize a long file but don't reduce its context cost, because imported files load together with the CLAUDE.md that imports them.
8585* **Structure**: group related instructions under markdown headers and bullets. Organized sections are easier for Claude to follow than dense paragraphs.
8686* **Consistency**: if two instructions contradict each other, Claude may pick one arbitrarily. Review your CLAUDE.md files, nested CLAUDE.md files in subdirectories, and [`.claude/rules/`](#organize-rules-with-claude/rules/) periodically to remove outdated or conflicting instructions. To have Claude find them for you, [run a prompt audit](#audit-your-instruction-files).
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9595 
9696### Import additional files
9797 
98CLAUDE.md files can import additional files using `@path/to/import` syntax. Imported files are expanded and loaded into context at launch alongside the CLAUDE.md that references them.
98CLAUDE.md files can import additional files using `@path/to/import` syntax. Imported files are expanded and loaded into context alongside the CLAUDE.md that references them.
9999 
100100Both relative and absolute paths are allowed. Relative paths resolve relative to the file containing the import, not the working directory. Imported files can recursively import other files, with a maximum depth of four hops.
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544544 
545545After Claude writes to `MEMORY.md`, Claude Code measures the file against the 200-line and 25KB read limits. If the file is near a limit, Claude Code reminds Claude to shorten it: keep one line per entry, move detail into topic files, and merge or drop stale entries. If the file is over a limit, the write still succeeds, but Claude Code returns an [error telling Claude to rewrite the index](/docs/en/errors.md#memory-index-is-over-its-read-limit), because everything past the limit is dropped on the next load.
546546 
547This limit applies only to `MEMORY.md`. Claude Code loads a CLAUDE.md file of up to 4 MiB in full and skips a larger file. Shorter files produce better adherence.
547> [!NOTE]
548>
549> This limit applies only to `MEMORY.md`. Claude gets the whole of each CLAUDE.md file that loads at launch, as long as the file is 4 MiB or smaller. Claude Code skips a file over 4 MiB and loads none of it. Path-scoped rules and CLAUDE.md files in subdirectories have [a smaller per-file limit of their own](#claude-ignores-the-end-of-my-subdirectory-claude-md).
548550 
549551Claude Code doesn't load topic files such as `user_role.md` or `feedback_testing.md` at startup. Claude reads them on demand using its standard file tools when it needs the information.
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612614 
613615### My CLAUDE.md is too large
614616 
615Files over 200 lines consume more context and may reduce adherence. Claude Code skips a file over 4 MiB. Use [path-scoped rules](#path-specific-rules) to load instructions only when Claude works with matching files, or trim content that isn't needed in every session. Splitting into [`@path` imports](#import-additional-files) helps organization but doesn't reduce context, since imported files load at launch.
617Files over 200 lines consume more context and may reduce adherence. Claude Code skips a file over 4 MiB. Use [path-scoped rules](#path-specific-rules) to load instructions only when Claude works with matching files, or trim content that isn't needed in every session. Splitting into [`@path` imports](#import-additional-files) helps organization but doesn't reduce context, since imported files load with the CLAUDE.md importing them.
616618 
617619If one of your instruction files is over the recommended length, you see a warning at startup and when you run `/status`. You also see a warning when files that are each within that length add up past a combined limit at session start. Each CLAUDE.md, rules file, and `@path` import counts as a separate file.
618620 
619621The [`/doctor`](/docs/en/commands#all-commands) checkup proposes trims for a checked-in CLAUDE.md: it cuts content Claude can derive from the codebase, such as directory layouts, dependency lists, and architecture overviews, and keeps pitfalls, rationale, and conventions that differ from tool defaults.
622 
623> [!NOTE]
624>
625> Keep each path-scoped rules file within [its own per-file size limit](#claude-ignores-the-end-of-my-subdirectory-claude-md), because Claude receives only the start of a file that's over it.
626 
627### Claude ignores the end of my subdirectory CLAUDE.md
628 
629When a subdirectory `CLAUDE.md` or a rules file that loads on demand is over a per-file size limit, Claude receives only the start of it. That part ends with a note telling Claude to read the rest with the Read tool, and until Claude chooses to, the later instructions aren't in its context.
630 
631Check whether your file is over the limit, and shrink it if it is:
632 
6331. Confirm that the limit applies to your file. The limit applies to these files, which load on demand:
634 * `CLAUDE.md` and `CLAUDE.local.md` in a subdirectory of the directory where you started Claude Code, and the files they [import](#import-additional-files) with `@path`
635 * Rules files in a subdirectory's `.claude/rules/`
636 * [Path-scoped rules](#path-specific-rules) in your project's `.claude/rules/` or in `~/.claude/rules/`
6372. Find the limit for your session's [context window](/docs/en/model-config.md#extended-context):
638 * **200K context window**: 40,000 characters
639 * **1M context window**: 200,000 characters on Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 4.6, and 150,000 characters on later models
6403. In Bash or Zsh, run `wc -m path/to/CLAUDE.md` to print your file's character count.
6414. Compare the count with your limit:
642 * **Over the limit**: trim the file, or move part of it into one or more rules files, which each count against the limit on their own
643 * **Under the limit**: look for another cause under [Claude isn't following my CLAUDE.md](#claude-isn’t-following-my-claude-md)
644 
645Before v2.1.309, Claude Code didn't apply this limit to files that load on demand.
620646 
621647### Instructions seem lost after `/compact`
622648 
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