Claude Rules

CLAUDE.md

• A Markdown file that Claude Code automatically reads at the start of every session
• The /init command analyzes your codebase and generates an initial CLAUDE.md

• Keep it lean (< 200–300 lines) and move heavy details into rules, skills, or reference docs

• Global: ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md

• Project: .claude/CLAUDE.md, ./CLAUDE.md

• For the project memory, focus on what Claude cannot infer from the code:

• Build, test, and deploy commands
• Architectural decisions and business rules
• Naming conventions and explicit prohibitions
• Links to internal documentation

Rules

• Global: ~/.claude/rules/

• Project: .claude/rules/

• Allows you to organize instructions into multiple focused files instead of piling everything into CLAUDE.md

• Rules can be scoped by path (via frontmatter paths:), loading only when Claude is working on files that match a specific pattern