Guides

Plain answers about the files Claude Code reads: where CLAUDE.md lives, which settings.json wins, permission rules, and keeping instructions short.

• Where does Claude Code look for CLAUDE.md files?

  Every place Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md from on a Mac: managed, ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, the project root, .claude/CLAUDE.md and CLAUDE.local.md, plus load order and how to check what loaded.

• Which Claude Code settings.json wins? File locations and precedence

  Where Claude Code keeps settings.json, settings.local.json and managed settings, which file overrides which, and why permission lists merge instead of replacing each other.

• How to stop Claude Code asking permission for every command

  Write allow rules like Bash(npm run *) in settings.json so Claude Code stops prompting for safe commands, keep deny rules for risky ones, and clean up the rules "don't ask again" saved for you.

• How long should CLAUDE.md be? Trimming a CLAUDE.md that Claude ignores

  Anthropic suggests keeping each CLAUDE.md under 200 lines. How to find what to cut, what to move to CLAUDE.local.md or .claude/rules/, and why @imports don't save context.