Episode 2 of How I use Claude Code

Claude Code Remembers

Every session starts blank. One plain text file, read before you type a word, is why mine never feels that way. Where it lives, what goes in it, and a few lines from my own.

Checked against Anthropic's docs on 12 October 2026 Follows on from episode 1, the setup

The problem: it forgets everything overnight

Close the window and the next session knows nothing about you. Not the folder you work in, not how you like things written, not that you asked it three times yesterday to stop using a certain word. Without help you would repeat yourself every morning, and most people do.

The fix is a file. Claude Code reads it at the start of every session, before your first message, so whatever is in it is already known when you type.

The file, and where it lives

It is called CLAUDE.md. Plain text, markdown if you like headings, nothing special about it. There are two places that matter for one person, and they add up rather than replace each other.

Which	Where	Use it for
Yours, for everything	`~/.claude/CLAUDE.md` on a Mac, `C:\Users\you\.claude\CLAUDE.md` on Windows	How you like things done anywhere: tone, formatting, the words you never want, the checks you always want.
One project's	`CLAUDE.md` in that project's folder	What this folder is, how it is organised, what to run before saying done. Shared with anyone else who works in it.
Yours, in one project	`CLAUDE.local.md` in the same folder	Your private notes for that project only. Keep it out of version control if you share the folder.

Start Claude Code inside a folder and it loads your personal file, then the project's, then your local notes, in that order. It also reads any file of that name in the folders above, so a file at the top of a big folder covers everything beneath it.

Make one in two minutes

Two ways. Let it write the first draft, or write the file yourself.

Let it draft the project file

Open Claude Code in the folder and type:

/init

It reads what is in the folder and writes a first CLAUDE.md with what it found. If one already exists it suggests improvements instead of overwriting it. Then open the file in any text editor and make it yours.

Write your personal file by hand

Or ask Claude Code to do it for you, in your own words:

create my personal CLAUDE.md in my home folder with these rules: ...

Finish the sentence with your rules. It creates the file in the right place on either machine and shows you what it wrote.

What to write, and how

Claude treats the file as context, not as law. The more concrete a line, the more reliably it is followed. A rule it can check beats a rule it has to interpret.

VagueWrite well.ConcreteShort sentences. No em dashes. British spelling.

VagueBe careful with my files.ConcreteNever delete a file. Move it to a folder called Trash in the same place and tell me.

VagueTest your changes.ConcreteRun npm test before you say a change is done, and show me the output.

VagueKeep things organised.ConcreteInvoices go in Finance/2026, named date first, like 2026-10-12 vendor.pdf.

Group lines under a heading per topic: writing, files, money, what to ask before doing.
Say what to do, and when it matters, what to do instead. "No em dashes" is good; "no em dashes, use a comma or a full stop" is better.
Put in things it cannot work out from the folder: who the reader is, what a word means in your world, which account is which.
Leave out what it can see for itself. It does not need the folder described to it.

A starter file to copy

A personal file for someone who uses Claude Code for admin, writing and the odd spreadsheet, and never writes code. Copy it, delete what is not you, add what is.

~/.claude/CLAUDE.md

# How I like things done

## Writing
- Short sentences. Plain words. No em dashes or en dashes; use a comma or a full stop.
- Never open with a summary of what you are about to do. Just do it.
- When you draft something for another person, say who it is for at the top.

## Files
- Never delete anything. Move it to a folder called Trash next to it and tell me.
- Before you change a file, show me the change and wait for a yes.
- Name new files date first: 2026-10-12 topic.docx.

## Money and accounts
- Anything that spends money, sends an email or posts online: ask me first, every time.
- My business email is the one ending in the company domain. Personal is the other one.

## When you are not sure
- Ask one question, not five. If you can finish the rest without the answer, finish it first.

Lines from my own

My personal file is longer than it should be, because it has grown with the work. These are the lines that earn their place, in the spirit of the originals rather than word for word.

No em or en dash in anything, ever. A comma, a colon, a full stop or a new line instead.
Every piece of writing that leaves this machine for someone else goes through a check for the habits that make text read as machine written, before it is posted, sent or scheduled.
Each task gets its own copy of the project to work in, so two sessions never edit the same files at once.
Before anything that spends money or changes what members of my site can see, a second reviewer reads the change.
When planning, put the strongest ideas on the table first. A reason something cannot ship goes beside the idea, never in front of it.

None of these are about code. They are about how I want to be worked with, and they hold across every folder on the machine because the file sits at the top.

Check it loaded

Inside a session, type:

/context

Under the heading for memory files you should see every file it read for this session, by path. If yours is missing, it is in the wrong folder or has the wrong name. The name is exact: capital CLAUDE, lower case md.

The quicker test is to ask it: "what do you know about how I like things done?" It should answer from the file.

Keep it short and true

Aim for under 200 lines per file. A long file costs attention and is followed less closely.
If two lines contradict each other it may follow either one. Read the file through now and then and remove what is stale.
Let it audit itself. In a session, type /doctor prompt-audit and it reports instructions that are outdated, point at files that no longer exist, or contradict each other. Nothing changes until you say so.
A big file can pull in smaller ones with an at sign: a line like @writing-rules.md loads that file alongside it.
To add a rule from inside a session, just say it: "add to my CLAUDE.md that invoices go in Finance." It edits the file and shows you.

The notes it keeps for itself

Alongside your file, Claude Code keeps notes of its own. When you correct it, confirm an approach, or tell it something it could not have found in the folder, it may save a short note and read it back next time. You will see "Saved a memory" or "Recalled a memory" in the session when that happens.

Those notes live per project under ~/.claude/projects, in a folder called memory, as plain files you can open and edit. Type /memory in a session to see what it has kept and to switch the feature off if you would rather it kept nothing.

You write the rules. It writes down what it learned about working with you. Both are read at the start of every session.

Next episode: teaching it a routine once, and calling it by name.