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If Claude Code seems to forget your project, first identify what was lost: durable repository instructions, your personal preferences, or the progress of one conversation. Put stable project guidance in a CLAUDE.md file, keep personal defaults in user memory, and use session recovery or a written handoff for work in progress. These mechanisms solve different problems; none guarantees that Claude Code will retain every detail.

1. Add stable project guidance to a project CLAUDE.md

For facts and conventions that should apply whenever Claude Code works in a repository, create a CLAUDE.md file at the project root. Anthropic describes ./CLAUDE.md as project memory for team-shared guidance, including architecture, coding standards, and common workflows. Applicable memory files are loaded when Claude Code starts. See Anthropic’s Claude Code memory documentation.

If the file does not exist, Anthropic documents /init as a way to bootstrap project guidance. Review what it creates and make the instructions accurate for your repository rather than treating the generated file as complete.

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What belongs in project memory

  • Stable architectural facts that are not obvious from a quick look at the code.
  • Project-specific coding conventions and workflows.
  • Important commands or constraints that contributors should follow.

Keep the file focused on high-value guidance rather than duplicating the repository. Use descriptive headings so instructions are easy to find, and review the file as the project changes. That makes it more useful to both Claude Code and teammates.

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2. Separate shared project rules from personal preferences

Claude Code has different memory scopes. Use project memory for guidance that belongs to the repository and should be shared with its contributors. Use ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md for personal preferences that should carry across projects, such as how you prefer explanations or code reviews to be presented. Anthropic documents both scopes in its memory documentation.

To keep a long set of instructions readable, Anthropic’s documentation describes importing another file with an @path/to/file reference. The localized documentation describes imports as recursive up to five levels; because detailed syntax and behavior may change, check the current documentation before relying on that depth. The same page says CLAUDE.local.md is deprecated in favor of imports for personal, project-specific instructions.

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Run /memory in Claude Code to inspect which memory files are loaded. This is a useful diagnostic when an instruction appears to be missing: confirm its file is in the intended scope and that it appears among the loaded files, instead of assuming the previous chat supplied it.

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3. Recover the conversation or write a handoff

When the missing context is the history of a particular task, resuming its conversation can help. Anthropic’s CLI reference documents claude --continue (or -c) to load the most recent conversation in the current directory, and claude --resume <session-id> (or -r) to resume a session by ID. See the Claude Code CLI reference.

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These commands recover a conversation; they do not replace durable project instructions. A resumed chat and a project’s CLAUDE.md have different jobs, so keep repository rules in memory files even if you usually continue a session.

For a long task, save the state before switching contexts

Anthropic’s prompting guidance recommends saving progress and state before a context window refreshes. A practical handoff can record the goal, completed work, key decisions, unresolved questions, files touched, and the next action. Those fields are a useful way to make the state actionable; they are not a prescribed Anthropic template.

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Anthropic also notes: “Starting fresh versus compacting: When a context window is cleared, consider starting with a brand new context window rather than using compaction.” Read the guidance in Anthropic’s prompting best practices. For a fresh context, provide the handoff along with the task’s relevant files or project instructions, rather than expecting the new conversation to infer what happened.

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Which context mechanism should you use?

Mechanism Scope Best for
Project memory One repository Stable project facts, shared conventions, and workflows
User memory Across projects Your personal preferences and defaults
Continue or resume A specific conversation Picking up earlier chat history
Written handoff A task crossing contexts Carrying forward progress, decisions, and next steps

The quickest diagnosis is to ask whether you need Claude Code to know how the project works, how you personally prefer to work, or what happened in one task. Put the information in the matching place, then check loaded memory or provide the relevant handoff when starting again.

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