Project memory generator
Create CLAUDE.md files that transfer institutional knowledge, not obvious information. Think like a senior journalist onboarding a competent colleague, you don't explain how journalism works, you explain YOUR project's quirks.
CLAUDE.md is advisory, not enforced
Anthropic is explicit on this point: CLAUDE.md content is delivered as a user message after the system prompt. Claude reads it and tries to follow it, but there's no guarantee of strict compliance, especially with vague or conflicting instructions. Source: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/memory
This affects how you write a CLAUDE.md and what you put elsewhere:
| Mechanism | Use for | Source-of-truth |
|---|---|---|
| CLAUDE.md | Standing facts, conventions, "always do X" rules | Advisory |
| Skills | Multi-step procedures, on-demand workflows | Loaded when invoked |
| Hooks | Actions that must happen every time, no exceptions | Deterministic, runs as a shell command (e.g. hooks/one-way-door-check.md) or as a prompt the harness enforces (e.g. hooks/enforce-test-first.md) |
If an instruction is "block writes to published/" or "run accessibility check before commit," that belongs in a hook, not CLAUDE.md. If it's "fact-check workflow" or "FOIA-letter drafting," that's a skill. CLAUDE.md is the place for things Claude must hold in every session.
What belongs in CLAUDE.md
Anthropic publishes an explicit include/exclude table for what makes an effective CLAUDE.md. Source: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/best-practices
| ✅ Include | ❌ Exclude |
|---|---|
| Bash commands Claude can't guess | Anything Claude can figure out by reading code |
| Code style rules that differ from defaults | Standard language conventions Claude already knows |
| Testing instructions and preferred test runners | Detailed API documentation (link to docs instead) |
| Repository etiquette (branch naming, PR conventions) | Information that changes frequently |
| Architectural decisions specific to your project | Long explanations or tutorials |
| Developer environment quirks (required env vars) | File-by-file descriptions of the codebase |
| Common gotchas or non-obvious behaviors | Self-evident practices like "write clean code" |
For journalism projects, translate to:
- Include: AP-style preferences that override defaults, "always cite source URLs," byline policy, embargo handling, source-protection invariants, CMS quirks (e.g., "story slugs must be unique across ALL desks, not just metro").
- Exclude: "We verify facts before publishing" (every journalist knows this), "use AP Style" without specifics (every journalism stack does this), framework documentation, generic git commands.
The deletion test
For every line you write, ask: "Would removing this cause Claude to make mistakes?" If not, cut it.
Size guidance: target under 200 lines
Anthropic's explicit guidance as of 2026: target under 200 lines per CLAUDE.md file. Longer files consume more context and reduce adherence. Bloated CLAUDE.md files cause Claude to ignore the actual rules. Source: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/best-practices
Going over 200 lines is a signal to use one of these instead:
.claude/rules/withpaths:frontmatter, file-pattern-scoped rules that load only when Claude works with matching files. Replaces@importchains as the size-management mechanism. (Note:@importsno longer help with context size, Anthropic explicitly notes that imports load fully at launch.)- Skills, for multi-step procedures that don't need to be in every session.
- Hooks, for deterministic enforcement.
Where to put CLAUDE.md files
CLAUDE.md location precedence (more specific wins). Source: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/memory
| Scope | Location | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| Managed policy | Linux/WSL: /etc/claude-code/CLAUDE.mdmacOS: /Library/Application Support/ClaudeCode/CLAUDE.mdWindows: C:\Program Files\ClaudeCode\CLAUDE.md | Org-wide standards (IT/DevOps managed; cannot be excluded by individual settings) |
| Project | ./CLAUDE.md OR ./.claude/CLAUDE.md | Team-shared instructions (check into git) |
| User | ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md | Personal preferences across all projects |
| Local | ./CLAUDE.local.md | Personal project-specific notes (add to .gitignore) |
The ./.claude/CLAUDE.md location and managed-policy tier are 2026 additions to Anthropic's documented locations. Templates that say "put this at project root" should mention ./.claude/CLAUDE.md as an equally valid location.
AGENTS.md interop
If your repo already has AGENTS.md for other coding agents (Cursor, Codex, etc.), don't duplicate the content. Anthropic's recommended pattern is @AGENTS.md import (or symlink) with Claude-specific overrides appended:
markdown@AGENTS.md ## Claude Code - Use plan mode for changes under `src/billing/`.
For journalism teams using multiple agents, this matters, shared editorial standards (AP-style preferences, source-handling invariants, fact-check protocols) belong to the org, not one agent.
Anti-patterns to warn about
Anthropic now names these explicitly. Source: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/best-practices and https://code.claude.com/docs/en/memory
- The over-specified CLAUDE.md. Bloat causes Claude to ignore real rules. If Claude keeps doing something despite a CLAUDE.md rule, the file is probably too long and the rule is getting lost.
- Conflicting instructions across nested CLAUDE.md files. Claude picks one arbitrarily. Review periodically to remove outdated rules.
- Hand-coded standard conventions Claude already knows. "Use proper indentation," "write clean code", delete.
- Detailed API docs / file-by-file descriptions / info that changes frequently. Link to the canonical source instead.
- Secrets in CLAUDE.md. It's checked into git. Use
CLAUDE.local.md(gitignored) for sandbox URLs, test credentials, personal overrides.
Minimum-viable CLAUDE.md (~6 lines)
Anthropic ships this as the canonical starter. Templates should default to something this short and grow only as needed:
markdown# Code style - Use ES modules (import/export) syntax, not CommonJS (require) - Destructure imports when possible # Workflow - Be sure to typecheck when you're done making a series of code changes - Prefer running single tests, and not the whole test suite, for performance
Each of the 6 journalism templates ships a sub-30-line "starter" variant alongside the fuller version. Adopt incrementally.
Auto memory is separate from CLAUDE.md
As of Claude Code v2.1.59+, there's a second memory mechanism alongside CLAUDE.md: auto memory, where Claude writes notes to itself in ~/.claude/projects/<project>/memory/ based on your corrections. The first 200 lines of that directory's MEMORY.md are loaded into every session. Source: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/memory
Practical implication for templates: don't ask the user to manually write down "things Claude learns over time", that's auto memory's job now. CLAUDE.md is for facts you write up front; auto memory is for things Claude notices.
Voice guidelines
- Direct and terse
- Like notes you'd leave for yourself
- No marketing language
- No "Welcome to..." introductions
- No "This project is..." padding
Example: good vs bad
Bad (too verbose, obvious):
markdown# CLAUDE.md ## Overview Welcome to our newsroom's story tracking system! This is a web application built with React and Node.js that helps editors and reporters collaborate on stories. ## Getting started First, make sure you have Node.js installed. Then: npm install npm start
Good (institutional knowledge only):
markdown# CLAUDE.md ## Overview Story tracker for metro desk. React + Supabase. ## Gotchas - Story slugs must be unique across ALL desks, not just metro - "Hold" status doesn't stop the autopublish cron, use "Kill" - Reporter dropdown caches for 1 hour; new hires won't appear ## Commands npm run sync-ap # Pull latest from AP, runs automatically at :15 ## Credentials Supabase key in 1Password "Metro Desk" vault, not .env
Journalism-specific templates
Templates are in the templates/ directory:
| Template | Use for |
|---|---|
editorial-tool.md | Newsroom tools, fact-checkers, AI assistants |
event-website.md | Conferences, workshops, campaign sites |
publication.md | Newsletters, podcasts, ongoing content series |
research-project.md | Investigations, data journalism with defined scope |
content-pipeline.md | CMS workflows, publishing automation |
digital-archive.md | Historical collections, document repositories |
Template selection guide
What are you building? ├── Tool for the newsroom → editorial-tool.md ├── Site for an event → event-website.md ├── Recurring content series → publication.md ├── One-time investigation → research-project.md ├── Publishing automation → content-pipeline.md └── Archive/preservation → digital-archive.md
How to use templates
- Copy the appropriate template to
./CLAUDE.mdOR./.claude/CLAUDE.mdat your project root - Fill in the bracketed placeholders with YOUR specifics
- Delete any sections that don't apply
- If your project uses other agents (Cursor, Codex), add
@AGENTS.mdat the top instead of duplicating shared content - Add project-specific gotchas as you discover them, but stay under 200 lines
- Move multi-step procedures to skills, deterministic enforcement to hooks
Last currency sweep
2026-05-09. Sources verified: code.claude.com/docs/en/memory, code.claude.com/docs/en/best-practices.
The best CLAUDE.md files are written by people who've been burned by the quirks they're documenting.
