# Navigating Claude Code: CLAUDE.md Done Right > [!question] Lingering Questions > - The article's file-hierarchy and import mechanics are version-specific — verify against current docs. > - "A static CLAUDE.md decays" is asserted, not measured — what's the actual failure signature of a stale CLAUDE.md (wrong commands, contradicted architecture, or something else)? > [!tip] Article Ideas > - Directly actionable as a personal/project audit: classify every existing CLAUDE.md line as constraint, architecture note, command, or removable generic advice (the article's own suggested exercise). > [!link] Cross Reference > - Part 3 of Oleg Efimov's 10-article HackerNoon series; see [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Navigating Claude Code - The Full Workflow]] for series context. > - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Capable Models Need Fewer Constraints Not More]] — same underlying move (trim the always-loaded instruction surface, push detail to what's fetched on demand) from a different source about system prompts rather than CLAUDE.md specifically > [!quote] Vocabulary > - **Import** — Claude Code's mechanism for pulling in scoped instruction files at the narrowest useful directory level, rather than one flat top-level CLAUDE.md ## Bibliographic capsule Article, HackerNoon, 2026-08-04. Third installment of Oleg Efimov's Claude Code series. ## Author's thesis (Adler Q1+Q2) **What is the article about?** What belongs in a CLAUDE.md file and what doesn't, and how to keep it useful as a repository evolves. **What is being argued?** CLAUDE.md should hold durable, non-obvious operational context — commands, architectural exceptions, recurring gotchas — loaded at the narrowest useful scope via the file hierarchy and imports; generic advice should be deleted, and hard enforcement belongs outside the file entirely. A fixed line-count threshold is offered as a heuristic, not a quality measure. ## Key arguments (≤3) 1. **Use the file hierarchy and imports to load context narrowly** — don't put everything in one top-level file; scope instructions to the directory where they're actually relevant. 2. **Keep only non-obvious, durable content** — commands, architectural exceptions, recurring gotchas stay; generic software-engineering advice gets deleted. 3. **Review and prune as the repository changes** — a CLAUDE.md that isn't actively maintained decays into noise or contradiction. ## Claim atoms ### Use the file hierarchy and imports to load context at the narrowest useful scope > [!quote] ID:rw_01kz7st0egggffg28jxgc4cnt4 > For every line in CLAUDE.md Where/why: opens the article's central sorting exercise (what earns a line). ### Keep commands, architectural exceptions, and recurring gotchas; delete generic advice > [!quote] ID:rw_01kz7st1fp10yh1akqbvgann4x > Hard stops belong Where/why: draws the line between what CLAUDE.md should hold and what belongs in a hook instead. ### Review and prune instructions as the repository changes > [!quote] ID:rw_01kz7st2gpz0hhq3g3f6d01nzm > A static CLAUDE.md decays Where/why: the article's maintenance argument — closes the piece. ## Permanent candidates - **A durable-context file needs active pruning to stay useful, not just careful initial writing** — genuine, distinct claim from this article (the "decays" argument), separate from the series' duplicated generic candidate. ## Processing checklist - [x] Checked for an existing Permanent note on the generic series candidate — exists, linked rather than duplicated - [x] Created a new Permanent note for this article's distinct maintenance claim - [x] Connect into the relevant MOC — [[3. Resources/MOCs/AI & the Future of Knowledge Work MOC]] ## Links - [[3. Resources/MOCs/AI & the Future of Knowledge Work MOC]] — developer-tooling configuration practice for agentic coding - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/A Control Is Enforceable Only When the Actor Cannot Reclassify It]] — because applies-in; this article's "hard stops belong [elsewhere]" line is the same advisory-vs-enforced boundary applied to CLAUDE.md specifically - Metadata: [[3. Resources/Readwise/Articles/Navigating Claude Code CLAUDE.md Done Right|Navigating Claude Code - CLAUDE.md Done Right]]