How Claude Code Remembers Your Project: CLAUDE.md Layers, Imports, Rules, and Auto Memory
Every Claude Code session starts with a clean context window. Three memory mechanisms carry knowledge across sessions: CLAUDE.md files loaded every session, .claude/rules/ files that load conditionally via paths frontmatter, and auto memory Claude writes itself. All CLAUDE.md layers are concatenated into context — not inherited by override. This guide covers layer behavior, @path imports, monorepo strategies with nested CLAUDE.md, and sharing one instruction file across tools via @AGENTS.md.