Q
How long should CLAUDE.md be?
As short as honesty allows: only non-inferable constraints. If it exceeds a page, move workflows to on-demand skills and history to memory.
Glossary · CLAUDE.md
CLAUDE.md.
Claude Code's standing orders.
Direct answer
CLAUDE.md is the auto-loaded instruction file Claude Code reads at session start and preserves across compaction: project rules, architecture notes, commands. Treat it like code (versioned, reviewed, tested by observing behavior shifts) and keep it short, since bloated files get ignored and every line re-bills each turn. Durable facts live here; accumulating session knowledge belongs in a memory layer, not a growing markdown file.
In Anvaya
How We Implement It.
01CLAUDE.mdAnvaya respects CLAUDE.md as the Write layer and adds the memory layer beneath: weighted, decaying, drift-checked nodes served under budget.
Questions
Asked About CLAUDE.md.
Q
Why do agents ignore long instruction files?
Attention dilution plus lost-in-the-middle: rules sandwiched between file dumps read as background noise. Front-load, repeat critical constraints at the end.
Q
Does it survive compaction?
Yes, auto-loaded files persist across compaction, unlike one-off prompts. Another reason to keep them curated.
Run Agents That Fit On Your Laptop.
25.6 MB median RSS. 25 agents ran in parallel on a Core 2 Duo with 4 GB RAM. Hundreds on your machine. Zero cloud required on the Ollama path.
Requires Rust/cargo to build from source. Linux and macOS today, Windows not yet supported. Pre-1.0, public beta. Pricing TBD.