CLAUDE.md Condensation

Deduplicate and consolidate CLAUDE.md memory files to remove redundancy.

Workflow

Phase 1: Discovery

Find all CLAUDE.md files:

python ../reflect/scripts/find_claude_md.py

Read all discovered files and analyze for:

1. Intra-file duplication (same instruction repeated within a file)
2. Cross-file duplication (same instruction in multiple files)
3. Misplaced instructions (subdirectory files containing project-wide content)

Phase 2: Analysis

Intra-file duplication:

• Identify repeated bullet points or instructions
• Find semantically similar content (different wording, same meaning)

Cross-file duplication:

• Root CLAUDE.md should contain project-wide instructions
• Subdirectory CLAUDE.md should only contain directory-specific instructions
• If an instruction appears in both root and subdirectory, keep only in root
• If an instruction in subdirectory applies to whole project, move to root

Misplaced instructions:

• Subdirectory file contains instructions that apply project-wide → move to root
• Root file contains instructions only relevant to one directory → move to subdirectory

Phase 3: Interaction

Present findings using AskUserQuestion with checkboxes.

For each issue found:

1. Show the duplicated or misplaced content
2. Identify which files are affected
3. Propose the consolidation (delete, move, or merge)

Example:

Issue: "Use 2-space indentation" appears in both ./CLAUDE.md and ./src/CLAUDE.md
Proposal: Remove from ./src/CLAUDE.md (already covered by root)

Wait for user approval before implementing.

Phase 4: Implementation

For approved changes:

1. Remove duplicates - Delete redundant entries, keeping the most appropriate location
2. Move misplaced content - Transfer instructions to correct hierarchy level
3. Merge similar items - Combine semantically similar instructions into one

Hierarchy rules:

• ./CLAUDE.md - Project-wide instructions (highest priority)
• ./.claude/rules/*.md - Topic-specific rules (modular)
• ./subdir/CLAUDE.md - Only instructions specific to that subdirectory
• ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md - Personal preferences across all projects
• ./CLAUDE.local.md - Personal project-specific (not shared)

Resources

Uses shared resources from the reflect skill:

• ../reflect/scripts/find_claude_md.py - Locate all CLAUDE.md files
• ../reflect/references/memory-locations.md - Memory hierarchy details
• ../reflect/references/anti-patterns.md - What to avoid when writing instructions