[FEATURE] Feature request: CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable to control .claude/ directory location

[nvanwyen]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

Summary

Add support for a CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable (or similar mechanism) that allows users to specify a fixed location for the project-level .claude/ directory, regardless of
where claude is started from.

Motivation

Currently, the project-level .claude/ directory (containing settings.local.json, CLAUDE.md, etc.) is always created relative to the current working directory. This makes it
difficult to:

• Maintain a single, centralized configuration when working across many directories
• Avoid scattering .claude/ directories throughout the filesystem
• Use Claude Code from temporary or ephemeral directories while preserving settings

Proposed Solution

Proposed Solution

Support an environment variable like CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR that overrides the default project-level .claude/ path:

export CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR="$HOME/.config/claude-code"

When set, all project-level config files (settings.local.json, CLAUDE.md, rules, etc.) would be read from and written to this directory instead of ./.claude/.

Alternative Solutions

Alternatives Considered

• Symlinking .claude/ in each project directory (manual, error-prone)
• Using --settings flag (only adds settings, doesn't redirect the full config directory)
• Always starting Claude from the same directory (impractical)

Priority

Medium - Would be very helpful

Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

Use Case Example

No response

Additional Context

No response

[github-actions]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. Add environment variable to configure .claude config directory location #25762
2. [FEATURE] Allow configuring the .claude project directory location (store it outside the project root) #21779
3. Claude Code does not respect the XDG Base Directory specification #1455

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

• If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
• To prevent auto-closure, add a comment or 👎 this comment

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically closed as a duplicate of #25762.

If this is incorrect, please re-open this issue or create a new one.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.