Settings file changes should take effect without restarting

[plantoeat]

Feature Request

When updating .claude/settings.local.json (or other settings files) during a session — for example, adding new permission rules — the changes don't take effect until Claude Code is restarted.

This is painful when iteratively granting permissions: you allow a command, Claude prompts you, you add it to the allow list, but Claude still prompts because it loaded the settings at session start.

Expected Behavior

Settings file changes (especially permission rules) should be picked up automatically during a session, either via file watching or by re-reading the file before each permission check.

Current Workaround

Restart Claude Code after every settings change.

[yurukusa]

A PostToolUse hook can detect settings changes and suggest reload:

FILE=$(cat | jq -r '.tool_input.file_path // empty' 2>/dev/null)
if echo "$FILE" | grep -qE '(settings\.json|settings\.local\.json|\.claude/CLAUDE\.md)'; then
    echo "⚠️ Settings file modified: $FILE" >&2
    echo "  Changes take effect on next session start. Consider /clear or restart." >&2
fi
exit 0

For hooks specifically, you can implement hot-reload by having hooks read from config files on each invocation rather than caching:

CONFIG="$HOME/.claude/my-hook-config.json"
BLOCK_PATTERNS=$(jq -r '.block_patterns[]' "$CONFIG" 2>/dev/null)

[github-actions]

Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.

[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.