Feature Request: Allow project-scoped memory to be stored inside the repository for cross-device sync

[koreamanse]

Problem

Claude Code's memory system (~/.claude/projects/.../memory/) is stored in the user's home directory, making it local to a single machine. When users work across multiple devices, all accumulated memory — feedback corrections, workflow preferences, learned patterns — is lost on each new machine.

The current workaround is to put everything into CLAUDE.md, but this conflates two different concerns:

• Project rules (architecture decisions, coding conventions) — relevant to all contributors
• Personal interaction feedback ("don't summarize after every response", "always search recursively before saying a file doesn't exist") — relevant to how Claude works with me

Manual migration is also impractical

The memory directory name is derived from the absolute path of the working directory. For example:

• Machine A: C:\Projects\my-app → ~/.claude/projects/c--Projects-my-app/memory/
• Machine B: D:\dev\my-app → ~/.claude/projects/d--dev-my-app/memory/

Even if you manually copy the memory files, Claude won't recognize them because the directory name doesn't match. For it to work, you would need:

1. The exact same absolute project path on both machines
2. The exact same OS username (since ~ resolves differently)

This makes it virtually impossible to transfer memory between machines, even manually.

Why this matters more than it seems

1. Memory is Claude Code's compounding advantage — but only if it persists.

The whole point of memory is that Claude learns from mistakes and gets better over time. If a user corrects Claude on Machine A, that correction should apply on Machine B. Otherwise, the user has to re-teach the same lessons, which is exactly the frustration memory was designed to eliminate.

2. Multi-device development is not an edge case.

It's easy to assume developers work on a single machine, but consider:

• Home + office setups — many developers use a desktop at work and a laptop at home
• Team environments — shared workstations, pairing stations, conference room machines
• OS reinstalls / new machines — all memory is silently lost
• Cloud dev environments — Codespaces, remote SSH, ephemeral containers

3. The workaround degrades both use cases.

Forcing everything into CLAUDE.md means:

• Project-level CLAUDE.md gets bloated with personal preferences that other contributors don't need
• Personal feedback sits next to architectural docs
• Users must manually migrate rules between memory and CLAUDE.md, which is error-prone

Proposed solution

Allow memory files to optionally live inside the project repository, e.g.:

.claude/memory/
├── MEMORY.md          # index
├── feedback_search.md
├── user_preferences.md
└── ...

This is the same format as today's memory — just stored in .claude/ within the repo instead of ~/.claude/projects/. Since .claude/ is already a recognized project-level directory, this would be a natural extension.

Benefits:

• Memory syncs via Git — works across any machine that clones the repo
• Users can .gitignore it if they don't want it committed
• No changes needed to memory file format
• Backward compatible — existing ~/.claude/ memory continues to work

[github-actions]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. Feature request: Store project memory files in project-local .claude folder #25947
2. [FEATURE] Portable project memory across machines (multi-device workflow) #25739
3. [FEATURE] Configurable auto-memory storage location (memoryDirectory setting) #28276

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[giulio333]

I completely agree with this issue. I'm facing the exact same problem—it would be incredibly valuable to have a way to persist memories at the project level so they can be committed to version control and shared across the team.

Currently, memories are isolated to individual Claude sessions, which breaks collaboration. In a team environment, having shared project context (architectural decisions, setup instructions, common patterns, troubleshooting notes, etc.) would significantly improve efficiency and onboarding.

A few ideas on how this could work:

• A .claude/memories.json or similar file that can be checked into the repo
• A way to export/import memory snapshots between Claude sessions

This would be especially useful for:

• Onboarding new team members – shared context about the project structure and conventions
• Consistency across team workflows – everyone working from the same architectural understanding
• Continuity in long-running projects – context persists even when switching between developers or sessions

Would love to see this prioritized. It's a natural extension of the personal memory feature that would unlock real collaborative potential.

[yurukusa]

A UserPromptSubmit hook can load project-scoped memory from an in-repo directory:

MARKER="/tmp/cc-repo-memory-$$"
[ -f "$MARKER" ] && exit 0
touch "$MARKER"
MEMORY_DIR=".claude/memory"
[ -d "$MEMORY_DIR" ] || exit 0
CONTEXT="Project memory (synced via git):"
for f in "$MEMORY_DIR"/*.md; do
    [ -f "$f" ] || continue
    CONTEXT+="
--- $(basename "$f") ---
$(cat "$f")"
done
jq -n --arg ctx "$CONTEXT" '{"hookSpecificOutput":{"hookEventName":"UserPromptSubmit","additionalContext":$ctx}}'
exit 0

Structure:

.claude/memory/
├── architecture.md    # git-tracked, shared across devices
├── conventions.md     # team-wide coding standards
└── decisions.md       # architectural decisions

Add to .gitignore: nothing — these files are intentionally tracked for cross-device sync.

[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.