Support shared memory across multiple projects (not just global or per-project)

[Deluvio]

Problem

Claude Code's auto-memory system currently has two levels:

1. Global (~/.claude/CLAUDE.md) — applies to every project
2. Project-specific (~/.claude/projects/<path>/memory/) — scoped to a single project directory

There is no way to share memory across a subset of projects. In practice, a lot of knowledge is relevant to multiple (but not all) projects — e.g. shared infrastructure, team conventions, API configurations, deployment patterns, or organizational context that spans several repos.

Current workaround

Duplicating memory entries across project-specific memory directories, or putting everything into global CLAUDE.md even when it only applies to a few projects. Both approaches are fragile and lead to stale or noisy memory.

Proposed solution

Introduce a shared memory directory that can be referenced by multiple projects. For example:

• A configurable list of shared memory paths per project (in .claude/settings.json or CLAUDE.md)
• Or named memory namespaces (e.g. ~/.claude/shared-memory/<namespace>/) that projects can opt into

Example configuration:

{
  "memory": {
    "shared": ["~/.claude/shared-memory/sediwork"]
  }
}

This would allow memories like "Jira project key is SDW", "Bitbucket repo is kupuhealth/frontend", or "team uses pnpm in frontend, npm in backend" to live in one place and be available to all related projects — without polluting the global scope.

[yurukusa]

A UserPromptSubmit hook can inject shared context from a common location into any project:

SHARED_DIR="$HOME/.claude/shared-memory"
[ -d "$SHARED_DIR" ] || exit 0
CONTEXT=""
for f in "$SHARED_DIR"/*.md; do
    [ -f "$f" ] || continue
    CONTEXT+="$(cat "$f")
"
done
[ -z "$CONTEXT" ] && exit 0
jq -n --arg ctx "$CONTEXT" '{
  "hookSpecificOutput": {
    "hookEventName": "UserPromptSubmit",
    "additionalContext": $ctx
  }
}'
exit 0

Add to global ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "hooks": {
    "UserPromptSubmit": [{
      "matcher": "",
      "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "bash ~/.claude/hooks/shared-memory-loader.sh" }]
    }]
  }
}

Then organize shared memory by topic:

~/.claude/shared-memory/
├── team-conventions.md      # coding standards shared across all repos
├── infra-patterns.md        # deployment/infrastructure knowledge
├── api-configs.md           # shared API endpoints and auth patterns
└── org-context.md           # organizational decisions and context

For subset sharing (e.g., only frontend projects), add a project filter:

if [ -f "./package.json" ]; then
    for f in "$HOME/.claude/shared-memory/frontend"/*.md; do
        [ -f "$f" ] && CONTEXT+="$(cat "$f")
"
    done
fi

This gives you the missing middle layer: global memory for everything, shared-memory directories for project groups, and project-specific memory for individual repos.

[LewenW]

Built a plugin for this: claude-memory-bridge

It adds a namespace layer between global and project memory at ~/.claude/shared-memory/<namespace>/. Projects subscribe to namespaces, so you can share conventions across related projects without polluting global scope.

Works with Claude Code CLI and Cowork desktop. MCP server over stdio, no database — reads/writes Claude's native memory format directly.

Would love feedback if anyone tries it out! Issues and suggestions welcome 🙏

[johnwbest]

The problem is very real, and your solution is great for high level users. That said, if a non-programmer is using regular Claude AI, it seems a "simple" tagging feature would be also useful. Many projects have nothing to do with coding.