[BUG] `/memory` command creates a new CLAUDE.md file *and* also writes to `.gitignore` to ignore that file *without permission*

[hesreallyhim]

Environment

• Platform (select one):
  • Anthropic API
  • AWS Bedrock
  • Google Vertex AI
  • Other: Claude Code from VS-Code, also reproduced in Terminal (zsh).
• Claude CLI version: 0.2.55
• Operating System: 15.3.2
• Terminal: VS-Code Terminal, also reproduced in zsh.

Bug Description

I invoked the /memory slash-command, which opens a menu to select which CLAUDE file you want to edit (project, project local, or user/system). I selected an option which didn't exist yet, so Claude created it. It also wrote to my .gitignore to ignore the file. I guess the instructions kind of tell you that it's going to create a git-ignored file, but I did not expect this behavior. I think it would be clearer if you stated that the .gitignore file will be automatically updated/written-to without approval - this was totally confusing to me.

I just created a blank directory and started Claude. I immediately ran /memory and these are the options:

Project memory                 Checked in at ./CLAUDE.md                        │
│    Project memory (local)         Gitignored in ./CLAUDE.local.md                  │
│    User memory                    Saved in ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md  

The directory is not even a git repo (not git-initialized yet). So these options are definitely confusing/wrong.

Steps to Reproduce

Expected Behavior

Actual Behavior

Additional Context

[reverie]

If nothing else I think it's fair to say we shouldn't create .gitignore if the project isn't a git repo

[hesreallyhim]

Sorry, just to be clear, it didn't create a new .gitignore, but it wasn't clear to me that it was going to edit the existing .gitignore without asking permission to write.

EDIT: The language of "Checked in at..." and "gitignore at..." falsely implies there already is a git repo, e.g.

[reverie]

That makes sense! The intention of the .local.md is that it isn't checked in, but maybe we should communicate that better or prompt the user.

Thanks for the report @hesreallyhim ! We'll update this to be less confusing.

Out of curiosity, why did you choose the Project memory (local) option? What did you expect this selection to do?

[hesreallyhim]

@levpopov i guess i don't really know, i probably just wanted try it. It occurred to me later that the reasoning is that CLAUDE.md is for project/team-wide info/preferences, while CLAUDE.local.md is for personal/user info, which is why it would make sense to gitignore it. I glanced at the docs and I can see now that this is indeed documented. So I think this is a pretty minor complaint, I would just say that it might be nice to have an approval step before editing the .gitignore file since that specific part of it is not (clearly?) documented, so it sort of goes against the "rules" for someone who prefers that Claude doesn't write anything without explicit approval. E.g. if I'm working on a shared project, the .gitignore is probably going to be committed, and maybe that in itself is a decision I would like to have (explicit) control over. Like if I create a .claude/ folder, e.g., it isn't automatically gitignored, so automatically writing to .gitignore might seem a little too opinionated. But, in any case, I would not consider this a "BUG" since it is documented, and maintainers/owners can feel free to close this whenever they want, esp. in light of your last response. Thanks!

[hesreallyhim]

I guess maybe it's worth noting that Claude did hallucinate when I asked it how the .gitignore file got changed, and managed to talk itself into saying that it was because of the /init command. This is all in the actual bug report, but FWIW.

[github-actions]

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