Modo

Stop copying .claude/ folders between projects.

Modo is a CLI tool that lets you build reusable Claude Code config presets and compose them per-project. Apply multiple presets with one command — claude.md files get compiled with section headers, settings.json files get deep-merged so permission lists combine instead of overwrite.

modo apply swift-conventions testing-rules my-permissions

This creates .claude/claude.md (compiled with section headers) and .claude/settings.json (deep-merged — permission arrays are unioned, not overwritten).

Why

If you use Claude Code across multiple projects, you've probably:

• Copied the same .claude/ setup between repos
• Lost track of which project has which version of your rules
• Wanted different combinations of configs for different project types
• Had to manually merge permission lists when combining configs

Modo solves this. Build your configs once as presets, compose them per-project.

Install

Requires Swift 5.10+ (ships with Xcode 15.3+).

git clone https://github.com/lennacodes/modo.git
cd modo/modo
swift build -c release
cp .build/release/modo /usr/local/bin/modo

Usage

# Create presets
modo new swift-app --description "Swift/SwiftUI conventions" --tags swift,macos
modo new testing-rules --description "Testing standards"

# Edit their content
modo edit swift-app              # opens claude.md in $EDITOR
modo edit swift-app --settings   # opens settings.json

# Preview
modo show swift-app

# Apply to a project (composes multiple presets)
cd ~/code/my-project
modo apply swift-app testing-rules

# Apply to a specific directory
modo apply swift-app --to ~/code/other-project

# Preview without writing files
modo apply swift-app testing-rules --dry-run

How the merge works

claude.md — Each preset's content becomes a section. Markdown is preserved as-is.

## Swift App

You are working on a Swift/SwiftUI macOS app.
Use SwiftData for persistence.

---

## Testing Rules

Write unit tests for all new logic.
Keep test files next to source files.

settings.json — Deep-merged recursively:

Type	Strategy
String arrays	Union (no duplicates)
Dict arrays	Concatenated
Nested objects	Merged recursively
Scalars	Last preset wins

Preset A: {"permissions": {"allow": ["swift build"]}}
Preset B: {"permissions": {"allow": ["git push"]}}
Result:   {"permissions": {"allow": ["swift build", "git push"]}}

.gitignore — .claude/ is appended if not already present.

Backups — Re-applying to a project that already has .claude/ files automatically backs up the existing files to .bak before overwriting.

Sharing presets

modo export swift-app --to ~/Desktop    # creates swift-app.modopreset.zip
modo import swift-app.modopreset.zip    # adds to your preset library

All commands

Command	Description
modo new <name>	Create a preset
modo new <name> --from <path>	Create from an existing project's .claude/
modo edit <name>	Edit claude.md (--settings for settings.json, --folder for Finder)
modo list	List all presets
modo show <name>	Preview a preset
modo apply <presets...>	Compose and apply to current directory
modo apply <presets...> --to <path>	Apply to a specific directory
modo apply <presets...> --dry-run	Preview without writing
modo export <name>	Export as .modopreset.zip
modo import <file>	Import from .modopreset.zip
modo remove <name>	Delete a preset (--force to skip confirmation)

Storage

Presets live at ~/.config/modo/presets/. Each preset is a directory:

~/.config/modo/presets/swift-app/
├── preset.json      # metadata (name, description, tags)
├── claude.md        # instructions for Claude Code
└── settings.json    # permissions and hooks (optional)

Built with Claude Code

I'm a beginner developer and built Modo with the help of Claude Code. If you find bugs or want to contribute, issues and PRs are welcome!

Support

If you find Modo useful, buy me a coffee.

License

MIT