What loads in a session

What loads in a session here shows every file Claude Code reads when a session starts in a project, in the order it reads them and how big each one is. It also shows the part of MEMORY.md that doesn’t load.

Open it

The card sits at the top of a project’s Memory tab. Click its title to fold it to one line, such as “Loads 5 files · 6.4 KB · MEMORY.md 186/200”. It opens the first time, then stays as you left it.

The load order

Claude Code reads these, in this order, at the start of every session in the project:

1. Your profile’s CLAUDE.md (~/.claude/CLAUDE.md for the built-in profile), then the files it imports with @path.
2. Your profile’s rules (rules/*.md).
3. The project’s CLAUDE.md (at the root, else .claude/CLAUDE.md) and its imports.
4. CLAUDE.local.md and its imports.
5. The project’s rules in .claude/rules/ that don’t have paths:.
6. The start of the project’s MEMORY.md.

The bar shows each file’s share of the total, and the legend lists them with their size. Click an entry to open that file. Rules side by side are grouped (“2 rules · 0.9 KB”).

The 200-line limit

Only the start of MEMORY.md loads: whole lines, up to 200 of them and 25 KB, whichever comes first. Claude doesn’t see the rest. Past the limit, the legend adds an item such as “14 lines not loaded” in red stripes, and the bar shows them the same way.

The other memory files don’t load at the start. Claude reads one when it needs it, through its line in MEMORY.md.

On demand

Some files load later, only when Claude needs them:

• Rules with paths: load when Claude works on matching files. They are listed last, as on demand, with their paths.
• CLAUDE.md files in subfolders load when Claude reads files there.
• Memory files load when Claude opens them.

The MEMORY.md meter

A meter shows how full MEMORY.md is, as “MEMORY.md 186 / 200”:

• in the header of Project memory on the Memory tab;
• on the Memory card of the project’s Overview tab;
• next to each project, and for your personal memory, in Settings › Memory.

It is green up to 179 lines, orange from 180, and red past 200. When it turns red, health suggests Tidy with Claude….

Pick a profile

With more than one Claude profile, a Claude profile menu in the card’s header picks whose load to show. Each profile has its own CLAUDE.md, rules and memory folder.

Note

Your personal memory loads through an import line in your profile’s CLAUDE.md, so it shows up in step 1.

Settings

The card has no settings. To load your personal memory in every project, use Add to Claude Code… in Settings › Memory.