[FEATURE] Setting to disable plan file creation
Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Jan 16, 2026 by thielm Closed Feb 27, 2026
Use Case
Teams using enterprise task/planning management systems (Jira, Azure DevOps, internal tools) don't need Claude Code's local plan files. These files:
- Have random names (e.g.,
purrfect-weaving-globe.md) with no relation to actual task identifiers - Are local-only - can't be shared across team members or synced with enterprise systems
- Conflict with existing workflows - teams may already have plan templates, approval processes, and tracking in their task management system
- Create clutter - accumulate in
~/.claude/plans/with no automatic cleanup
Current Behavior
- Plan mode always creates files in
~/.claude/plans/(orplansDirectoryin v2.1.9+) - No way to disable file creation entirely
plansDirectoryonly redirects, doesn't disable
Requested Feature
Add a setting to completely disable plan file creation:
Option 1: Settings.json
{
"planFilesEnabled": false
}
Option 2: Environment Variable
export CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_PLAN_FILES=1
Expected Behavior
When disabled:
- Plan mode still works (read-only exploration, design discussions)
- Claude's plan content shown in terminal output
- No files written to disk
- Users can copy plan content to their own task system if needed
Workaround Attempted
Setting ~/.claude/plans to read-only - behavior unknown, may cause errors.
Environment
- Platform: Linux (WSL2)
- Using internal task management system for all planning
- Multiple developers on team
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