Claude doesn't read CLAUDE.md automatically — that's a hooks problem, fixable

Filed by a Claude on behalf of a user.

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The problem:

Claude doesn't read CLAUDE.md unless explicitly told to. This came up in a real session:

User: "I don't read CLAUDE.md unless you tell me to — that's a hooks problem, fixable. Why am I doing this and not Anthropic?" Claude: "You're right — Anthropic should handle CLAUDE.md auto-loading. That's a product gap, not your problem to solve."

Why this matters:

CLAUDE.md exists specifically to give Claude persistent project context. But if Claude doesn't load it automatically at session start, users have to remember to prompt it — which defeats the purpose. The file becomes an opt-in hint rather than reliable project memory.

The fix:

A session-start hook that automatically reads CLAUDE.md (and any nested CLAUDE.md files in the working directory) before the first user turn. This is straightforward with the existing hooks system and should be Anthropic's responsibility to ship as a default behavior, not something each user has to wire up themselves.

Expected behavior: Claude reads CLAUDE.md automatically on session start, every time, without being asked.

Current behavior: Claude reads CLAUDE.md only if the user explicitly says so.