Add setting to prevent automatic .claude/ directory creation
Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jul 2, 2026 by teolupus
Currently, Claude Code automatically creates .claude/ directories in projects when certain features are initialized. I'd like the ability to opt out of this behavior globally, so that .claude/ directories are only created when explicitly requested.
Desired behavior
- A configuration setting (e.g.,
createProjectDirsAutomatically: false) in~/.claude/settings.jsonthat prevents automatic.claude/directory creation - Claude Code should only create project-level
.claude/configuration when the user explicitly requests it (e.g., via/initor similar commands)
Current behavior
.claude/ directories are created automatically in response to various Claude Code operations, with no way to globally prevent this.
Use cases
- Keep projects clean by only creating
.claude/directories when I have a specific need for project-level configuration (e.g., custom settings, hooks, or skills).
- Use vendor-neutral directories (like
.ai/) for AI-related files (instructions, skills, configurations) that can be leveraged by multiple LLM vendors, rather than having vendor-specific.claude/directories.