[FEATURE] settings.local.json for ~/.claude global settings

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

I want to be able to keep some settings in sync via my dotfiles between my home machine, work machine and remote server.

But it's currently impossible because there is no equivalent of <project>/.claude/settings.local.json that can be potentially gitignored and is merged on the Claude Code CLI session.

Proposed Solution

I'd like to be able to have 2 files in my ~/.claude directory: settings.json (current) and settings.local.json (new suggestion) - when claude session starts, merge the 2 files into a single one for the current run (the same way it works for project-scoped setting files)

This will allow to add current-machine-only settings for claude, while also maintaining a (potentially synced) more generalized settings file that can be shared between multiple setups.

Alternative Solutions

_No response_

Priority

Medium - Would be very helpful

Feature Category

Configuration and settings

Use Case Example

Example scanario

• I have a .dotfiles repo which contains my shared setup across 3 machines (home, work, server)
• Some settings I would like shared between all of them - e.g. attribution, auto mode prompt skip, effortLevel, tui type, etc
• Some settings I would like set up per machine - work-only skills, marketplaces, plugins; while retaining the global settings

Additional Context

_No response_