Glossary

CLAUDE.md

The project-memory file Claude Code reads at the start of every session. It is how your agent walks in already briefed instead of starting from zero.

What it is

A plain text file named CLAUDE.md that sits at the top of a project folder. When you start Claude Code in that folder, it reads the file before you type a single word: what the business sells, who the customers are, where the important files live, how you like things written, which rules it must never break. There is nothing technical about it. It is a markdown file, which means you can open it, read it, and edit it like any note on your computer.

Why you should care as a CEO

Without it, every session starts with you re-pasting the same three paragraphs of context: company, customers, tone, constraints. With it, you write the briefing once and every future session starts already knowing your business, including the sessions your routines run overnight while nobody is at the desk. It is the difference between onboarding a new contractor every single morning and working with someone who has been on staff for a year.

When you'll encounter it

The first time anyone shows you Claude Code. In setup guides for agents and routines. In any project folder a technical hire has touched. A good first week with Claude Code is mostly spent getting this one file right, and the payoff shows up in every session after.

Example

Andrew's Headphones.com folder carries a CLAUDE.md with the product lines, the support-reply tone, and the location of the sales exports. He types a one-line question, "how did the flagship do last week," and the answer comes back grounded in his business with zero setup paragraphs. The file took twenty minutes to write. It pays that back every session since.