claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix CLAUDE.md not loaded when vault path differs from session cwd — no warning, no override setting [1 comments, 2 participants]

User has a vault at /Users/[user]/Documents/Obsidian Cloud/ containing CLAUDE.md with session-start instructions, context files, and skill definitions. Session cwd was a different directory. CLAUDE.md was never loaded. No error, no warning — silent failure.

TL;DR

To fix the silent failure of CLAUDE.md loading, consider adding a user-level setting to declare a persistent vault path or implement a warning when Claude Code starts without finding any CLAUDE.md.

Guidance

• Investigate the feasibility of introducing a vault_path setting in ~/.claude/settings.json to allow users to specify the location of their CLAUDE.md file.
• Consider adding a warning mechanism to notify users when Claude Code starts without finding a CLAUDE.md file, prompting them to confirm if this is intentional.
• Review the current directory traversal logic to understand why CLAUDE.md is not being loaded from the vault directory when the session cwd differs.
• Evaluate the potential impact of changing the default behavior to load CLAUDE.md from the vault directory instead of the session cwd.

Example

No code snippet is provided as the issue does not contain sufficient technical details to create a accurate example.

Notes

The proposed solution relies on the assumption that introducing a user-level setting or warning mechanism is feasible and aligns with the existing architecture of Claude Code. Further investigation is required to determine the best approach.

Recommendation

Apply a workaround by always launching Claude Code from the vault root directory until a permanent solution is implemented, as this ensures CLAUDE.md is loaded correctly.