Workspace Hygiene & .claudeignore

.claudeignore: same syntax as .gitignore

.claudeignore is placed at the project root and follows exactly the same syntax as .gitignore. The patterns it contains tell Claude Code which files and folders to exclude from its context exploration.

# Dependencies (heavy, useless for Claude)
node_modules/
.pnpm-store/
vendor/

# Secrets (essential protection)
.env
.env.*
*.pem
*.key
*credentials*

# Auto-generated (pure noise)
dist/
build/
.next/
coverage/
*.min.js

# Verbose logs
*.log
logs/

Why it matters

Claude Code indexes project files to provide context. Without .claudeignore, it may read thousands of files inside node_modules/ or 50 MB log files, which dilutes the quality of responses. Less noise in context means more precise answers and less token-expensive sessions.

.gitignore vs .claudeignore

Both files coexist and are independent. You may want Git to ignore a file that Claude should read, or the reverse.

Recommended .claude/ folder structure

.claude/
├── settings.json        # Team config (committed)
├── settings.local.json  # Local config (gitignore)
├── agents/              # Custom agents
├── commands/            # Slash commands
├── hooks/               # Automation scripts
├── rules/               # Auto-loaded conventions
└── memories/            # Manual memories

The agents/, commands/, hooks/, rules/ and skills/ folders are committed with the project. settings.local.json and CLAUDE.md (if personal) stay in .gitignore.

Clean workspace checklist

• node_modules/ in .claudeignore
• .env files excluded or outside the project directory
• Binaries and heavy assets ignored (*.png, *.pdf, dist/)
• Logs and generated files excluded
• settings.local.json in .gitignore