Why Your CLAUDE.md Files Need a Better Home
If you're using Claude Code, Cursor, or other AI coding tools, you've probably accumulated dozens of Markdown files. Here's why that's a problem — and how to fix it.
If you’re using AI coding assistants like Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or GitHub Copilot, you know the drill: every project needs context files. CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, README.md, project notes — the list grows.
The Problem
These files end up scattered:
~/projects/app-a/CLAUDE.md~/projects/app-b/.cursorrules~/work/client-x/notes/AGENTS.md~/dev/experiments/idea-1/README.md
Some are in Git repos. Some are in Dropbox. Some are just… somewhere on your laptop.
When you need to find that one note about the authentication pattern you figured out last month? Good luck.
Why This Matters
AI coding tools are only as good as the context you give them. But if you can’t find your own context files, you end up:
- Rewriting notes you’ve already written
- Losing insights from previous projects
- Duplicating effort across similar codebases
- Missing connections between related ideas
The strayfiles Approach
We built strayfiles because we had this exact problem. The solution isn’t another note-taking app that wants you to move everything into its system.
Instead, strayfiles:
- Indexes files where they are — no moving, no importing
- Adds a thin metadata layer — optional frontmatter that other tools ignore
- Creates virtual workspaces — organize without restructuring
- Syncs your way — Git, iCloud, Dropbox, or encrypted cloud
Your CLAUDE.md stays in your repo. Your notes stay in your notes folder. strayfiles just makes them findable.
Getting Started
The setup takes about 2 minutes:
# Add this to any Markdown file
---
strayfiles:
enabled: true
workspaces: ["ai-tools"]
---
Or configure at the project level:
# strayfiles.toml
version = 1
[settings]
roots = ["./docs", "./notes"]
exclude = ["node_modules/**"]
Then search across everything: workspace:ai-tools authentication pattern
The Bigger Picture
As AI coding tools become standard, the developers who maintain good context will ship faster. strayfiles is our bet on making that easy.
Your Markdown files. Everywhere. Finally organized.