Why It Keeps Forgetting
Today you tell it "no frameworks, just one html file". Tomorrow you relaunch and it installs a pile of stuff again. It's not dumb. Every launch is a brand-new conversation, and it doesn't remember what you said yesterday.
The fix is a CLAUDE.md file in your project folder. It reads this file first on every launch and treats the rules inside as the default assumptions.
What a Minimal CLAUDE.md Looks Like
Type /init in Claude Code and it will scan your project and generate a first draft. Then check and fill in these three sections: tech stack, common commands, hard rules.
# 待办清单网页
## 技术栈
- 单个 index.html，原生 HTML/CSS/JS，不引入任何框架和外部库
- 数据存浏览器 localStorage
## 怎么跑
- 直接用浏览器打开 index.html
- 改完先在手机竖屏（或窄窗口）看一遍
## 红线
- 不要新增文件，所有代码留在 index.html 里
- 界面文字全部中文
- 改功能前先说明会动哪些部分，等我确认
## 这次不做
- 登录、多用户、云同步What to Write, and What Not To
The test in one sentence: if it's still true a month from now, write it. If it only applies today, don't.
- ✅ "All UI text in Chinese": still true in a month.
- ✅ "Explain the scope of a change and wait for my confirmation before editing": a stable way of working together.
- ❌ "Finish the delete button today": expires tomorrow, and will mislead it if left in.
- ❌ Pasting in the whole requirements document: too long, it has to read it every time, and the important parts drown.
自测 · 学完检查一下
想真正动手做题、记进度、攒连胜？到互动课里练。
Every time Zhao launches Claude Code he has to say again "UI in Chinese, no external libraries". What's the real fix?
答案：Write both rules into the project's CLAUDE.md, which it reads automatically on every launch
Stable, unchanging rules belong in CLAUDE.md. Copy-pasting is doing by hand what a file should do. Switching models doesn't fix the mechanism of "a new conversation has no memory". Never closing the terminal isn't realistic, and a conversation that runs too long makes it more likely to drift anyway.
What are the three sections a minimal usable CLAUDE.md must have?
答案：Tech stack, how to run it (common commands), hard rules
These three answer the three questions it asks most: what to build with, how to verify, and what not to touch. Task lists are temporary and don't belong here. It reads the code itself, so there's no need to copy it in.
Which of these least belongs in CLAUDE.md?
答案："Finish the Excel export feature by this Wednesday"
That's a task with a deadline, expired by next week. Putting it among long-term rules only confuses it. The amount unit, the test command, and the protected directory are all rules that still hold a month from now, which is exactly what CLAUDE.md is for.
True or false: to give the AI the fullest picture, you should paste the entire 30-page requirements document into CLAUDE.md.
答案：False
It has to read all of CLAUDE.md on every launch, and 30 pages will drown a key rule like "don't add new files". Keep the requirements in a separate file and write one line in CLAUDE.md: "Requirements are in docs/requirements.md; read the relevant section before building a feature".
Liu's CLAUDE.md only has the tech stack. Every time the AI finishes editing it just says "done", and he has to guess how to verify. Which section should he add?
答案："How to run": spell out how to open it and the verification steps, and it will self-test the same way when done
If it doesn't know how to verify, all it can say is "done". Write in "open index.html in a browser, check in phone portrait mode" and it will run through that itself after each change, catching the obvious problems before they reach you.