Four local files to maintain Claude's context in long projects

A Reddit post outlines a method for managing long-term projects with Claude by using four local Markdown files as external memory. The approach addresses Claude's finite context window, where older messages are compressed and forgotten as conversations grow, potentially degrading output quality without obvious signs.

The four files

• claude.md: Contains project rules and guidelines for how you and Claude work together.
• memory.md: Records key facts and decisions made during the project.
• restart.md: Notes what you were doing and where you stopped in the workflow.
• backlog.md: Lists all remaining tasks.

Workflow

The core technique is to update these files proactively before the chat history becomes too long and compression significantly degrades information. Once compression begins, Claude is effectively summarizing already-summarized content. After updating the files, you start a fresh chat session, paste the contents of all four files into the new chat, and Claude can resume work with full context.

The post also includes a user suggestion for Anthropic: implementing a context window warning system, such as a progress bar or alert, to notify users when the context is nearing capacity, prompting them to save their external memory files.