Claude Code Sync

Sync your Claude Code CLI config across machines with Syncthing. macOS, Linux, Windows.

Claude Code has no built-in sync (as of March 2026). This repo has a tested .stignore whitelist that syncs only the portable config files and skips runtime data.

What Syncs

Path	What
CLAUDE.md	Global instructions, loaded every conversation
skills/	Custom slash commands (/ship, /sync, etc.)
agents/	Subagent definitions
agent-memory/	Persistent subagent memory (user scope)
rules/	User-level rules applied before project rules
keybindings.json	Custom keybindings
memory/	Global memory files
commands/	Legacy commands (use skills/ instead)
projects/*/memory/	Per-project memory (MEMORY.md + topic files)
projects/*/CLAUDE.md	Per-project instructions
CLAUDE.md.bak-*	CLAUDE.md backups

What Does NOT Sync

Path	Why
settings.json	Per-machine plugins, env vars, MCP servers
settings.local.json	Per-machine permissions
.credentials.json	Auth tokens
history.jsonl	Session transcripts (large)
plans/, tasks/, todos/	Session-bound state
plugins/, teams/	Per-machine runtime
statusline.sh	OS-specific shell commands
cache/, debug/, downloads/	Runtime data
file-history/, backups/	Auto-generated snapshots
session-env/, shell-snapshots/	Ephemeral state
usage-data/, telemetry/	Analytics (can be huge)
ide/, chrome/, paste-cache/	Tool runtime
projects/**/*.jsonl, *.meta.json	Conversation logs
projects/**/subagents/, tool-results/	Subagent runtime

Setup

Prerequisites

• Syncthing on all machines
• Claude Code CLI on all machines

1. Copy .stignore to every machine

Put this at ~/.claude/.stignore. Syncthing does not sync its own .stignore, so you need to copy it manually to each machine.

A copy is in this repo: .stignore

// Syncthing ignore file for ~/.claude/
// Whitelist approach: first match wins.
// Both !/dir and !/dir/** are needed: the first un-ignores
// the directory itself, the second un-ignores its contents.
//
// SAFE to sync:
!/CLAUDE.md
!/CLAUDE.md.bak-*
!/skills
!/skills/**
!/agents
!/agents/**
!/agent-memory
!/agent-memory/**
!/keybindings.json
!/memory
!/memory/**
!/commands
!/commands/**
!/rules
!/rules/**
!/.stignore
//
// Block runtime data inside projects (must come before !/projects)
projects/**/*.jsonl
projects/**/*.meta.json
projects/**/subagents
projects/**/subagents/**
projects/**/tool-results
projects/**/tool-results/**
//
// Allow project memory and CLAUDE.md only
!/projects
!/projects/*
!/projects/*/memory
!/projects/*/memory/**
!/projects/*/CLAUDE.md
//
// Block everything else
*

The * at the bottom blocks everything not explicitly allowed. First match wins, so the project block rules must come before !/projects. New directories added by future Claude Code updates are blocked by default.

2. Add the folder in Syncthing

Open http://127.0.0.1:8384 and add a shared folder:

Setting	Value
Folder Label	Claude Code Sync
Folder ID	claude-code-sync
Folder Path	~/.claude (macOS/Linux) or C:\Users\<you>\.claude (Windows)
File Versioning	Staggered, 30 days
Ignore Delete	true
Ignore Permissions	true
File Pull Order	smallestFirst
Watch for Changes	true

On each additional machine:

1. Add the remote device
2. Accept the claude-code-sync folder, set path to ~/.claude
3. Set Ignore Delete to true
4. Set Staggered Versioning, 30 days
5. Copy .stignore to ~/.claude/.stignore

3. Verify

# macOS
API_KEY=$(grep apikey ~/Library/Application\ Support/Syncthing/config.xml | sed 's/.*>\(.*\)<.*/\1/')
curl -s -X POST -H "X-API-Key: $API_KEY" "http://127.0.0.1:8384/rest/db/scan?folder=claude-code-sync"

# Linux
API_KEY=$(grep apikey ~/.local/state/syncthing/config.xml | sed 's/.*>\(.*\)<.*/\1/')
curl -s -X POST -H "X-API-Key: $API_KEY" "http://127.0.0.1:8384/rest/db/scan?folder=claude-code-sync"

Check the other machine:

ls -la ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md
ls ~/.claude/skills/*/SKILL.md 2>/dev/null

:: Windows
if exist C:\Users\%USERNAME%\.claude\CLAUDE.md echo SYNCED

Key Settings

Ignore Delete

Set this to true on every device. If one machine's config gets wiped (Claude Code update, accidental delete), the others keep their copies. Without this, a delete on one machine cascades everywhere.

Staggered Versioning

Keeps timestamped backups of changed/deleted files in .stversions/ for 30 days.

ls ~/.claude/.stversions/
cp ~/.claude/.stversions/CLAUDE~20260307-080132.md ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md

Why settings.json is excluded

Each machine needs its own settings.json: plugins, env vars, status line commands, and MCP server configs all differ per OS and machine. Configure it separately everywhere.

CLAUDE.md Load Order

1. Managed policy (enterprise)
2. ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md (user-level, this is what we sync)
3. CLAUDE.md in project root (shared via git)
4. CLAUDE.local.md (git-ignored, per-machine overrides)

Project Memory: Cross-OS Caveat

Project memory paths are derived from absolute filesystem paths. The same repo gets different identifiers on different OSes (-Users-andrew-repos-myapp on macOS vs F--projects-myapp on Windows). Claude Code only reads the directory matching the local path.

Cross-OS project memory won't carry over automatically. Still worth syncing for:

• Same-OS machines with matching paths (works directly)
• Disaster recovery (rebuild a machine, memory is there)
• Manual reference across machines

Directory Layout

~/.claude/
├── CLAUDE.md                    SYNCED
├── .stignore                    MANUAL (copy to each machine)
├── keybindings.json             SYNCED
├── skills/                      SYNCED
│   ├── ship/SKILL.md
│   └── .../
├── agents/                      SYNCED
├── agent-memory/                SYNCED
├── rules/                       SYNCED
├── memory/                      SYNCED
├── commands/                    SYNCED (legacy)
├── projects/                    PARTIAL
│   └── <project>/
│       ├── memory/              SYNCED
│       ├── CLAUDE.md            SYNCED
│       ├── *.jsonl              blocked
│       └── subagents/           blocked
├── settings.json                blocked (per-machine)
├── settings.local.json          blocked (per-machine)
├── .credentials.json            blocked (secrets)
├── plans/                       blocked
├── tasks/                       blocked
├── plugins/                     blocked
├── cache/, debug/, ...          blocked
├── .stfolder/                   Syncthing marker
└── .stversions/                 Syncthing backups

Troubleshooting

Files not syncing: Check connections in the Syncthing UI. Verify .stignore is identical on all machines (it's not auto-synced). Trigger a rescan with the curl commands above.

Files deleted everywhere: Check .stversions/ for timestamped backups. Copy the file back and Syncthing will propagate it.

Sync conflict files: Files like settings.sync-conflict-*.json appear when two machines edit the same file. Safe to delete.

Windows: can't find .claude: It's hidden. Use dir /a or if exist C:\Users\<you>\.claude\NUL echo EXISTS.

Cross-OS Paths

OS	~/.claude	Syncthing Config
macOS	/Users/<you>/.claude	~/Library/Application Support/Syncthing/config.xml
Linux	/home/<you>/.claude	~/.local/state/syncthing/config.xml
Windows	C:\Users\<you>\.claude	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Syncthing\config.xml

Alternatives

Approach	Tradeoff
Syncthing (this repo)	Real-time, selective, P2P, encrypted. Needs Syncthing everywhere.
Dropbox/iCloud + symlinks	Simple but no selective sync, risk of corrupting runtime files.
CCMS	rsync over SSH. Manual, not real-time.
claude-code-config-sync	npm package. Extra dependency.
Git repo	Version controlled. Manual commit/push/pull.

Related

• Claude Insights Merge — Merge /insights data across multiple machines into a single combined report. Complements this tool: Sync handles config, Insights Merge handles analytics.

Security

• All transfers are TLS encrypted
• P2P by default. Relay servers are used as fallback but data is end-to-end encrypted (relay can't read it)
• .credentials.json and settings.local.json are blocked by the catch-all rule
• settings.json is excluded too (may contain MCP API keys)
• Check your CLAUDE.md for internal paths before making it public

License

MIT