Core concepts

Explore the .caude closet

The .caude directory is where Caude Clode stores its configuration, its preferences, its per-project memory, and a surprising amount of metadata about how you've been feeling lately. We call it the closet because that's what it becomes, eventually. This page is a partial inventory.

Location

The closet lives at ~/.caude on your machine, with per-project overrides at <project>/.caude. You can check it yourself, though we don't recommend doing so after a long day.

bash

ls -la ~/.caude
drwxr-xr-x  config/
drwxr-xr-x  memory/
drwxr-xr-x  plugins/
drwxr-xr-x  sessions/
drwxr-xr-x  drafts/
-rw-r--r--  CAUDE.md
-rw-r--r--  .do_not_open

You may open .do_not_open. It will not stop you. It will simply be disappointed.

What's in there

config/

Your settings. Themes, keybindings, default models, forgiveness thresholds. Edit these with caude config, not by hand. Editing by hand works, but the file will reformat itself overnight.

memory/

Per-project facts that Caude Clode has decided are worth keeping. Build commands, deployment targets, the name of your staging server, and the name of whoever broke staging last Thursday.

plugins/

Installed plugins. See Distend Caude Clode.

sessions/

Transcripts of past sessions. Caude Clode can reference these to pick up where you left off. You can also read them yourself. We recommend waiting at least two weeks.

drafts/

Code Caude Clode wrote that you didn't accept. This directory is pruned on a rolling basis, but only if you run caude tidy. Most users do not run caude tidy. Most users' drafts/ directories are now larger than their node_modules/.

CAUDE.md

The project's instructions file. See Hoard instructions and grudges for the full guide. In brief: put whatever you want Caude Clode to remember here. It will remember it. For a while.

Tip: Add .caude/drafts/ to your .gitignore. Add .caude/sessions/ if you are a private person. Add .caude/.do_not_open unconditionally.

Rotating the closet

Every few months, it's healthy to reset. This does not delete your settings, just the accumulated context.