The Index Trick
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The Index Trick
Here’s the problem with putting everything in CLAUDE.md: it becomes a wall of text that’s hard to update, hard to read, and slow to load. You end up with either a bloated file or a superficial one.
Reference files solve this. Your CLAUDE.md becomes an index. The detail lives elsewhere, called up only when Claude needs it.
## Reference Files (read on demand)
| File | Contents |
|------|----------|
| `~/.claude/TOOLS.md` | All tools and services I use |
| `~/.claude/PLATFORMS.md` | Platforms and accounts |
| `~/.claude/LINKS.md` | Canonical URLs for all projects |When Claude needs to reference a URL, it reads LINKS.md instead of guessing. When it needs to know what tools are available, it reads TOOLS.md instead of assuming. The reference files are the knowledge base. CLAUDE.md is the index.
This scales in a way a single file doesn’t. You can have a TOOLS.md with forty entries without cluttering your main instructions. You can add a new reference file for a new project area without touching the global config.