| name | claude-md-budget |
| description | How to keep CLAUDE.md under its character Floor without deleting a rule: measure sections first, rotate by derivability, two edits per rotation. Load in /release step 6 and before any CLAUDE.md rotation or split. |
CLAUDE.md budget
Authority: CLAUDE.md Maintenance Practice 5 (the whole forensic record),
tests/test_claude_md_size.py, tests/test_claude_md_rotation.py,
tests/test_key_files_split.py, tests/test_cli_env_split.py;
the Floor is claude_md.max_chars (uv run python -m harness check claude_md.max_chars).
- Measure sections by heading and sort by size BEFORE choosing what
to rotate; twice the answer was a section nobody suspected.
- A rotation is TWO edits: the release moves out of Current State AND
the "Older releases (X and earlier)" boundary moves; the rotation test
fails naming both numbers.
- What is derivable leaves, what is not stays: a description
jcodemunch can answer live goes to
KEY-FILES.md / CLI-AND-ENV.md;
a prohibition, a constraint whose violation causes a defect, or a
rationale stays. Adding a name to the split tests' rationale lists to
buy budget is the thing the split exists to stop.
- Rotated text goes to
ISSUE-HISTORY.md verbatim; ask what lesson
it earned and put that one line in Standing lessons.
- The target must be tracked:
git check-ignore the path before
writing (docs/* is ignored; docs/standard/, docs/harness/,
docs/cicd/, docs/workflows/ are re-included).
- Never raise the Floor to make room; never delete a warning-marked rule.
