Nested · Diagram Design

# The CLAUDE.md Hierarchy

How Claude Code composes context from every folder level above. Each outer ring is a broader scope; the innermost box is where the work happens — inheriting every instruction above it without a single import statement.

THE HEADLINE

### Containment is the config

Every CLAUDE.md inside a parent folder implicitly wraps the one below. No manifest, no import graph — the file tree itself declares scope, so renaming a folder is the only migration you'll ever run.

### Reads outside-in

- Global rules load first
- Each parent narrows context
- Innermost file gets the last word
- Conflicts resolve by specificity

### Five levels is the ceiling

Past five rings the diagram stops teaching — and so does the filesystem. If you need six levels of instruction, you probably need two projects instead.