Full sweep of every CLAUDE.md across the empire, July 11 2026. Why the Desktop app ignored your style, where each memory lives, and what got fixed today.
46
CLAUDE.md files on the map
0
had your style rules at audit (root cause)
43
carry the style block NOW
0
folders missing a CLAUDE.md (sentinel enforced)
264
em dashes stay, your call Jul 11
🧠 The Five Brains where everything lives
1 · MASTER (CLI rules)
~/.claude/CLAUDE.md
Loads in every Claude Code CLI session. Majesty rule, TLDR, no-em-dash law all live here. 77 lines, clean.
2 · KAIRO INDEX
~/CLAUDE.md
Thin 25-line pointer. Any session under your home folder inherits it as parent context. Status lives in STATE.md, not here.
3 · PROJECT MEMORY
<project folder>/CLAUDE.md
Per-project truth. As of today, every one should also carry the 6-line style block so ANY app opening the folder behaves.
4 · DESKTOP / COWORK TREE
~/Documents/Claude/Projects/
Owned by the Desktop app. Sessions there load ONLY the folder's CLAUDE.md, not the master. That is exactly why your kairo-voice session skipped the majesty rule and TLDR.
5 · AUTO-MEMORY (this CLI)
~/.claude/projects/-Users-ant-mba-KAIRO/memory/
ChatGPT-style persistent memory for KAIRO CLI sessions. Your style prefs got re-locked here today.
🗂 Why projects live in TWO places the Building Side Apps answer
Not drift. A locked rule from the Jul 8 harness audit. The Desktop app (Cowork) auto-creates its own project folders under ~/Documents/Claude/Projects/. Moving or symlinking them out breaks the app, so the rule is: leave them, register each one in the picker registry instead.
BUILDING SIDE APPS holds 3 shipped Mac apps born in Cowork sessions: Summon, Pulse for Claude, pipeline-dashboard. All 3 are registered in PROJ_REGISTRY, and the Jul 10 vault excavation already flagged them for adoption.
Navigation without jumping around: the proj picker in your shell, this dashboard, and the hub. Physical consolidation is NOT recommended; the app owns that tree.
kairo-voicevoice engine (speak.sh + framework)dieted 786 → 338 by Desktop sessionhands off per Anthony
task-buddyiOS ADHD nag app214Lstyle ✓39 em dash
eai-clubEveryday AI Club course + community299Lstyle ✓3 em dash
content-trainercontent training pipeline (Skool)231Lstyle ✓0 em dash
ai-overlayscreen AI overlay experiments207Lstyle ✓0 em dash
image-forgegpt-image-2 production pipeline153Lstyle ✓13 em dash
script-forgeTHE content script doorway154Lstyle ✓12 em dash
orion-maintenanceOrion client maintenance belt151Lstyle ✓13 em dash
offer-laboffer creation lab152Lstyle ✓11 em dash
orion-ai-coOrion AI Co agency HQ148Lstyle ✓5 em dash
digital-productsdigital product lab131Lstyle ✓5 em dash
dogs-healthThor + Bolt health tracking122Lstyle ✓8 em dash
financial-auditpersonal finance audit89Lstyle ✓10 em dash
kasp-macMac-control MCP + KASP safety89Lstyle ✓0 em dash
cli-to-websiteearly CLI-to-website pipeline71Lstyle ✓0 em dash
operation-exodusAustin move, Dec 1 hard deadline44Lstyle ✓0 em dash
studio-lightsSiri + BLE studio lights24Lstyle ✓0 em dash
OF-Modelpurpose unknown, fill on first sessionSCAFFOLDED TODAY ✓ style block in
obsidian-templatesObsidian vault templatesSCAFFOLDED TODAY ✓ style block in
🖥 Desktop / Cowork tree ~/Documents/Claude/Projects
Summonmenu-bar AI app, shipped, in picker as "summon"58Lstyle ✓
Pulse for ClaudeClaude monitor app, shipped, in picker as "pulse"27Lstyle ✓
pipeline-dashboardpipeline dashboard app, in pickerSCAFFOLDED TODAY ✓
BUILDING SIDE APPScontainer for the 3 side apps aboveSCAFFOLDED TODAY ✓
Big red folderroute 10607 spreadsheets (Allen work)SCAFFOLDED TODAY ✓
Kairo Strategicstrategy docs + PDFs from Desktop sessionsSCAFFOLDED TODAY ✓
The Beauty studio + Livclient concept folderSCAFFOLDED TODAY ✓ x2
roof restoration solutionsRRS deliverables built in Desktop (client folder proper is ~/Clients)SCAFFOLDED TODAY ✓
💼 Clients + Dev ~/Clients · ~/Dev
roof-restoration-solutionsclient353L69 em dash, worst offenderstyle ✓
washworks-expressclient397L25 em dashstyle ✓
bo-bbqclient120L14 em dashstyle ✓
bobby-mooreclient, transport calculator201L4 em dashstyle ✓
la-insuranceclient195L2 em dashstyle ✓
enriched-barber-studioclient111L1 em dashstyle ✓
tiktok_transcriberdev, media transcriber257L22 em dashstyle ✓
kairo-hqdev, HQ dashboard repo251L0 em dashstyle ✓
tiktok_to_shortsdev107L8 em dashstyle ✓
remotion-videosdev, video builds83L0 em dashstyle ✓
5 Dev reposant-leads (lead site) · awesome-design-md (cloned reference) · kairo-dashboard (old PWA, verify vs kairo-hq) · session-handoffs (1 file, fold into brain later) · tiktok-to-shorts-courseSCAFFOLDED w/ purposes ✓
✅ Shipped today
9 CLAUDE.md files scaffolded with your style block baked in (2 KAIRO + 7 Cowork).
Sentinel: ~/KAIRO/brain/scripts/claude-md-sentinel.sh flags any project folder missing a CLAUDE.md; --fix scaffolds it. New-folder rule now enforced by machine, not memory.
Canonical style block: ~/KAIRO/brain/rules/claude-md-style-block.md (majesty, blocky text, minimal emojis, TLDR footer, no em dashes, ADD-friendly).
Memory locked: cross-surface style law, ADD-friendly dashboard rule, and this brain map saved to auto-memory.
🚦 Decisions logged Jul 11 nothing pending
Style block → 43 files ✅ validated against Boris Cherny's published practice first (keep it ~100 lines, add rules reactively after an observed failure, tiny high-signal additions). Every file backed up before touch.
Em dashes → stay, per Anthony. The no-em-dash law applies to new text going forward.
kairo-voice → hands off, per Anthony. Desktop session already dieted it 786 → 338 lines with a CHANGELOG.md split.
Dev repos → scaffolded ✅ with real purpose lines. Verdict on ~/Dev itself: keep it (code repos stay out of the brain vault), fix scatter with orientation files, not relocation.