CLAUDE.md grows 2 lines only for the 7 rules added

The author's starting problem was not that CLAUDE.md was long, but that he wrote a reason along with every rule, so the file grew to about 17 times its initial length after roughly 20 rewrites over about 3.5 days. His first two rebuilds moved text around without changing it: splitting content into .claude/rules/ files left rules sitting beside explanations of why they exist, and a table of files to read per task ended up with rows that were not task names, including rows pointing at plan files that move away once done.

What he found is that the mechanical act of splitting does not reduce load. Files in .claude/rules/ without a paths: header are read at the start of every session, just like CLAUDE.md, and files pulled in with @ are inserted at launch; only Markdown-linked files stay closed until Claude needs them. That is why he ended up with three sections — top-priority rules, rules, and a table of files to read per task — and pushed all explanation into the documents the table points to. He also chose the table over paths:-tagged rules because a rule like running a checklist before push is not tied to opening a file, so a paths:-based rule might never be read.

The author himself flags that his evidence is thin: only about two days have passed since the current shape, and he states plainly that he cannot yet say it has stayed slim over a long period. The bet, it seems, is that deciding a rule's home at the moment of adding it costs less than sorting out a bloated file later — and that whether it holds will show in whether the two-line growth holds as the count of rules climbs.