Settings Management

Manage configuration for coding agents.

IMPORTANT: After modifying settings, always inform the user that they need to restart the agent for changes to take effect. Most settings are only loaded at startup.

Settings File Locations

Scope	Location	Shared with team?
User	~/.claude/settings.json	No
Project	.claude/settings.json	Yes (committed)
Local	.claude/settings.local.json	No (gitignored)
Managed	System-level managed-settings.json	IT-deployed

Precedence (highest to lowest): Managed → Command line → Local → Project → User

Quick Actions

View Current Settings

cat ~/.claude/settings.json 2>/dev/null || echo "No user settings"
cat .claude/settings.json 2>/dev/null || echo "No project settings"
cat .claude/settings.local.json 2>/dev/null || echo "No local settings"

Create/Edit Settings

Use the Edit or Write tool to modify settings files. Always read existing content first to merge changes.

Common Configuration Tasks

Set Default Model

{
  "model": "claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"
}

Configure Permissions

{
  "permissions": {
    "allow": ["Bash(npm run:*)", "Bash(git:*)"],
    "deny": ["Read(.env)", "Read(.env.*)", "WebFetch"],
    "defaultMode": "allowEdits"
  }
}

Add Environment Variables

{
  "env": {
    "MY_VAR": "value",
    "CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TELEMETRY": "1"
  }
}

Enable Extended Thinking

{
  "alwaysThinkingEnabled": true
}

Configure Attribution

{
  "attribution": {
    "commit": "Generated with AI\n\nCo-Authored-By: AI <ai@example.com>",
    "pr": ""
  }
}

Configure Sandbox

{
  "sandbox": {
    "enabled": true,
    "autoAllowBashIfSandboxed": true,
    "excludedCommands": ["docker", "git"]
  }
}

Configure Hooks

{
  "hooks": {
    "PreToolUse": {
      "Bash": "echo 'Running command...'"
    }
  }
}

Scope Selection Guide

• User settings (~/.claude/settings.json): Personal preferences across all projects
• Project settings (.claude/settings.json): Team-shared settings, commit to git
• Local settings (.claude/settings.local.json): Personal project overrides, not committed

Workflow

1. Determine scope: Ask user which scope (user/project/local) if not specified
2. Read existing settings: Always read current file before modifying
3. Merge changes: Preserve existing settings, only modify requested keys
4. Validate JSON: Ensure valid JSON before writing
5. Confirm changes: Show user the final settings
6. Remind to restart: Tell user to restart Claude Code for changes to take effect

Codex CLI Settings

Codex uses TOML format in ~/.codex/config.toml (user) and .codex/config.toml (project).

model = "gpt-5.2-codex"
approval_policy = "on-request"    # untrusted | on-failure | on-request | never
sandbox_mode = "workspace-write"  # read-only | workspace-write | danger-full-access

Key differences from Claude Code:

• TOML format instead of JSON
• Starlark rules for command policies (.codex/rules/)
• Named profiles for different workflows
• Feature flags system (codex features list)

See references/codex-settings.md for full Codex config reference.

Reference

• Claude Code settings: references/claude-settings.md
• Codex CLI settings: references/codex-settings.md