Import Files into CLAUDE.md with the @filename Syntax

Writing a filename as plain text inside CLAUDE.md does nothing — Claude sees it as text, not as an instruction to load anything. To actually pull in the contents of another file, you need the @ import syntax.

In your CLAUDE.md, write this:

@AGENTS.md

That single line tells Claude Code to load AGENTS.md from your project root and include its contents in the active context. Plain text AGENTS.md does not do this.

You can verify the difference immediately: run /context to see exactly what files are loaded. Without the @ prefix, the file won't appear. With it, its contents show up in the list.

This is useful for splitting a growing CLAUDE.md into focused files. Keep high-level project context and conventions in CLAUDE.md, move agent-specific instructions or workflow steps into AGENTS.md (or any other file), then import with @AGENTS.md. The files stay readable and maintainable independently, but Claude gets everything merged into one context window.

You can import multiple files the same way — one @filename per line.

If you want a file loaded, you need the @ — just mentioning its name does nothing.

via @Z_Bra0