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Decide what you need to recover
“Back up Claude Code” can mean several different things. A new-machine migration calls for a broader inventory than undoing an accidental edit to a project instruction file. Session continuity is another goal: Claude Code supports continuing the latest conversation or resuming a session by ID, but those commands are not a full machine backup.
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- Project recovery: restore project files, shared instructions, and project-level configuration.
- Personal setup recovery: restore user-level instructions and settings you maintain.
- Organization recovery: identify centrally managed policy and deployment details that an administrator controls.
- Session continuity: use Claude Code’s supported continue or resume workflow where available, without assuming that copied files recreate all context or dependencies.
Set your own backup interval and retention based on how often your setup changes and how much work you can afford to lose. The available documentation does not establish a universal schedule, retention period, storage requirement, or restore-time target.
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Project instructions and settings
Claude Code documentation identifies ./CLAUDE.md as shared project memory. Keep project instructions and other appropriate project configuration in the team’s normal version-control process so collaborators can retrieve the same context. Review local-only and ignored files separately; do not add secrets or private material to a shared repository just because it is part of your working setup. The memory documentation also describes imported instruction files, so include those referenced files in your inventory if the project depends on them. Anthropic’s memory documentation describes project and user memory and imported instructions.
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User-level instructions and configuration
The same documentation identifies ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md as user memory. It is distinct from project-shared instructions: a project repository will not necessarily contain your personal setup. Record which user-level files and settings you rely on, and protect any copy according to its contents and your organization’s rules.
MCP configuration and integrations
MCP configuration can have user, project, or local scope. Note which scope each integration uses and preserve the corresponding configuration through an approved method. A project-shared configuration should not become a place to publish credentials or other secrets. See Anthropic’s MCP documentation for the documented scopes.
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Organization-managed policy and network setup
Managed settings may be deployed by an organization and take precedence over user or project settings. A personal backup should not be assumed to capture them; ask an administrator how policy is distributed and how to obtain it on a replacement machine. The cited IAM page is localized and its platform-specific details may change, so confirm current paths and procedures with your administrator or current official documentation rather than relying on an old path copied from a backup note. Anthropic’s IAM documentation describes managed settings and their precedence.
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Gateways, proxies, endpoints, certificates, and environment configuration can also be operational dependencies. Document the necessary non-secret setup in an appropriately protected runbook, and keep sensitive values out of an unprotected archive. Anthropic’s gateway documentation and proxy documentation cover these configurations. The gateway page specifically says Anthropic does not endorse, maintain, or audit LiteLLM’s security or functionality.
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Back up the setup without exposing secrets
- Write down the recovery goal. Specify whether you are preparing for device loss, recovering project context, undoing edits, or preserving session continuity. This determines what to include.
- Separate shared, personal, and managed state. Inventory project instructions and settings, user-level instructions and settings, MCP scopes, imported files, and organization-managed policy. Mark which items you can restore yourself and which require an administrator.
- Use version control for suitable project files. Keep team-relevant instructions and configuration with the project if that matches your team’s practices. Review ignored and local-only files deliberately; exclude credentials and private data from shared repositories.
- Make a separate protected copy. A second copy on an external drive can help if the working device fails. An off-site copy can help with device loss, but consider access controls, encryption, retention, and how you would restore it. Sync is convenient, but it can also spread sensitive transcripts or configuration to another account or service.
- Handle credentials through approved authentication. Anthropic says Claude Code securely stores credentials, but the cited setup guidance does not establish a universal credential export/import procedure. Do not copy credential databases or raw tokens into source control, cloud sync, or an archive unless current official instructions explicitly support that method. Reauthenticate through the approved flow when needed. See Anthropic’s setup documentation.
- Record external dependencies safely. Note required integration names, endpoints, certificate locations, and setup steps in a protected operational record. Keep secrets in an approved secret-management process rather than in ordinary backup files.
Understand what session continuation does—and does not—prove
The CLI reference documents claude -c (or --continue) to continue the most recent conversation and claude -r (or --resume) to resume by session ID. Those are supported continuation workflows, not evidence that copying a transcript or configuration reconstructs the entire machine, runtime context, project state, or external dependencies. The official CLI reference does not establish a transcript filesystem path or retention period here, so avoid building a backup plan around an assumed path or duration. Consult the current Claude Code CLI reference for command behavior.
Test a restore before relying on the backup
- Choose a separate machine, clean environment, or safe test location rather than overwriting your working setup.
- Restore project files and the relevant project and user instructions from their respective copies.
- Confirm that organization-managed policy is available through the administrator’s process, and configure MCP integrations and network dependencies using approved instructions.
- Authenticate through the approved flow; do not treat a restored configuration file as proof that account access or credentials have been recovered.
- Open the project and check that the instructions and workflows you depend on behave as expected. If session continuity is part of your goal, try the supported continue or resume workflow available to you.
- Record what was restored, what needed administrator help or reauthentication, and any item that could not be recovered. Update the backup inventory accordingly.
A backup is not proven by a successful copy operation. The meaningful check is whether the specific files and workflows you need can be restored in a safe environment, with unavailable account-side or managed components clearly identified.
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