gistfile1.txt

For CLAUDE.md and rules it looks upwards, finding every CLAUDE.md or ./claude/rules, or .claude/skills dirs.

Hooks are a bit more complex it looks like, where it looks at root, etc.

Possibly worst-case, you could symlink or make a little script that pulls in the right files based on project/technology, etc.?


.
├── .claude
│   └── settings.local.json
├── .gitignore
└── dir1
    ├── .claude
    │   ├── rules
    │   │   └── testing.md --> For testing, use RSpec with --apple flag.
    │   ├── settings.json
    │   └── skills
    │       └── skill1
    │           └── SKILL.md
    └── dir2
        ├── .claude
        │   ├── rules
        │   │   └── testing.md --> For testing, use RSpec with --banana flag.
        │   ├── settings.json
        │   └── skills
        │       └── skill2
        │           └── SKILL.md
        └── dir3
            ├── .claude
            │   ├── rules
            │   │   └── testing.md --> For testing, use RSpec with --cherry flag.
            │   ├── settings.json
            │   └── skills
            │       └── skill3
            │           └── SKILL.md
            └── foo.txt
---

╭─── Claude Code v2.1.63 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│   ~/…/2026-03-02-claude-hooks-test/dir1/dir2/dir3  │                                                                   │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

❯ how do we do testing on this project?

⏺ Based on the project rules, there are testing instructions at three directory levels, all specifying RSpec but with different flags:

  - dir1/ — rspec --apple
  - dir1/dir2/ — rspec --banana
  - dir1/dir2/dir3/ (current directory) — rspec --cherry

  Since you're currently in dir1/dir2/dir3, the most specific rule applies: use RSpec with the --cherry flag.
  
...

No, hooks do not load recursively from nested directories.

  Claude Code only loads hooks from these scopes (concatenated, not replaced):
  1. Managed (server-managed)
  2. Project — .claude/settings.json at the project root only
  3. User — ~/.claude/settings.json
  4. Local — .claude/settings.local.json at the project root

  So for your setup, only the root-level .claude/settings.local.json hooks (the jj_snapshot one) would actually run. The settings.json files I created in dir1/, dir1/dir2/, and
  dir1/dir2/dir3/ would be ignored — Claude Code doesn't walk subdirectories looking for additional .claude/settings.json files.

  There's also a known bug (#10367) where hooks fail entirely when Claude Code is invoked from a subdirectory rather than the project root.

  If you want all three hooks to run, they'd need to be combined into the single root-level .claude/settings.json (or settings.local.json).

---

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
❯ /sk
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  /skill3                                   Skill from dir3 level (project)
  /skill2                                   Skill from dir2 level (project)
  /skill1                                   Skill from dir1 level (project)