Multi-Project Planning with Claude Code

The scenario: You have several active projects — each in its own folder or repository, each with its own CLAUDE.md — and you want to do planning across all of them: quarterly goals, cross-project dependencies, prioritisation, time allocation. You need Claude to see the context of every project simultaneously.

The problem: Claude Code auto-loads only the CLAUDE.md in the folder you launch from. It does not automatically load CLAUDE.md files from separate, unrelated directories. You need to deliberately bring those contexts together.

Three approaches

Option A: Parent directory (simplest)

If your projects already live as siblings under a common parent folder, launch from there.

~/research/
  montaillou/
    CLAUDE.md
    sources/
    ...
  grant-erc/
    CLAUDE.md
    drafts/
    ...
  network-methods/
    CLAUDE.md
    code/
    ...
  CLAUDE.md       ← planning-level context
  planning.md     ← your working plan document

Launch:

cd ~/research
claude

The parent CLAUDE.md loads automatically and instructs Claude to read each project's context.

When to use: Projects are already siblings. No setup needed — just create CLAUDE.md and planning.md at the parent level.

Limitation: Requires all repos to share a parent. Not suitable if they live in different locations.

Option B: Planning folder with symlinks (recommended)

Create a dedicated planning folder. Use symlinks to point into each project repository. Claude Code follows symlinks transparently — it reads through them as if the files were local.

~/planning/
  CLAUDE.md         ← planning context + session instructions
  planning.md       ← current quarter plan and decisions
  montaillou/       ← symlink → ~/research/montaillou
  grant-erc/        ← symlink → ~/Documents/grants/erc-2025
  network-methods/  ← symlink → ~/code/network-methods

Create the symlinks:

mkdir ~/planning
cd ~/planning
ln -s ~/research/montaillou montaillou
ln -s ~/Documents/grants/erc-2025 grant-erc
ln -s ~/code/network-methods network-methods

The projects themselves are untouched. Their CLAUDE.md files, source files, and progress logs are all readable through the symlinks.

Launch:

cd ~/planning
claude

When to use: Projects live in different locations. You want planning context cleanly separated from the projects themselves. This is the most flexible option.

Option C: Absolute paths (no symlinks)

Reference each project by full path directly in the planning CLAUDE.md. No symlinks, no structural changes.

At session start, read:

- /Users/yourname/research/montaillou/CLAUDE.md

- /Users/yourname/Documents/grants/erc-2025/CLAUDE.md

- /Users/yourname/code/network-methods/CLAUDE.md

When to use: Quick setup, nothing to maintain. Works fine if you use the planning folder on one machine. Less portable — paths break if you move repos or work on a different computer.

Setting up the planning CLAUDE.md

This is the key file. It tells Claude what this planning session is about, where to find each project, and how to run a planning session.

# Cross-project planning workspace

**Purpose:** Quarterly and weekly planning across three active projects.
**Planning horizon:** Q2 2025 (April–June 2025)

## Projects

| Short name | What it is | Folder |
|---|---|---|
| montaillou | Inquisition register network analysis — article in progress | montaillou/ |
| grant-erc | ERC Starting Grant application, deadline June 30 | grant-erc/ |
| network-methods | Methodological paper on ERGM for historical networks | network-methods/ |

## Key constraints and deadlines

- ERC grant submission: June 30, 2025 — hard deadline, highest priority

- Montaillou article: submitted to journal by end of May (target)

- Network-methods paper: no external deadline; internal target end of Q3

## Session start procedure

When I start a planning session (or say "let's plan"):
1. Read each project's CLAUDE.md: montaillou/CLAUDE.md, grant-erc/CLAUDE.md, network-methods/CLAUDE.md
2. Read each project's progress log if it exists: montaillou/progress.md, grant-erc/progress.md, network-methods/progress.md
3. Read planning.md (the current quarter plan)
4. Give me a brief status summary for each project: current phase, blockers, next step
5. Then ask: what do we need to plan or decide today?

## Output conventions

- All planning output goes to planning.md

- Use sections: ## Q2 Plan, ## Week of [date], ## Decisions

- Cross-project dependencies: flag with ⚠️ when one project's timeline affects another

- When I ask for a weekly plan: account for all three projects, not just one

The planning.md file

The working document where plans and decisions accumulate.

# Planning: Q2 2025

## Constraints

- ~25 research hours/week (teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays)

- Week of April 14: conference travel, no writing time

- May: dissertation defences to supervise (5 hours/week additional load)

## Quarter goals

- [ ] Submit montaillou article to *Early Medieval Europe* by May 30

- [ ] Submit ERC application by June 30

- [ ] Complete first full draft of network-methods paper

## Cross-project dependencies

- ⚠️ Network-methods paper informs ERC methodology section (need draft by April 30)

- ⚠️ Montaillou submission frees up ~8h/week for June ERC sprint

## Week of 2025-04-07
[Claude writes weekly plan here]

## Decisions log
2025-04-07 — Decided to deprioritise network-methods until ERC is submitted
2025-04-07 — Montaillou: skip section 4 in this submission, add to revision

Running a planning session

Quarterly planning (start of each quarter)

> Let's do quarterly planning.
  Read the project contexts and progress logs, then read planning.md.
  I have approximately 25 research hours per week for the next 13 weeks.
  The hard constraints are: [list].
  Help me set realistic goals for each project and identify the critical path.

Weekly planning

> Let's plan this week.
  It is Monday. I have about 20 hours available (lighter week).
  Read the project contexts and planning.md.
  What are the most important things to do this week across all three projects?
  Account for the ERC deadline priority.
  Give me a day-by-day plan, roughly.

Mid-quarter check-in

> It is mid-April. Let's check how the quarter is going.
  Read the project contexts and planning.md.
  Am I on track for the quarterly goals?
  What needs to be reprioritised?
  Update the planning.md with a mid-quarter review section.

Cross-project dependency check

> Check for dependencies and conflicts across the three projects.
  Are there things I planned in one project that assume progress in another?
  Are there weeks where I have overcommitted across all three?
  Flag any problems.

Keeping project progress logs in sync

For cross-project planning to work well, each project needs a progress.md that Claude can read to understand the current state. At the end of each project work session:

> Append a brief note to progress.md:
  today's date, what was done, what the next step is.

Then in the planning session, Claude reads all three progress logs and gets an accurate picture of where things actually stand — not just where they were planned to stand.

Variations on the pattern

Team planning (shared planning folder)

If two or more people are working across the same projects, the planning folder can be a shared git repository:

planning-repo/ (git, shared with team)
  CLAUDE.md
  planning.md
  montaillou/ → symlink (each person's symlink points to their local copy)
  grant-erc/  → symlink

Each team member has their own symlinks pointing to their local copies of the project repos. The planning documents are shared and versioned. Claude sessions are individual but draw on shared plans.

Note: Symlinks are not tracked by git (the link target is machine-specific). Each team member creates their own symlinks locally after cloning the planning repo.

Many small projects (more than three)

For five or more projects, the per-project summary in CLAUDE.md becomes unwieldy. Instead:

## Projects

Read projects/index.md for the full project list with current priorities.
At session start: read projects/index.md, then read the CLAUDE.md for the top 3 priority projects only.

projects/index.md is a maintained list with a priority column. Planning sessions focus on the top priority projects; lower-priority ones are referenced when relevant.

PhD across chapters

The same pattern works for a PhD student managing several chapters as separate folders:

phd-planning/
  CLAUDE.md
  planning.md
  chapter1/ → symlink
  chapter2/ → symlink
  chapter3/ → symlink
  thesis.md  → symlink to overall thesis outline

Cross-chapter planning: argument consistency, chapter interdependencies, submission timeline.

Summary: the setup in five steps

  1. Create the planning folder (mkdir ~/planning)
  2. Create symlinks to each project (ln -s /path/to/project shortname)
  3. Write planning/CLAUDE.md — list projects, deadlines, constraints, session start procedure
  4. Create planning/planning.md — quarter goals, constraints, decisions log
  5. Keep project progress.md files updated — the planning session reads them for current state

Launch every planning session with:

cd ~/planning
claude

Related