cc-fork

Stop repeating yourself every time you start a new Claude Code session. cc-fork helps you create and manage Claude Code sessions with pre-loaded codebase context.

The Problem

When working with Claude Code on complex codebases, you often need to spend the first few minutes guiding Claude to understand your project before you can get to actual work. If you work on the same codebase across multiple sessions, you repeat this onboarding ritual every single time.

The Solution

cc-fork lets you create reusable base sessions — kickstart prompts that prime Claude with your codebase knowledge. Fork from a base session anytime to get a new working session with context pre-loaded.

Create once, fork forever.

Installation

npm install -g cc-fork

Also available as ccfork. Requires Claude Code.

Quick Start

# One-time setup: create a base session
cc-fork create payments
# Opens your editor — write a prompt that guides Claude through relevant code

# Daily usage: fork when you need to work
cc-fork payments
# Launches Claude with full context, ready for your questions

Key Features

• Shareable prompts — Session files contain only your prompt, safe to commit and share with your team
• Local session state — Session IDs stored in ~/.cc-fork/, so no git noise when refreshing
• Survives re-clones — Sessions persist across repo re-clones (same git remote)
• Stale prompt detection — Warns when your prompt changed since last refresh

Workflows

Basic: Create Once, Fork Forever

cc-fork create payments    # One-time setup
cc-fork payments           # Daily usage (shorthand for `cc-fork fork payments`)

Cost-Effective: Build with Haiku, Work with Opus

cc-fork create payments --model haiku   # Cheap context building
cc-fork payments --model opus           # Powerful reasoning

Incremental: Evolve Your Base Session

cc-fork use payments       # Resume base session, add more context
cc-fork payments           # Future forks include the new context

Scaffold First, Evaluate Later

cc-fork create payments --no-eval   # Create the file without calling Claude
# Edit the prompt at your leisure...
cc-fork refresh payments            # Evaluate when ready

Maintenance: Keep Sessions Fresh

cc-fork refresh payments   # Rebuild after major codebase changes

Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | create <name> | Create a new base session (alias: new) | | fork <name> | Fork from base session (default command) | | use <name> | Resume base session directly | | refresh <name> | Rebuild with new session ID (alias: rebuild) | | list | List all sessions | | edit <name> | Open session in editor | | delete <names...> | Delete sessions |

How It Works

Sessions are stored as markdown files in .claude/cc-fork/:

.claude/cc-fork/
├── payments.md      # your prompt + Claude flags
├── auth.md
└── checkout.md

Commit these files to share prompts with your team. Session state (IDs, timestamps) is stored locally in ~/.cc-fork/ and never committed.

Reference

CLI Options

create:

• -p, --prompt <text> — Provide prompt inline, skip editor
• -i, --interactive — Enter Claude Code after prompt (default: true)
• --no-eval — Create session file without evaluating the prompt

refresh:

• -i, --interactive — Enter Claude Code after prompt (default: true)

delete:

• -f, --force — Skip confirmation

Claude CLI Flags

Any claude CLI flag can be passed through. Flags resolve from (highest precedence first):

1. CLI arguments — cc-fork payments --model opus
2. Session frontmatter — YAML header in the markdown file

Flags passed during create are persisted in frontmatter.

Project Configuration

Configure cc-fork via .claude/cc-fork/config.yaml:

interactive: false      # disable interactive mode (default: true)
defaultCommand: use     # what `cc-fork <name>` runs (default: fork)
projectId: my-team-app  # override automatic project identification

For Claude Code settings (model, permissions), use .claude/settings.json.

Flag Conversion

| YAML | Claude CLI | |------|------------| | model: haiku | --model haiku | | dangerously-skip-permissions: true | --dangerously-skip-permissions | | dangerously-skip-permissions: false | (omitted) | | allowedTools: ["Bash(git *)", "Read"] | --allowedTools "Bash(git *)" "Read" |

Boolean false means "don't pass this flag" — useful for overriding a session-level true.

License

MIT