long-term-dev

Claude Code project template for long-term development with AI memory.

Problem

Claude Code sessions are stateless. When you start a new conversation, the AI forgets:

• What you were working on
• Architectural decisions made
• Problems already solved
• Project context and conventions

This template solves that by giving Claude a persistent memory system.

Quick Start

cd your-project
npx long-term-dev init

Then in Claude Code:

*resume    # Start session
*save      # End session

Features

• Memory System - Long-term context that persists across sessions
• Progress Tracking - Task list that survives conversation resets
• Command System - Predefined workflows for common tasks
• Issue Integration - Work with GitHub issues directly
• Version Tracking - Template for managing dependency versions (dev template)

Installation

cd your-project
npx long-term-dev init

This creates:

your-project/
├── CLAUDE.md              # Project context for Claude
├── docs/
│   └── versions.md        # Version configuration (dev template)
└── .claude/
    ├── MEMORY.md          # Long-term memory
    ├── TODO.md            # Session task tracking
    ├── commands/          # Command definitions
    └── archive/           # Archived memories

Usage

Starting a Session

*resume

Claude pulls latest changes, reads memory and progress, continuing where you left off.

Ending a Session

*save

Claude saves current context to memory, commits, and pushes to remote.

Quick Status

*status

Shows git status, current context, and progress overview.

Commands

Core Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | *status | Quick project overview (git, memory, progress) | | *resume | Resume session (pulls latest, loads context) | | *save | Save progress and sync to remote | | *next | Execute next task step | | *approve | Approve current plan, continue execution |

Task Management

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | *issue | List open issues | | *issue <n> | View issue #n details | | *issue pick <n> | Pick issue #n as current task | | *issue close <n> | Close issue #n | | *issue new <title> | Create new issue | | *plan <desc> | Create a plan for a task |

Utilities

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | *diff | Show changes since last sync | | *sync | Manual sync (usually not needed) | | *tidy | Clean up memory, archive old entries | | *snapshot | Collect project files into markdown | | *release | Release new version | | *collect-bp [path] | Collect best practices from projects | | *learn-from <path> | Analyze project, suggest improvements |

CLI Options

# Interactive init
npx long-term-dev init

# Init with specific template
npx long-term-dev init code
npx long-term-dev init study ./my-course  # Cross-directory

# Update commands (keeps your MEMORY and TODO)
npx long-term-dev update
npx long-term-dev update ../other-project  # Cross-directory

# Snapshot project files
npx long-term-dev snapshot
npx long-term-dev snapshot ../app ./context.md  # Cross-directory

# Quick init with defaults
npx long-term-dev init --yes

How It Works

1. CLAUDE.md - Project-level instructions Claude reads automatically
2. MEMORY.md - Stores context, decisions, solved problems, and references
3. TODO.md - Tracks current issue breakdown and session tasks
4. Commands - Markdown files that define workflows Claude follows

When you run *resume, Claude pulls latest and reads these files. When you run *save, it updates memory, commits, and pushes.

Template Types

| Template | Description | Includes | |----------|-------------|----------| | code | Software development | issue, release, collect-bp, learn-from, versions.md | | write | Writing & documentation | index, outline | | study | Learning & research | quiz |

Requirements

• Node.js >= 16
• Claude Code CLI
• Git (recommended)
• GitHub CLI (gh) for issue commands

License

MIT