The `.claude/` directory is not a black box – it is your control centre

There is a moment almost everyone who starts using Claude Code in earnest will recognise: at some point you notice a .claude/ directory appear in the project root. You open it briefly. You take a look inside. You close it again. And you carry on as before.

That is an expensive mistake – not in money, but in wasted control.

Claude Code Configuration: 50+ Settings You Should Know

25. February 2026 by daniel

anthropic claude-code developer-tools configuration productivity ai-coding

Claude Code Configuration: 50+ Settings You Should Know

“I’ve been using Claude Code for a while now, but I had no idea you could configure all of this!” – I hear this regularly from developers in my courses. Time to change that.

Claude Code is far more than an AI coding assistant. It is a highly configurable development tool with over 50 environment variables, hierarchical settings levels and granular permission controls. In this article I will show you the most important configuration options.