Using Claude to help structure your file system
for people just starting, here's what I did to start organizing my file system after a few days of use. I have a little bit of coding background so I asked claude to treat my file system like computer architecture and follow SOLID principles. They are roughly summarized as follows: - Separation of concerns โ each file has one job - DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) โ data lives in one place - Single source of truth โ no two files own the same information - Load only what you need โ frequently accessed files stay shallow and small As example my claude.md file shrunk about 50%, it had grown from 30-40 lines to 100 or so. And the context file in another workspace went from 157 lines to 15. The goal isn't necessarily file reduction, it's efficiency and clarity. I went step by step through each directory with Claude to clean up stuff. At the end I had Claude summarize the process for me to share. attached are pictures of the .md file for easy viewing and I included the actual .md file of the process. But I'll also list it below: The Process Every refactor follows the same pattern: 1. Audit โ list every job the file or directory is currently doing 2. Identify what's wrong โ duplication, mixed concerns, wrong location 3. Propose before acting โ show the before/after and confirm scope 4. Execute in order โ move files first, update references second 5. Verify โ make sure all links and paths still resolve The key question at each step: does this file have one job, and does it live where you'd naturally look for it? Prompts Used The actual prompts from this session, mapped to each process step. Audit "look at Claude.md architecture. analyse for separation of concerns and good computer architecture" "let's look at sound design context file first" Identify violations "looking at Claude.md Identity, workspaces and routing section. Is there overlap of function there?" "as a computer system architect taking into account separation of concerns, DRY, and clarity, what is the most efficient format?"