claude-repath 0.4.2

Migrate Claude Code project state when your project folder moves — rewires cwd paths across sessions, ~/.claude.json, and worktrees.

claude-repath

Rewire Claude Code's local state when your project folder moves.

When you move or rename a project directory, Claude Code loses track of its sessions, memory, todos, and worktrees — because the absolute path is hardcoded in four different places. claude-repath patches all of them in one shot.

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Why this exists

Claude Code stores per-project state under ~/.claude/projects/<encoded-cwd>/, where the folder name is derived from the project's absolute path. Moving the project folder breaks:

1. ~/.claude/projects/<encoded>/ — the encoded folder name no longer matches
2. ~/.claude/projects/<encoded>/*.jsonl — each session file has "cwd" hardcoded inside
3. ~/.claude.json — the projects key is indexed by absolute path
4. Git worktree sub-projects — each has its own encoded folder AND internal cwd fields

Anthropic has no official migration command (as of 2026-04), and existing community tools cover at most 6 of the needed layers. claude-repath aims to handle all of them, with special care for Windows paths and worktrees.

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Install

Pick whichever matches your workflow — they're all equivalent:

Method	Command	When to use
uvx (zero-install)	uvx --from claude-repath claude-repath <subcommand>	Try or use without installing — uv caches it transparently
pipx (global CLI)	pipx install claude-repath	Daily use, isolated from system Python
pip (in a venv)	pip install claude-repath	Already inside a project venv

💡 First time? Run uvx --from claude-repath claude-repath --version — no commitment, just see if it works on your box. Upgrade later with uvx --refresh ….

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Install as a Claude Code plugin (optional)

In addition to the CLI, this repo ships a Claude Code plugin so your AI assistant can recognize symptoms — "I moved my project and Claude forgot everything", "sessions gone after rename", "~/.claude/projects has the old folder name" — and suggest claude-repath automatically, without you having to remember the tool's name.

From inside Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add xPeiPeix/claude-repath
/plugin install claude-repath@claude-repath-marketplace

The plugin only ships a skill (a ~200-line guidance document). It does not bundle the CLI — you still install that via uvx/pipx/pip above, or let the skill guide Claude to run it via uvx on first use.

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Quick start

# INTERACTIVE mode — pick from a list, no path typing needed
claude-repath move

# Explicit mode — preview changes first (ALWAYS recommended)
claude-repath move D:\dev_code\time-blocks D:\dev_code\Life\time-blocks --dry-run

# Actually perform the migration (auto-backs-up first)
claude-repath move D:\dev_code\time-blocks D:\dev_code\Life\time-blocks

# Broader scan — also rewrite cross-project references (use with care)
claude-repath move <old> <new> --scope broad

# Override pre-flight lock check (still bounded by OS-level runtime locks
# — see --force note in Safety section). v0.4.1+ uses atomic os.rename, so
# a runtime lock now fails loudly with the source directory intact; previously
# shutil.move could half-succeed on Windows.
claude-repath move <old> <new> --force

# If you already moved the folder manually, just rewire state
claude-repath rewire D:\dev_code\time-blocks D:\dev_code\Life\time-blocks

# Health check a project's Claude Code state
claude-repath doctor D:\dev_code\time-blocks

# List all projects Claude Code knows about
claude-repath list

# Roll back a previous migration
claude-repath rollback 20260419-155331

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What gets migrated

#	Layer	Handled
1	Physical project folder (mv)	✅
2	~/.claude/projects/<encoded>/ directory name	✅
3	.jsonl session files — inline "cwd" fields	✅
4	~/.claude.json — projects key	✅
5	Worktree-derived project folders (auto-discovered)	✅
6	~/.claude/git-worktrees.json (if present)	✅
7	Chromium Local Storage/leveldb entries (Desktop app)	⏳ backlog

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Safety

• Pre-flight lock check (v0.4+): scans every running process via psutil for any that have a cwd inside the target directory or a file open under it, and hard-refuses the migration with exit code 1 if any are found. Reports PID, process name, and specific lock reason (shell cd, IDE, editor, etc.). Overridable with --force / -f.
• Atomic physical move (v0.4.1+): even when the pre-flight check misses a lock (elevated processes invisible to psutil, TOCTOU races, transient AV-scanner or Windows-Search-indexer locks), the physical folder move uses a bare os.rename instead of shutil.move — no silent copytree + rmtree downgrade. Result: on WinError 32 / 5 the move fails loudly with exit code 1 and the source directory is guaranteed intact for retry; the previous half-migration failure mode (target complete, source half-deleted) is now impossible. Cross-volume moves fall back to robocopy /MOVE (Windows) or shutil.move (Unix).
• Dry-run by default logic: destructive commands require either --dry-run preview first or explicit confirmation. Dry-run also previews the pre-flight lock report without blocking.
• Auto-backup: every mutation is snapshotted to ~/.claude/.repath-backups/<timestamp>/.
• Running-Claude warning: soft heads-up if any claude CLI process is detected holding state files (complements the hard pre-flight check above).
• Rollback: claude-repath rollback <timestamp> restores a previous snapshot.

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Known limitations

Some directories inside a project embed absolute paths at creation time, and no amount of careful copying fixes that — they must be rebuilt after the move. claude-repath move detects the most common offenders and prints a warning (non-blocking) so you know what to rebuild:

Directory	Why it breaks	How to rebuild
Python .venv/ / venv/	Windows Scripts/*.exe trampolines hard-code the path to python.exe; Unix scripts use #!/abs/path shebangs	uv sync / pip install -e . / poetry install — whichever your project uses
node_modules/	.bin/*.cmd shims (Windows) and pnpm symlinks may contain absolute paths	npm ci / pnpm install / yarn install

claude-repath does not run the rebuild for you — every package manager has its own command and auto-running any of them without your consent can clobber lockfiles, pull unexpected versions, or take a long time with no progress feedback. The warning tells you what needs attention; you run the right command.

Other directories with similar issues (target/ for Rust debug builds, vendor/bundle/ for Ruby Bundler, etc.) are currently not detected — flag them via a GitHub issue if you hit problems.

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Platform support

OS	CLI state (~/.claude/)	Desktop state (Local Storage/leveldb)
Windows 11 (Git Bash / PowerShell / cmd)	✅ auto-migrated	🔍 diagnosed
macOS	✅ auto-migrated	🔍 diagnosed
Linux	✅ auto-migrated	🔍 diagnosed

Windows paths with drive letters (D:\...) and backslashes are first-class — they were the primary motivation for writing this tool. The path matcher accepts both \ and / separators and automatically aligns with ~/.claude.json's forward-slash-stored keys.

About Claude Code Desktop

Claude Code Desktop stores additional session state in Chromium's Local Storage LevelDB:

• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\claude\Local Storage\leveldb\
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/claude/Local Storage/leveldb/
• Linux: ~/.config/claude/Local Storage/leveldb/

claude-repath doctor reports whether this directory exists on your machine but does not migrate it automatically — tracked in the Roadmap as future work (needs plyvel-ci + META-protobuf handling). If you use Desktop exclusively and move a project, the Desktop UI's "recent projects" list may show a stale path. Remedy: open the new folder via Desktop's File menu to re-register it.

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Comparison to existing tools

At the time of writing (April 2026) there is no official Anthropic migration command. A handful of community tools exist — claude-repath is designed to close their gaps:

Tool	Layers covered	Windows	Worktrees	~/.claude.json	Separator tolerance
arak-git/claude-code-project-mover-py	6	✅	partial	✅	partial
justinstimatze/claude-mv	9	❌	❌	✅	❌
lovstudio/cc-mv (npm)	4	?	❌	❌	❌
skydiver/claude-code-project-mover	2	❌	❌	❌	❌
claude-repath	6 + rollback	✅	✅ auto	✅	✅ both

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Development

# Clone & enter
git clone https://github.com/xPeiPeix/claude-repath.git
cd claude-repath

# Install with uv (creates .venv, installs typer + dev deps)
uv sync --all-groups

# Run tests
uv run pytest

# Lint
uv run ruff check

# Run CLI locally
uv run claude-repath --help

Layout:

src/claude_repath/
├── cli.py              # typer app (move/rewire/doctor/list/rollback)
├── migrate.py          # orchestrator
├── tui.py              # wizard picker + project discovery
├── locks.py            # pre-flight psutil lock detection (v0.4+)
├── encoder.py          # path → folder-name encoding
├── backup.py           # manifest-based backup & LIFO rollback
├── platform_paths.py   # per-OS Desktop state paths (Win/macOS/Linux)
├── utils.py            # shared path rewrite helpers
└── layers/
    ├── projects_dir.py    # ~/.claude/projects/<encoded>/ renaming
    ├── jsonl_cwd.py       # .jsonl cwd field rewriting
    ├── global_json.py     # ~/.claude.json projects key
    └── worktrees_json.py  # ~/.claude/git-worktrees.json

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Roadmap

• v0.4.2 (current) — Pre-flight warning for path-sensitive subdirectories (.venv / venv with pyvenv.cfg, node_modules). Non-blocking heads-up before move: lists what will need rebuilding at the new location and the per-ecosystem rebuild command, but does not auto-rebuild (auto-running random package managers is risky). New env_warn.py module, new Known limitations section in the README, SKILL.md Edge cases entry so the Claude Code agent can warn users before they run move.
• v0.4.1 — Atomic os.rename replaces shutil.move for the physical folder move; EXDEV cross-volume fallback uses robocopy /MOVE on Windows. Eliminates the Windows half-migration failure mode (source half-deleted + target complete) that the v0.4 pre-flight check could only prevent, not recover from. New PhysicalMoveError with actionable recovery message. --force help text clarifies it cannot bypass OS-level runtime locks.
• v0.4 — Pre-flight lock check (psutil-based scan of running processes for cwd/open_files under the target path, hard-refusing unless --force is passed); Claude Code plugin distribution (installable as a single-plugin marketplace, ships a skill that lets Claude recognize rename symptoms and recommend the tool automatically); TUI picker sorts <unknown> and zero-session projects to the bottom.
• v0.3 — Wizard-style TUI with three-step flow (pick / locate / preview), two-stage path input (parent directory + project name) with Tab-completion, per-layer change counts in a Rich preview panel, and a live spinner during apply.
• v0.2 — Interactive TUI picker, --scope narrow|broad flag, Desktop Local Storage diagnostic, cross-platform path handling (Win/macOS/Linux).
• v0.5+ (backlog) — Chromium Local Storage/leveldb auto-migration for Claude Code Desktop users (requires closing Desktop first + plyvel-ci bindings + META-protobuf maintenance); interactive TUI variants for rollback / doctor; shell-completion auto-install (typer's built-in); Windows handle.exe fallback for locked-for-write detection that psutil can't see.

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License

MIT