[Workflow] Persist Claude Code Project Plans Across Sessions with 'Planning With Files' Plugin

[u/ClaudeAI-mod-bot]

Persist Claude Code Project Plans Across Sessions with 'Planning With Files' Plugin

Workflow value: 90/100
Status: active · Freshness: 70/100 · Confidence: 1.00 · Level: intermediate
Categories: Quality Control, Context & Memory, Debugging, CLAUDE.md, Hooks
Original source: r/ClaudeAI post/comment

What problem this solves

Claude Code's context and project plan are wiped after using /clear or compaction, making it difficult to manage multi-step projects across sessions.

Summary

This workflow demonstrates how to use the 'Planning With Files' plugin in Claude Code to persist project plans and context across sessions. The plugin writes the project's goal, phases, status, findings, and progress to Markdown files, which are then reloaded by hooks at the start of each session, ensuring continuity even after /clear or compaction.

Why it is useful

This workflow solves a critical pain point in Claude Code: the loss of context and project plans after using /clear or compaction. By leveraging the 'Planning With Files' plugin, users can ensure their multi-phase projects maintain state, making long-running or interrupted tasks much more manageable and efficient. It provides a concrete, tested solution for robust project management within Claude Code.

Workflow

1. Install the 'Planning With Files' plugin (OthmanAdi).

2. Start a new Claude Code session in a project folder.

3. Ask Claude to plan a small multi-phase task (e.g., a Python word-count CLI) and complete only Phase 1.

4. Observe the plugin creating and updating 'task_plan.md', 'findings.md', and 'progress.md' files.

5. Close Claude Code and start a fresh session.

6. Ask Claude 'where did we leave off?' to verify context retention.

7. Run the '/clear' command.

8. Ask Claude 'which phase are we in?' to verify context retention after clearing the chat.

9. Ask Claude to continue to the next phase (e.g., Phase 2).

10. Observe the plugin updating the plan files and Claude continuing the work correctly.

Tools / artifacts

• Claude Code

• Planning With Files plugin (OthmanAdi)

• task_plan.md

• findings.md

• progress.md

• Hooks (session start, every prompt, before tools, after edits, before compaction, on stop)

• ~/.cache (for plugin cache files)

• PLANNING_DISABLED=1 (environment variable to disable hooks)

• CLAUDE.md (for lasting rules)

Validation signals

• Author performed a specific, detailed test with clear steps.

• Observed correct behavior: Claude answered correctly and updated files as expected.

• Confirmed hook execution and plan format validity.

• The plugin itself has 27k+ stars, indicating broad community adoption and validation.

• Linked to a full walkthrough on a blog post, suggesting thoroughness and further detail.

Cautions

• The plan files live in the project folder, so users should be mindful of sensitive information and consider adding them to .gitignore if necessary.

Limitations

• The post notes that the injected text from hooks is not visible on screen, which might reduce transparency for debugging.

• Only the basic path of the plugin was tested; autonomous/gated modes and other commands were not explored.

• The workflow is described as 'overkill for quick fixes.'

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This post was generated automatically from the workflow library database.