Configuration

Understand the config files, manifests, and directory structure.

Config File

Claude Sync stores authentication credentials and device information in a JSON config file at ~/.claude-sync/config.json. This file is created automatically when you log in and updated when you add or rename devices.

~/.claude-sync/config.json

{
  "apiUrl": "https://api.claude-sync.com",
  "accessToken": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...",
  "refreshToken": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...",
  "deviceId": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "deviceName": "MacBook Pro",
  "userId": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440001",
  "email": "user@example.com"
}

Field	Type	Description
`apiUrl`	string	Base URL for the Claude Sync API
`accessToken`	string	JWT access token (expires after 15 minutes)
`refreshToken`	string	JWT refresh token for obtaining new access tokens
`deviceId`	UUID	Unique identifier for this device
`deviceName`	string	Human-readable name for this device
`userId`	UUID	Unique identifier for the authenticated user
`email`	string	Email address of the authenticated user

Project Manifests

Each Claude Code project has a corresponding manifest file stored at ~/.claude-sync/manifests/{encoded-path}.json. The manifest tracks all session files, todos, artifacts, and their metadata for efficient sync diffing.

~/.claude-sync/manifests/-Users-john-my-app.json

[
  {
    "path": "sessions/2026-02-05-session-abc123.json",
    "hash": "sha256:abc123def456...",
    "size": 4096,
    "modifiedAt": "2026-02-05T10:30:00.000Z",
    "isCompressed": false
  },
  {
    "path": "todos/main.json",
    "hash": "sha256:def456abc789...",
    "size": 512,
    "modifiedAt": "2026-02-05T09:15:00.000Z",
    "isCompressed": false
  },
  {
    "path": "artifacts/component-diagram.png",
    "hash": "sha256:789abc456def...",
    "size": 102400,
    "modifiedAt": "2026-02-04T14:20:00.000Z",
    "isCompressed": true
  }
]

Field	Type	Description
`path`	string	Relative path within the Claude project directory
`hash`	string	SHA-256 hash of file contents for change detection
`size`	number	File size in bytes
`modifiedAt`	ISO 8601	Last modification timestamp
`isCompressed`	boolean	Whether the file was compressed before upload

Project Links

When you pull sessions from another device, Claude Sync creates a project link file at ~/.claude-sync/project-links/{encoded-path}.json. This maps your local project path to the foreign device's project path and project ID.

~/.claude-sync/project-links/-Users-john-my-app.json

{
  "projectId": "770e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440003",
  "foreignEncodedDir": "-home-user-my-app",
  "linkedAt": "2026-02-05T10:30:00.000Z"
}

Field	Type	Description
`projectId`	UUID	Unique identifier for the shared project
`foreignEncodedDir`	string	Encoded directory name from the remote device
`linkedAt`	ISO 8601	Timestamp when the link was created

Directory Layout

Claude Sync uses two primary directories for configuration and data. The ~/.claude-sync/ directory stores config, manifests, and project links. The ~/.claude/projects/ directory contains actual session data, which may be real directories or symlinks to foreign device data.

~/.claude-sync/
├── config.json
├── manifests/
│   └── -Users-john-my-app.json
└── project-links/
    └── -Users-john-my-app.json

~/.claude/
└── projects/
    ├── -Users-john-my-app/       (real or symlink)
    │   ├── sessions.json
    │   ├── todos/
    │   ├── artifacts/
    │   └── tool-results/
    └── -home-user-my-app/        (foreign dir)
        ├── sessions.json
        ├── todos/
        └── artifacts/

Path encoding converts absolute paths to filesystem-safe names by replacing / and . with -

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