If You Edited a Framework File
Framework files are marked “do not edit — your edits will be overwritten.” People edit them anyway, usually for a good reason. Here is how to recover.
How you find out
Section titled “How you find out”You will get a merge conflict when you try to update. That is the symptom, and it usually arrives weeks after the edit, when you have forgotten making it.
Recovering the change
Section titled “Recovering the change”Keep the upstream version of the framework file. Your edit is not lost — Git still has it. Ask Claude Code:
I have a merge conflict on a framework file. Show me what I changed, keep the upstream version, and tell me where my change should live instead.
Where it should have gone
Section titled “Where it should have gone”Almost every edit people make to a framework file belongs somewhere else that never gets overwritten:
| You wanted to change… | Put it in |
|---|---|
| How the system talks to you | .claude/rules/soul.md |
| Formatting and vocabulary | .claude/rules/communication-style.md |
| Business facts and context | context/ files |
| A repeatable process | processes/ |
| A new capability | a custom skill in .claude/skills/ |
| Anything about your specific business | CLAUDE.md |
If your edit does not fit any of those, that is worth telling us. It may mean the framework is missing something, and that is exactly the kind of feedback that changes the next version.
Checking before you update
Section titled “Checking before you update”git statusAnything listed under framework paths is a local modification you are about to fight with.