Scratch Workspace Management

This skill covers proper use of the .claude/.scratch/ directory for temporary, exploratory, and draft work.

Purpose

The scratch workspace provides a gitignored location for:

• Draft implementations

• Experimental code

• Temporary test files

• Planning documents

• Any work-in-progress that shouldn't be committed

Setup Checklist

Before creating scratch files:

Ensure directory exists

mkdir -p .claude/.scratch

Verify gitignore

Check .gitignore contains:

.claude/.scratch

If missing, add it:

echo '.claude/.scratch' >> .gitignore

Directory Structure

Organize scratch files by purpose:

.claude/ ├── .scratch/ │ ├── drafts/ # Work-in-progress implementations │ │ └── feature-x.ts │ ├── experiments/ # Exploratory code │ │ └── perf-test.js │ ├── notes/ # Planning and notes │ │ └── architecture.md │ └── temp/ # Truly temporary files └── settings.json # Claude settings (NOT scratch)

Best Practices

DO

• Create subdirectories for organization

• Use descriptive file names

• Clean up when work is complete

• Move finalized code to proper project locations

DON'T

• Put sensitive data in scratch (still on disk)

• Use scratch for files that should be committed

• Leave stale scratch files indefinitely

• Put scratch files outside .claude/.scratch/

Workflow

Starting Exploratory Work

Create scratch area

mkdir -p .claude/.scratch/experiments

Work on experiment

... create files in .claude/.scratch/experiments/

Promoting to Real Code

When scratch work is ready:

• Review and refine the code

• Move to appropriate project location

• Delete scratch version

• Commit the promoted code

Cleanup

Periodically clean scratch:

Review what's in scratch

ls -la .claude/.scratch/

Remove old experiments

rm -rf .claude/.scratch/experiments/old-test/

Integration with Other Tools

With Git

The .claude/.scratch directory is gitignored, so:

• git status won't show scratch files

• git add . won't stage scratch files

• Scratch files won't appear in commits

With IDE

Most IDEs will show .claude/.scratch in the file tree. You can:

• Add to IDE's exclude patterns

• Keep visible for easy access

• Use IDE's "mark as excluded" feature

Common Patterns

Draft Implementation

.claude/.scratch/drafts/ └── new-feature/ ├── index.ts ├── types.ts └── test.ts

Performance Experiment

.claude/.scratch/experiments/ └── perf-comparison/ ├── approach-a.ts ├── approach-b.ts └── benchmark.ts

Architecture Notes

.claude/.scratch/notes/ └── refactor-plan.md

Troubleshooting

Scratch files appearing in git status

Verify gitignore entry

grep -r ".claude/.scratch" .gitignore

If missing, add it

echo '.claude/.scratch' >> .gitignore

Directory doesn't exist

mkdir -p .claude/.scratch

Accidentally committed scratch files

Remove from tracking but keep locally

git rm -r --cached .claude/.scratch git commit -m "chore: remove scratch files from tracking"