Claude Code

Every library holds a CLAUDE.md. Open the library folder in Claude Code and it knows the library: what each file is, where the command line tool lives, how statuses and properties work, every command, and the working rules.

What the app writes

The app writes CLAUDE.md when a library is created and refreshes its own section every time the library opens, so the tool's path is always current even after the app moves. Its section sits between two marker comments. Everything outside them is yours and is never rewritten.

The section covers:

• The folder: library.db, originals/, thumbnails/, renders/, settings.jsonc.
• The rule to work the library through the tool, never by editing the database.
• The tool's full path and a one-line check that it is wired: info --library <path> --json.
• How the library thinks: clips, statuses, properties, tags, highlights, the AI queue, search.
• Every command, reading and writing.
• Working rules: read before writing, prefer existing tags, batch ids, keep descriptions to one line, never mark clips Ready unless asked, and that clips reset and clips delete are not undoable.

betterlibrary guide prints the guide. betterlibrary guide --write writes or refreshes it.

Your notes

Under the app's section is a heading, "Notes about this library". Put the house rules there: what the footage is for, who approves clips, how to name highlights, which tags are off limits. The app leaves that part alone.

What Claude Code can do

Everything the tool can: list and inspect clips, search by spelling or meaning, set names, descriptions and statuses, add and remove tags, set values, create properties and tags, mark highlights, cut highlights out to a folder, import files, put clips in line for AI tagging, and edit settings. Writes go through the same code as the window, so an open app reloads at once.

The tool needs the same live subscription as the app. It cannot run AI tagging itself; it queues clips and the app fills them while it is open.

Three prompts that work from inside a library folder:

Look at the clips in progress. For every clip that already has a description, check the Exercise and Shot type tags against it and fix the ones that are wrong. Do not mark anything Ready.

Find the ten best-rated portrait clips about kettlebells and export their highlights, numbered, to ~/Desktop/reel.

Export the properties, add a "Surface" single-select with Grass, Turf, Concrete and Mat, each with a one-line description, and import it back with a dry run first so I can see the diff.

The command line

The tool ships inside the app at BetterLibrary.app/Contents/Helpers/betterlibrary. --help on any command lists its options, --json gives machine-readable output, and ids accept any unique prefix. The full reference is on The command line.