Files, Search, and Memory

These tools read, write, and search files, and they store memory notes. Use Read before Edit, because Edit replaces an exact string in a file. For example, Grep with output_mode set to files_with_matches lists only the files that match. The Yes and No columns are explained on Tools.

You can also read or edit files yourself and let Claude see the result. Deny the tool name in permissions.deny, or leave it out of a subagent tools list, to turn a tool off. The memory tools need a server-side flag.

Tools

Source: Tools Reference, Configure Permissions, and the program (the tool input schemas).

Tool	Status	What It Does	How It Works	Available In	Read-Only	Parallel	Deferred
Read	Documented	Reads files, images, PDFs, and notebooks.	See Read Parameters.	Main session and subagents. Kept in background subagents.	✅	✅	❌
Write	Documented	Creates or overwrites a file.	file_path (string, required, absolute), content (string, required), machine (optional). A deny rule wins.	Main session and subagents. Kept in background subagents.	❌	❌	❌
Edit	Documented	Replaces an exact string in a file.	file_path (required), old_string (required), new_string (required, must differ), replace_all (boolean, default false), machine (optional).	Main session and subagents. Kept in background subagents.	❌	❌	❌
NotebookEdit	Documented	Edits a cell of a Jupyter notebook.	See NotebookEdit Parameters.	Main session and subagents. Kept in background subagents.	❌	❌	✅
Glob	Documented	Finds files by glob pattern.	pattern (string, required), path (string, optional, directory), machine (optional).	Main session and subagents. The docs say a subagent can get Glob and Grep when the main session lacks them (macOS, Linux, WSL).	✅	✅	❌
Grep	Documented	Searches file contents with ripgrep.	See Grep Parameters.	Same as Glob.	✅	✅	❌
LSP	Documented	Code intelligence: definitions, references, symbols, hover, call hierarchy.	operation, filePath (required), line (int, 1 or more, required), character (int, 1 or more, required), query (optional, workspaceSymbol only).	Main session and subagents. Background subagents keep it since 2.1.280.	✅	✅	✅
memory_read	Undocumented Gated	Reads a document from a memory store.	store (string, required), path (string, required).	❓	✅	✅	❌
memory_write	Undocumented Gated	Saves a document to a memory store.	store, path, content (all strings, required; content replaces the whole document), if_version (string, max 64, version token for compare-and-set).	❓	❌	❌	❌
memory_list	Undocumented Gated	Lists memory stores and their documents.	store (optional), path_prefix (optional, directory-aligned), cursor (optional).	❓	✅	✅	❌

Read Parameters

Parameter	What It Does	Required
file_path	Absolute path of the file.	✅
offset	Line to start from, 0 or more.	❌
limit	Number of lines to read, more than 0.	❌
pages	PDF page range such as 1-5, at most 20 pages at a time.	❌
allow_large	Reads a file or range over the usual size limits, as far as the context allows.	❌
machine	Name of an attached machine. Offered only when machines are attached.	❌

NotebookEdit Parameters

Parameter	What It Does	Required
notebook_path	Absolute path of the .ipynb file.	✅
new_source	The new source of the cell.	✅
cell_id	Cell to edit. For insert, the new cell goes after it.	❌
cell_type	code or markdown. Required for insert.	❌
edit_mode	replace (default), insert, or delete.	❌

Grep Parameters

Parameter	What It Does	Required
pattern	The regular expression to search for.	✅
path	File or directory to search.	❌
glob	Glob filter such as **/*.tsx.	❌
output_mode	content, files_with_matches (default), or count.	❌
-B	Lines before each match. Needs content mode.	❌
-A	Lines after each match. Needs content mode.	❌
-C	Alias for context.	❌
context	Lines before and after each match. Needs content mode.	❌
-n	Shows line numbers. Needs content mode, default true.	❌
-i	Case-insensitive search.	❌
-o	Prints only the matched parts. Needs content mode.	❌
type	File type such as js, py, or rust.	❌
head_limit	Limits the first N entries. Default 250, 0 for no limit.	❌
offset	Skips the first N entries before head_limit.	❌
multiline	Lets . match newlines and patterns span lines.	❌
machine	Name of an attached machine. Offered only when machines are attached.	❌

Example

Block reads of secret files and all edits to lock files.

.claude/settings.json

{
  "permissions": {
    "deny": ["Read(./.env)", "Read(./secrets/**)", "Edit(./package-lock.json)"]
  }
}

How It Works

• machine is an extra optional field that Claude Code adds to a tool schema when an attached-machines feature is on.
• File tools check permissions with the rule syntax in Permission Rules.
• Read, Glob, Grep, Write, and Edit carry remoteExecution metadata in the program. It marks them as runnable on a remote host.
• Read has no result size cap, so use offset and limit for large files.

Related Pages

• Tools
• Permission Rules
• Tools Reference