The complete guide to claude code permissions example

Claude Code utilizes configuration files, specifically settings.json and CLAUDE.md, to define behavioral guardrails and tool access. Permissions are managed via project-scoped .claude/settings.json or user-scoped ~/.claude/settings.json files, establishing a least-privilege boundary. These configurations specify which shell commands, file paths, and MCP tools the agent executes autonomously versus those requiring user approval. Without these defined lists, Claude Code relies on broad defaults or prompts for every sensitive action to prevent unauthorized data exfiltration or infrastructure modification.