Copyright and Compliance
Relevant source files
The following files were used as context for generating this wiki page:
The claude-code-docs project serves as an unofficial mirror of the official Claude Code documentation. Its primary purpose is to provide a version-pinned, semantically searchable, and programmatically accessible copy of Anthropic's documentation for use by AI agents and developer tools. Because the project replicates external proprietary content, strict adherence to copyright ownership and compliance with the original source's structure is central to its architecture.
Sources: README.md:3-8, README.md:65-69
Intellectual Property Ownership
All documentation content mirrored within this repository is the intellectual property of Anthropic. The project explicitly acknowledges this ownership and defines its role as an unofficial, unmodified mirror maintained strictly for reference and tooling purposes.
| Entity | Role | Legal Status |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | Content Owner | Holds all © Copyright for documentation content |
| pleaseai/claude-code-docs | Mirror Maintainer | Unofficial mirror for tooling/reference |
| Canonical Source | Origin | code.claude.com/docs |
Sources: README.md:65-69
Takedown Policy
The project maintainers provide a clear compliance path for the copyright holder. The repository includes a commitment that the entire project will be removed upon request by Anthropic.
Sources: README.md:69
Content Integrity and Mirroring Logic
To ensure compliance with the original source and maintain technical accuracy, the system treats Anthropic's llms.txt manifest as the absolute source of truth. The synchronization process is designed to reflect the exact state of the official documentation, including deletions.
Synchronization Flow
The following diagram illustrates how the system ensures content compliance by strictly mirroring the source manifest.
The sync process ensures that any page removed from the official manifest is also removed from the mirror's git history, preventing the accumulation of stale or unauthorized content.
Sources: README.md:12-16, sync.ts:1-7, sync.ts:60-70
Link Compliance and Rewriting
While the content remains unmodified, the system performs "link rewriting" to ensure that the documentation remains functional when browsed as local files (e.g., on GitHub or in a local checkout). This maintains the utility of the copyright-protected content without altering the underlying information.
function rewriteLinks(content: string, rel: string, knownSlugs: Set<string>): string {
// Logic to convert site-absolute paths (/en/sub-agents)
// to local relative paths (../sub-agents.md)
// or fall back to canonical BASE URL (https://code.claude.com/docs)
}
Sources: sync.ts:13-35
Usage Compliance in AI Tooling
The repository provides hooks and skills that ensure AI agents interact with the documentation in a compliant and efficient manner. By using a local mirror, agents avoid excessive web scraping of the live documentation site.
Tooling Components
- PreToolUse Hook: Automatically redirects requests for HTML documentation pages to their clean Markdown equivalents.
- ASK Integration: Provides lazy, on-demand access to the docs, reducing context window usage and unnecessary data transfer.
- Semantic Search: Uses
csp(Code Search Please) to query the mirrored content without bulk-loading the entire documentation set.
Sources: README.md:18-30, README.md:46-51, hooks/hooks.json:1-17
URL Rewriting Logic
The compliance hook ensures that Claude Code fetches the "clean markdown twin" of a page rather than the HTML app shell, respecting the intended programmatic access patterns of the documentation.
Conclusion
The claude-code-docs project is architected as a transparent, high-fidelity mirror of Anthropic's intellectual property. By utilizing the llms.txt manifest as a source of truth and implementing automated synchronization and URL rewriting, the project maintains content integrity while providing enhanced utility for developer tools. Compliance is maintained through explicit copyright attribution and a standing offer of removal at the owner's request.
Sources: README.md:12-16, README.md:65-69, sync.ts:1-7