I have a growing set of Markdown files that are stored in a folder that is hidden in my root directory: .claude. I would like to be able to index this folder in part because Mac always presents them as grayed out, and that makes it very difficult to read. I would like to use a small Markdown database as a way of reviewing, reorganizing, and editing items in this hidden folder. When I index the folder in DEVONthink, it either doesn’t sync or it’s invisible. Any advice on how to do that, or even whether to do it?
E.g. open the ~/.claude folder in the Finder, then drop the desired files/folders to DEVONthink while pressing the Command-Option modifier keys.
Thanks for the quick reply, but it doesn’t appear to work without changing the flag setting to unhidden.
Below is is what I got from Perplexity Pro (running Claude Sonnet 4.6). It’s very clear and helpful. And it also recommends “Import via Drag & Drop”
If you want to skip the flag-stripping step entirely, you can bypass the file picker altogether by dragging the files directly from Finder into your DEVONthink database or inbox. Since Finder can show hidden files (via
Cmd+Shift+.), this often works even when the import dialog grays the files out.
This is exactly what you had recommended as well, but I can’t get it to work. However, if I change the flag setting to nohidden Then there’s no problem importing it. Is there some hidden setting I need to change to allow hidden files to be visible in DEVONthink? I don’t think that’s the issue, because as far as I can tell, the files that I try to import that have the hidden flag simply don’t get added to the DEVONthink database.
My prompt to Perplexity Pro (running Claude Sonnet 4.6)
On my Mac I have hidden files, which were created as Claude “skill” files and are included in the
.claudefolder in my root directory: I now have difficulty importing them into DEVONthink. They fail to import, even if I first copy the files to another folder; they still are grayed out. The files are simple Markdown files so I don’t understand the problem. Can you help me?
The core issue is almost certainly the hidden file attribute on your .claude skill files — macOS marks dot-files (and files copied from hidden directories) with a hidden flag, and DEVONthink’s file picker grays out files it considers hidden or system-flagged, even if you’ve moved them to a visible folder.
Why This Happens
Files originating from hidden directories (like ~/.claude/) often inherit the hidden (uchg/hidden) flag at the filesystem level. Moving them to a new folder does not strip this flag — the files remain flagged as hidden regardless of location, which is why DEVONthink’s importer still grays them out. discussions.apple
The Fix: Strip the Hidden Flag in Terminal
Since you’re comfortable in the terminal, this is the cleanest solution. Run one of the following:
For a specific folder of files:
chflags nohidden /path/to/your/files/*
For individual files:
chflags nohidden ~/.claude/yourfile.md
If the files are dot-named (e.g., .skillname.md), rename them to remove the leading dot:
for f in /path/to/folder/.*.md; do mv "$f" "${f%/*}/$(basename "$f" | sed 's/^\.//')"; done
After running chflags nohidden, the files should appear normally in DEVONthink’s importer.
Alternative: Import via Drag & Drop
If you want to skip the flag-stripping step entirely, you can bypass the file picker altogether by dragging the files directly from Finder into your DEVONthink database or inbox. Since Finder can show hidden files (via Cmd+Shift+.), this often works even when the import dialog grays the files out. youtube
Quickest Combined Workflow
- Open Terminal and run
chflags nohiddenon the files (or the whole.claudefolder’s contents). - Optionally rename any dot-prefixed filenames to remove the leading
.. - Import into DEVONthink normally — the files will no longer be grayed out.
To summarize for those who don’t want to wade through a bunch of irrelevant AI chatter:
use chflags nohidden to make hidden files and folders visible.
2 Likes
Not “irrelevant AI chatter” for me. And I put the context there because contained the same suggestion I got from @cgrunenberg, namely, that I could use drag and drop. That turns out not to be true until you’ve set the flags to on hidden. But thanks for the concise version, which some users may prefer.
Actually I tested this successfully before making the suggestion. Apart from the fact that AI chatter is not welcome over here (it’s a user forum), most AI claims I’ve seen so far on this forum were just plain bogus.
3 Likes
I meant to include the output from Perplexity only as context for my question, a question I wrote myself. I’ll be more careful next time, though, because I may have blurred things a bit there.
To the matter of indexing or even importing a hidden file, I’m still having trouble, and I think the difference is that I’m trying to index a “dotfolder”, such as .claude. The research I’ve done suggests this may be the problem. I’m surprised that you haven’t had any problems with this. Have you tried to import or index a dotfolder?
Just import/index an item from the folder, not the folder on its own.
That is correct. You cannot index a hidden directory. And as mentioned, you can index the contents of one manually, if needed…
Do you actually want the folder to be hidden, or are you just going along with some default?
I have no experience with Claude, but can’t you just configure it to use a folder like ~/claude instead of ~/.claude?
1 Like
Thanks for everyone’s input. Good to get Jim’s confirmation that I was not crazy and that it’s not possible to simply drag a hidden"dotfolder" into DEVONthink.
What I’ve ended up doing is creating a symbolic link at ~/.claude that points to a folder called claude (without the dot) inside an iCloud-synced directory, with all its files and subfolders. It looks as though I’ve been able to successfully index that target folder in DEVONthink, while still satisfying Claude’s requirement that there be a .claude folder in the root directory.
1 Like