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Leaving Notion guide

Turn Your Notion Notes Into a Folder Claude Code Can Read

Export Notion as Markdown, clean the names, and add a short CLAUDE.md so Claude Code can find and use your notes.

Direct answer

Export your notes as Markdown & CSV and clean the zip in the Notion to Markdown tool, so each file is named after its page. Unzip it into a folder and run claude there. Claude Code can read files in that folder and its subfolders and search them by name or content. Add a short CLAUDE.md at the top that says what the folder holds, and use @path imports for the few files it should always load.

Open the Notion export cleaner

When to use this

  • You want Claude Code to answer questions from your own notes.
  • You keep project specs or meeting notes in Notion and want them next to your code.
  • You tried the raw export and file names full of IDs made search hard.

Steps

  1. In Notion, open the ••• menu at the top right of the page and pick Export. For the whole workspace, go to Settings, then General under Workspace, then Export all workspace content.
  2. Choose Markdown & CSV and turn on Include subpages.
  3. Clean the zip in Clean export (.zip) so files carry page titles and each database gets a Markdown table page. Unzip it into a folder.
  4. Add a CLAUDE.md at the top of the folder. Keep it under 200 lines. Say what each subfolder holds and use @path imports for the one or two files that matter every session.
  5. Run claude in that folder and ask a question your notes can answer.

Example

Before
Specs 1a3c5e7a9c1e3a5c7e9a1c3e5a7c9e1a/
  Billing 3c5e7a9c1e3a5c7e9a1c3e5a7c9e1a3c.md
  Status: Draft
  Owner: Dana
After
CLAUDE.md
  # Notes
  Specs live in Specs/. Start with @Specs/Billing.md
Specs/
  Billing.md

Common mistakes

  • Don't @import every note. Files you @import load with CLAUDE.md at the start of each session. Let Claude Code find the rest when it needs them.
  • Database row properties export as Key: Value lines, not frontmatter. Say so in CLAUDE.md so Claude reads them the right way.
  • Other people's private pages are not in the export, so Claude can't see them.

Tools for this job

FAQ

How does Claude Code find my notes?
When you run claude in a folder, it can read files in that folder and its subfolders. It finds files by name pattern and searches their content. Page-title file names are easier to find than names ending in 32-character IDs.
Does my whole notes folder get sent to the model?
No. The files stay on your disk and Claude Code reads a file when it needs it. What it reads goes to the model, which runs in the cloud.
Can I use AGENTS.md instead of CLAUDE.md?
Claude Code can read AGENTS.md when no CLAUDE.md exists. CLAUDE.md files can also import other files with @path, up to four hops deep.
Which plan do I need?
As of September 2026, Claude Code is included in Claude Pro at $17 a month billed annually or $20 monthly, and in Max from $100 a month.

Sources

Checked September 2026.

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