freeze

Freeze — scoped edit lock

Toggle a project-local edit lock so Claude can only modify the files you intend

during a focused task (debugging, a tight refactor, a review pass). Enforced by

the freeze-gate.sh PreToolUse hook, which denies Edit/Write/NotebookEdit

outside the allow-list. No sentinel = no lock; the hook stays dormant.

The lock lives in .claude/.freeze — one allowed path prefix per line,

project-relative. Empty file = freeze everything.

Usage

/phx:freeze [args] — resolve $ARGUMENTS and run the matching Bash branch.

| Invocation | Effect |

|------------|--------|

| /phx:freeze | Freeze ALL edits — read-only investigation mode |

| /phx:freeze lib/app_web priv/repo | Allow edits only under these dirs |

| /phx:freeze status | Show current lock state |

| /phx:freeze off | Lift the lock (delete the sentinel) |

Freeze all edits (investigation mode)

mkdir -p .claude && : > .claude/.freeze
echo "Freeze ON — all edits blocked. Lift with /phx:freeze off"

Scope edits to specific directories

mkdir -p .claude
printf '%s\n' lib/app_web priv/repo > .claude/.freeze
echo "Freeze ON — edits limited to: lib/app_web priv/repo"

Map $ARGUMENTS to the dirs the user named. Include any directory you still need

to write to — e.g. add .claude if progress/scratchpad logging must continue.

Show status

if [ -f .claude/.freeze ]; then
  if [ -s .claude/.freeze ]; then echo "Freeze ON — limited to:"; cat .claude/.freeze
  else echo "Freeze ON — ALL edits blocked"; fi
else echo "Freeze OFF — no edit lock"; fi

Lift the lock

rm -f .claude/.freeze && echo "Freeze OFF — edits unlocked"

Iron Laws

1. MANAGE the sentinel via Bash only (:>, printf, rm) — NEVER via

Edit/Write. The freeze hook gates Edit/Write and would block you from

re-scoping or clearing the lock.

1. NEVER leave a freeze active across unrelated tasks — it persists until

/phx:freeze off, including into later sessions. Clear it when the task ends.

1. PATHS ARE PROJECT-RELATIVE PREFIXES, one per line — lib/foo allows

lib/foo and everything under it; it does NOT allow lib/foobar.

Notes

• The hook denies with a reason and tells Claude not to retry, so a frozen edit

surfaces clearly instead of failing silently.

• Pairs with /phx:investigate (freeze all while root-causing) and /phx:work

(scope to the plan's dirs). The lock is advisory tooling, not a security

boundary — anyone can run /phx:freeze off.