---
name: ai-analyze-permissions
description: Use when Claude Code keeps asking to approve commands you have already approved, when settings.local.json has grown large, or when you want to consolidate permission grants into wildcard patterns. Trigger for 'too many permission prompts', 'clean up permissions', 'audit my settings', 'consolidate allow rules'. Claude Code only — not available in GitHub Copilot.
effort: medium
argument-hint: "[analyze|apply|cleanup]"
disable-model-invocation: True
copilot_compatible: False
---


# Analyze Permissions

## Purpose

Analyze accumulated permissions in `settings.local.json` and suggest smart wildcard patterns to consolidate into shared configuration. Reduces permission sprawl by replacing specific entries with safe wildcard patterns.

## Arguments (parsed from user input)

- **action**: What to do - `analyze` (default), `apply`, or `cleanup`

Example invocations:

- `/ai-analyze-permissions` → analyze and suggest patterns
- `/ai-analyze-permissions apply` → apply suggested patterns to shared config
- `/ai-analyze-permissions cleanup` → just run the cleanup script

## Process

### Step 1: Read Current Permissions

Read these files:

1. **Project-local**: `<project-root>/.claude/settings.local.json` - accumulated "Always allow" permissions (per-project)
2. **Global**: `~/.claude/settings.json` - shared/base permissions across all projects

Note: `settings.local.json` is project-specific. Each repo has its own at `<repo>/.claude/settings.local.json`. The global `~/.claude/settings.json` is shared across all projects.

### Step 2: Analyze Patterns

For each entry in `settings.local.json`:

1. **Check if already covered** - Is there a wildcard in `settings.json` that covers this?
   - `Bash(git commit -m "Fix bug")` is covered by `Bash(git commit:*)`
   - `Bash(curl https://api.example.com)` is covered by `Bash(curl:*)`

2. **Identify pattern opportunities** - Group similar commands:
   - Multiple `kubectl` commands → suggest `Bash(kubectl:*)`
   - Multiple `docker` commands → suggest `Bash(docker:*)`
   - Multiple WebFetch for same domain → suggest `WebFetch(https://example.com/*)`

3. **Decide global vs local** - Where should the pattern live?
   - **Global (`~/.claude/settings.json`)**: General-purpose tools used across projects (`npx`, `python`, `docker compose`, etc.)
   - **Local (`settings.local.json`)**: Project-specific commands, or write operations you only want for that project (e.g., `git push` for a personal repo)

4. **Assess safety** - Consider if the pattern is safe for auto-approval:
   - Read-only commands: Generally safe
   - Commands with side effects: Flag for review
   - Overly broad patterns: Warn about security implications

### Step 3: Present Analysis

Output a structured report:

```markdown
## Permission Analysis

### Settings Overview
- settings.local.json: X entries
- settings.json: Y entries (Z wildcards)

### Already Covered (can be removed)
These entries in settings.local.json are redundant:

| Entry | Covered by |
|-------|------------|
| Bash(git commit -m "...") | Bash(git commit:*) |

### Suggested New Patterns
These patterns would consolidate multiple specific entries:

| Pattern | Covers | Scope | Safety |
|---------|--------|-------|--------|
| Bash(kubectl:*) | 4 entries | global | Safe (read-heavy) |
| Bash(docker exec:*) | 3 entries | local | Review (can modify) |

### Uncategorized
These entries don't fit a pattern (one-offs):

- Bash(some-specific-command)
```

### Step 4: Handle Actions

Based on the action argument:

**analyze (default):**

- Present the report
- Ask if user wants to apply suggestions

**apply:**

- For each suggested pattern, ask for confirmation
- Add approved global patterns to `~/.claude/settings.json` by editing the `permissions.allow` array
- Add approved local patterns to `<project-root>/.claude/settings.json` (project-level, not local)
- Run the cleanup script to remove now-redundant entries from `settings.local.json`

**cleanup:**

- Run `<project-root>/.claude/skills/ai-analyze-permissions/scripts/cleanup-settings-local.sh`

### Step 5: Apply Patterns (if applying)

When adding patterns:

1. Before writing updated permissions, re-read the target file to ensure no concurrent modifications since the analysis step. If the file has changed, re-run analysis.
2. Read the target settings file (`~/.claude/settings.json` for global, `<project-root>/.claude/settings.json` for project)
3. Add new entries to the `permissions.allow` JSON array
4. Write the updated JSON back (preserving all other fields)
5. Run cleanup to remove now-redundant entries: `<project-root>/.claude/skills/ai-analyze-permissions/scripts/cleanup-settings-local.sh`

**Important**: Adding patterns to `settings.json` never removes existing entries. The cleanup script only cleans `settings.local.json`. To clean `settings.json` itself, manually remove redundant entries.

When adding patterns to project-level `settings.json` (committed to git), warn the user that these patterns will apply to all team members who pull the change. Confirm before writing.

See `references/pattern-safety.md` for pattern safety classifications.

$ARGUMENTS
