diff --git a/.claude/hooks/session-start.sh b/.claude/hooks/session-start.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..476c959a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.claude/hooks/session-start.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+if [ "${CLAUDE_CODE_REMOTE:-}" != "true" ]; then
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+pip install -r requirements.txt -r requirements-test.txt --quiet --ignore-installed
+
+echo 'export DATASTORE_EMULATOR_HOST=localhost:8081' >> "$CLAUDE_ENV_FILE"
diff --git a/.claude/settings.json b/.claude/settings.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e06b0338
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.claude/settings.json
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{
+  "hooks": {
+    "SessionStart": [
+      {
+        "hooks": [
+          {
+            "type": "command",
+            "command": "$CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR/.claude/hooks/session-start.sh"
+          }
+        ]
+      }
+    ]
+  }
+}
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1865c288..6ad095e5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,4 +12,5 @@ __pycache__/
 /ide/flask_secret.py
 /build-tools/Uglify-ES/uglify-es/package-lock.json
 .env
-.claude
+# .claude is excluded on main — do NOT merge this line's removal back to main
+!.claude/