Tips and Tricks¶

A collection of keyboard shortcuts, slash commands, CLI features, and workflow tricks to get the most out of Claude Code.

Keyboard Shortcuts¶

Shortcut	Action
Escape	Interrupt Claude mid-response (useful if it goes off track)
Shift+Tab	Insert a newline in your prompt (for multi-line input)
Up Arrow	Cycle through previous prompts
Ctrl+C	Cancel current input or interrupt response
Ctrl+L	Clear the terminal display

Escape is your best friend. If Claude starts heading in the wrong direction, hit Escape immediately. You save tokens and can redirect with a better prompt.

Slash Commands¶

Slash commands are typed directly into the prompt input:

Session Management¶

/compact — Summarize conversation history to reduce context size. Optionally add a focus: /compact focus on the auth module
/clear — Clear the entire conversation and start fresh
/help — Show available commands and usage information

Model Selection¶

/model — Switch the active model mid-session

/model claude-haiku-4-5-20251001    # Fast, cheap — good for simple tasks
/model claude-sonnet-4-6            # Balanced — default for most work
/model claude-opus-4-7              # Most capable — for complex tasks

Other Commands¶

/cost — Show token usage for the current session (if available)
/config — Open or manage configuration
/review — Start a code review workflow

Headless Mode¶

Run Claude Code non-interactively for scripting and automation:

# Pipe a prompt directly
echo "explain src/main.ts" | claude

# Use the -p flag for a one-shot prompt
claude -p "what does the main function do in src/index.ts"

# Combine with other tools
git diff | claude -p "review this diff for bugs"
cat error.log | claude -p "explain these errors and suggest fixes"

Headless mode is powerful for: - CI/CD pipelines (automated code review, commit message generation) - Shell scripts that need AI assistance - Batch processing multiple files

Piping Input and Output¶

Claude Code reads from stdin and writes to stdout, making it composable with Unix tools:

# Feed file contents as context
cat src/config.ts | claude -p "are there any security issues here?"

# Save Claude's output to a file
claude -p "generate a .gitignore for a Node.js project" > .gitignore

# Chain with other commands
git log --oneline -20 | claude -p "summarize recent changes"

CLI Flags¶

Essentials¶

claude                          # Interactive mode (default)
claude -p "prompt"              # One-shot prompt, exit after response
claude --model claude-opus-4-7  # Start with a specific model
claude --verbose                # Show additional debug output
claude --allowedTools "Edit,Read,Bash"  # Restrict available tools

Session and Context¶

claude --resume                 # Resume the most recent conversation
claude --resume <session-id>    # Resume a specific conversation
claude --continue               # Continue the last conversation (alias for resume)
claude -p "prompt" --output-format json   # Structured JSON output for scripting
claude -p "prompt" --output-format stream-json  # Streaming JSON for real-time parsing

Safety and Limits¶

claude --max-turns 10           # Limit agentic loop iterations
claude --permission-mode plan   # Start in plan mode (read-only until approved)
claude --dangerously-skip-permissions  # Skip all permission prompts (CI only)
claude --no-mcp                 # Disable all MCP servers for this session

Debugging and Diagnostics¶

claude --mcp-debug              # Verbose MCP protocol logging
claude --verbose                # Extra debug output for all operations
claude config list              # Show all current configuration values
claude config set vim_mode true # Set a config value

System Prompts and Context¶

claude -p "prompt" --system-prompt "You are a security auditor"  # Custom system prompt
claude -p "prompt" --append-system-prompt "Always use TypeScript"  # Append to default system prompt

Vim Mode¶

If you prefer vim keybindings, Claude Code supports vim mode for input editing:

# Enable vim mode
claude config set vim_mode true

With vim mode enabled: - Press Escape to enter normal mode - Standard vim motions (h, j, k, l, w, b, etc.) work in the input - Press i or a to return to insert mode

Multi-line Input¶

For complex prompts, use Shift+Tab to add newlines:

Fix the following issues:          [Shift+Tab]
1. The login form doesn't validate  [Shift+Tab]
2. The error message is wrong       [Shift+Tab]
3. The redirect URL is hardcoded    [Enter to send]

Alternatively, write your prompt in a file and pipe it:

claude -p "$(cat my-prompt.txt)"

More Keyboard Shortcuts¶

Shortcut	Action
Tab	Accept Claude's suggestion or autocomplete
Ctrl+D	Exit Claude Code (same as typing `/exit`)
Ctrl+Z	Undo the last file edit Claude made
Ctrl+R	Search through prompt history

macOS-Specific¶

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+K	Clear terminal (alternative to Ctrl+L)

Customizing Keybindings¶

You can customize key bindings in ~/claude_internal/keybindings.json:

{
  "submit": "enter",
  "newline": "shift+enter"
}

Useful Workflow Patterns¶

Quick exploration before deep work:

"list all files that import from src/auth/"
"show me the public API of the User class"

Checkpoint with /compact: After finishing a sub-task, compact before starting the next one. This keeps costs down and prevents context confusion.

Use Escape + redirect: If Claude starts implementing the wrong approach, hit Escape and clarify:

[Escape]
"Stop — use the existing validateUser function instead of creating a new one"

Batch related changes:

"rename all instances of userId to user_id in the Python files under src/models/"