Interactive mode

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Keyboard shortcuts

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General controls

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Text editing

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Word boundaries in editing shortcuts

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Theme and display

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Multiline input

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Quick commands

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Transcript viewer

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Voice input

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Commands

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Complete a command mid-prompt

• In fullscreen rendering: the matches open as a list while you type, with no row highlighted, so Enter still sends your prompt as typed. Press Tab to insert the top match, or pick a row with the arrow keys and Enter.
• Outside fullscreen: the rest of the top match appears as ghost text at your cursor, with a count such as +2 when more commands match. Press Tab to insert the only match, or to open the list when several match, then pick a row with the arrow keys and Enter.

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Vim editor mode

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Mode switching

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Remap INSERT-mode key sequences

{
  "editorMode": "vim",
  "vimInsertModeRemaps": { "jj": "<Esc>" }
}

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Navigation (NORMAL mode)

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Editing (NORMAL mode)

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Text objects (NORMAL mode)

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Visual mode

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Command history

• Input history is stored per working directory
• Running /clear starts a new session: recall then lists the new session’s prompts first, with earlier sessions’ prompts after them. The previous session’s conversation is preserved and can be resumed.
• Submitting the same prompt twice in a row records one history entry, so pressing Up steps to the previous distinct prompt
• When you recall a prompt that included pasted text, Claude Code sends the full pasted content again when you resubmit. If the content has since been cleaned up, Claude Code doesn’t send the literal [Pasted text #N] string; see Paste large content for what happens to the prompt
• History expansion with ! is disabled by default

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Reverse search with Ctrl+R

1. Start search: press Ctrl+R to activate reverse history search
2. Type query: enter text to search for in previous commands. The search term is highlighted in matching results
3. Navigate matches: press Ctrl+R again to cycle through older matches
4. Search scope: the inline search always searches prompts from all projects
5. Accept match:
   • Press Tab or Esc to accept the current match and continue editing
   • Press Enter to accept and execute the command immediately
6. Cancel search:
   • Press Ctrl+C to cancel and restore your original input
   • Press Backspace on empty search to cancel

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Background Bash commands

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How backgrounding works

• Prompt Claude Code to run a command in the background
• Press Ctrl+B to move a regular Bash tool invocation to the background. Tmux users must press Ctrl+B twice due to tmux’s prefix key.

• Output is written to a file and Claude can retrieve it using the Read tool
• Background tasks have unique IDs for tracking and output retrieval
• Background tasks are automatically cleaned up when Claude Code exits. On macOS and Linux, when you stop a background task from /tasks or Claude Code stops it at exit, processes that detached from the task’s shell, such as ones started under setsid or timeout, stop too
• If you background the session instead of exiting it, your background tasks keep running in the background session. See background a running session
• Background tasks are automatically terminated if output exceeds 5GB, with a note in stderr explaining why
• On macOS and Linux, Claude Code terminates running background tasks when the operating system signals memory pressure, provided the session has been idle for at least 30 minutes and no turn or subagent is running. Set CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_BG_SHELL_PRESSURE_REAP to 1 to turn this off. Requires Claude Code v2.1.193 or later
• Background commands owned by a subagent have no time limit, except that a command owned by a subagent running in the foreground ends when that subagent gives its final response; see Background commands in the tools reference. Before v2.1.218, neither the memory-pressure reap nor the former 60-minute limit on subagent commands covered commands moved to the background with Ctrl+B

• Build tools (webpack, vite, make)
• Package managers (npm, yarn, pnpm)
• Test runners (jest, pytest)
• Development servers
• Long-running processes (docker, terraform)

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Shell mode with ! prefix

! npm test
! git status
! ls -la

• Adds the command and its output to the conversation context
• Shows real-time progress and output
• Supports the same Ctrl+B backgrounding for long-running commands
• Doesn’t require Claude to interpret or approve the command
• Supports history-based autocomplete: type a partial command and press Tab to complete from previous ! commands in the current project
• Supports live file path autocomplete as of v2.1.193 on all platforms: type a token containing a forward slash, such as ./src/ or ~/, to see a dropdown of matching files and directories, then press Tab to accept. Use forward slashes on Windows too; the dropdown is triggered by /, not \
• Exit with Escape, Backspace, or Ctrl+U on an empty prompt
• Pasting text that starts with ! into an empty prompt enters shell mode automatically, matching typed ! behavior

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Queue messages while Claude works

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When Claude Code sends what you queued

• Messages: if you queue a message while Claude is running tool calls, Claude Code passes it to Claude as soon as those tool calls finish, within the same turn. When the turn ends with messages still queued, Claude Code sends only the oldest as the next turn. The rest stay queued and follow the same rule: Claude Code passes them to Claude when that turn’s tool calls finish, or sends the next oldest as the turn after
• Commands and shell commands: Claude Code holds them until the turn ends, then runs them one at a time

• /model: once you confirm the cache warning, if Claude Code shows one, Claude Code applies your change to the next request it makes in that turn
• /effort: once you confirm the cache warning, if Claude Code shows one, Claude Code applies your change to the next request it makes in that turn
• /fast: Claude Code keeps the fast mode setting that was active when the turn started, so your speed change applies from your next turn. If your current model doesn’t support fast mode, turning it on also switches your model, and Claude Code uses the new model from its next request in that turn

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Take back what you queued

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Prompt suggestions

• Press Tab or Right arrow to place the suggestion in the prompt input, then Enter to submit
• Start typing to dismiss it

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When Claude Code skips suggestions

• The prompt cache is cold, to avoid unnecessary cost
• After the first turn of a conversation, in some sessions
• The previous response ended in an error
• While you’re in plan mode
• Your account is close to or at its usage limit. To keep suggestions on until you reach the limit, set CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_PROMPT_SUGGESTION to true. Before v2.1.238, Claude Code skipped them near the limit even with the variable set to true
• In an agent team, in teammates’ sessions by default. The lead’s session shows suggestions

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Turn prompt suggestions off

• Turn off Prompt suggestions in /config
• Set promptSuggestionEnabled to false in your settings file
• Set the CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_PROMPT_SUGGESTION environment variable to false, which takes precedence over the setting:
  export CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_PROMPT_SUGGESTION=false
  

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Emoji shortcodes

• Type a complete shortcode such as :heart: and Claude Code replaces it with ❤️ as soon as you type the closing :
• Type : plus at least two characters of a name, such as :hea, to open a suggestion popup, then press Tab or Enter to insert the highlighted emoji

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Check spelling as you type

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Prerequisites

• Install aspell, hunspell, or ispell and make sure it’s on your PATH. Claude Code runs the first of the three it finds, in that order, on every platform, including a .cmd shim a package manager installs on Windows.
• To check that the program is on your PATH, run aspell --version, hunspell --version, or ispell -v in your terminal. A “command not found” error means it isn’t on your PATH yet.

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Turn spell checking on or off

{
  "spellcheck": { "enabled": true }
}

{
  "spellcheck": { "enabled": true }
}

claude --settings spellcheck.json

{
  "spellcheck": { "enabled": true }
}

• checker: aspell, hunspell, or ispell. Claude Code doesn’t fall back from a checker you name, and treats any other value as auto.
• language: a dictionary name in your checker’s form, such as en_GB. Claude Code ignores any value that isn’t a plain dictionary name, such as a path or a name with spaces, and the checker uses its default dictionary.
• color: a color name such as yellow, or a #rrggbb, #rgb, rgb(r,g,b), ansi256(n), or ansi:<name> value. Claude Code uses your theme’s error color by default and for any value it doesn’t recognize.

{
  "spellcheck": {
    "enabled": true,
    "checker": "hunspell",
    "language": "en_GB",
    "color": "yellow"
  }
}

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What Claude Code underlines

• Commands such as /help, @ mentions, URLs, file paths, and flags such as --verbose
• Words with digits, underscores, or a capital letter after the first, and text in backticks

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When Claude Code underlines nothing

• No checker is installed, or the one you named in checker is missing
• The checker fails twice in a row, at startup or later in the session. Claude Code restarts it after the first failure and stops checking after the second, until you restart Claude Code
• The checker takes more than 15 seconds to answer, three times. Each time, Claude Code leaves the words it was waiting on unmarked; after the third, it stops checking until you restart Claude Code

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Review changes with /diff

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Diff panel

• Fullscreen rendering
• A git repository
• A terminal at least 110 columns wide
• Claude Code v2.1.260 or later

• Jump to a file: click its row in the list. Scroll the panel with the mouse wheel. When the file list itself is too long to fit, scroll it with Alt+Up and Alt+Down, or Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down.
• Ask Claude about specific lines: select them in the panel with the mouse. Claude Code attaches the selection to your next prompt and shows a line count next to the input until you send it.
• Show the files the panel leaves out: the list skips test files and generated files, and collapses changes from before this session into one line at the bottom. Click either count line to expand it.
• Change what the panel compares against: press Ctrl+X B to cycle from this session’s changes, to your uncommitted changes as one list, to everything since your branch split from the default branch. Claude Code remembers the choice for each project.

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Diff viewer

• Left and Right: move between Current and the turn views.
• Up and Down: select a file.
• Enter: open the selected file’s diff. Scroll it with Up and Down, or PageUp and PageDown.
• Esc: return from a file’s diff to the list, or close the viewer from the list.

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Side questions with /btw

/btw what was the name of that config file again?

• Available while Claude is working: you can run /btw even while Claude is processing a response. The side question runs independently and doesn’t interrupt the main turn. It sees everything in the conversation so far, except the reply Claude is still writing.
• No tool access: side questions answer only from what is already in context. Claude can’t read files, run commands, or search when answering a side question.
• Single response: there are no follow-up turns in the overlay. To continue the thread, ask another /btw question. To continue with full tool access in a local session, press f to fork this question and answer into a background subagent.
• Low cost: while the conversation’s prompt cache is warm, a side question costs little beyond the answer itself.

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Task list

• Press Ctrl+T to toggle the task list view. The display shows up to five tasks at a time. When Claude hasn’t created any checklist items yet, the toggle has no visible effect because there’s nothing to display
• If you leave the list expanded, Claude Code restores the expanded view the next time you launch into a session that still has tasks, such as with --resume or --continue. When the task list is empty, Claude Code starts it collapsed
• To see all tasks or clear them, ask Claude directly: “show me all tasks” or “clear all tasks”
• Tasks persist across context compactions, helping Claude stay organized on larger projects
• To share a task list across sessions, set CLAUDE_CODE_TASK_LIST_ID to use a named directory in ~/.claude/tasks/: CLAUDE_CODE_TASK_LIST_ID=my-project claude

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Session recap

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Wait for a usage limit to reset

Usage limit reached · continuing automatically at 3:45pm · esc to cancel

• At the reset: the line reads continuing shortly, then Usage limit reset · continuing automatically, and Claude Code sends Claude a fixed prompt to pick the task up where it stopped. It doesn’t resend your last message.
• After your computer slept: if it slept for more than about 30 minutes and the limit reset while it slept, the line reads Your usage limit has reset · press enter to continue. Press Enter to continue. After a shorter sleep, Claude Code continues on its own.
• Early: when you finish adding usage credits with /usage-credits, sign back in after /upgrade, or switch models with /model during the wait, Claude Code checks whether usage is available again and continues right away if it is. It doesn’t check after an upgrade or purchase you make in a browser on your own. Under opusplan and other model settings that run plan mode on a different model, Claude Code waits for the reset instead.

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Cancel the wait

• You send a prompt: Claude Code runs your prompt instead of waiting.
• You exit Claude Code: the wait doesn’t restart when you resume the session.
• The conversation changes hands: you switch accounts with /login, clear or rewind the conversation, /resume another session, pull one with /teleport, relaunch with /tui, or hand the session to Claude Desktop, a background session, or the cloud.
• The setting turns off, or the reset moves past 24 hours: this ends only a wait Claude Code started on its own. A wait you picked from /rate-limit-options keeps counting down.
• The continuation is blocked: a UserPromptSubmit hook that blocks the continuation prompt, or a failure before it reaches the model, ends the wait. Claude Code tells you the continuation didn’t run. Send a prompt to continue.

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Start a wait yourself

• Remote Control and agent team teammate sessions: a person at that terminal can still start one.
• A reset more than 24 hours away: a weekly limit can reset days out.
• An Opus or Sonnet limit while you run a model outside that family: your next turn may not hit that limit. opusplan and other model settings that run plan mode on the limited family don’t get this exception.

• Background sessions and -p runs: the menu row isn’t available.
• API keys, cloud providers, and usage-based billing: usage there is metered per request, so there is no reset to wait for.
• An LLM gateway without a saved claude.ai login: Claude Code offers the wait only while a saved claude.ai login is the active credential.

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Turn automatic continue off

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PR review status

• Green: approved
• Yellow: pending review
• Red: changes requested
• Gray: draft

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GitLab merge requests

• Green: GitLab reports the merge request as mergeable
• Yellow: any other open state
• Gray: draft

• Claude Code v2.1.234 or later
• A repository remote that points at your GitLab host, either gitlab.com or a self-managed instance
• The glab CLI on your PATH, authenticated with glab auth login

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Issue reference links

• A bare #123
• A nested GitLab path such as group/subgroup/project#123
• Any reference inside a code span or code block

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See also

• Skills - Custom prompts and workflows
• Checkpointing - Rewind Claude’s edits and restore previous states
• CLI reference - Command-line flags and options
• Settings - Configuration options
• Memory management - Managing CLAUDE.md files