Claude Code cheat sheet

Keyboard shortcuts

Ctrl+C

Interrupt a running operation, or clear the input. A second press on empty input exits.

Ctrl+D

Exit the session (press twice). With text in the prompt it deletes the next character.

Ctrl+G

Open the prompt in your default text editor.

Ctrl+L

Redraw the screen, keeping input and history.

Ctrl+O

Toggle the transcript viewer with detailed tool usage.

Ctrl+R

Reverse search your command history.

Ctrl+V (Cmd+V in iTerm2)Alt+V

Paste an image from the clipboard (Cmd+V in iTerm2, Alt+V on Windows).

Ctrl+B

Send running Bash commands and agents to the background.

Ctrl+T

Show or hide Claude's task checklist.

Ctrl+S

Stash the prompt, or restore the stashed prompt.

Ctrl+Z

Suspend Claude Code to your shell (Unix). Run fg to resume.

Esc

Interrupt Claude mid-turn, keeping the work so far, or close a dialog.

Esc Esc

Clear the input draft, or on empty input open the rewind menu.

Shift+Tab

Cycle permission modes: default, acceptEdits, plan and more.

Option+PAlt+P

Switch model without clearing your prompt.

Option+TAlt+T

Toggle extended thinking.

Option+OAlt+O

Toggle fast mode.

Ctrl+X Ctrl+K

Stop all running background subagents (press twice to confirm).

Ctrl+Y

Paste the text you last deleted with Ctrl+K, Ctrl+U or Ctrl+W.

Ctrl+_

Undo the last input edit.

! at start

Shell mode: run a command directly and add its output to the session.

@

Trigger file path autocomplete.

? on empty input

Toggle the shortcut help panel.

CLI flags

-p, --print

Print a response without interactive mode, then exit.

-c, --continue

Load the most recent conversation in the current directory.

-r, --resume

Resume a session by ID or name, or open the picker.

--model

Set the model for the session by alias or full name.

--add-dir

Add more working directories Claude can read and edit.

--allowedTools

Tools that run without asking for permission.

--disallowedTools

Deny rules that remove or block tools.

--permission-mode

Start in a permission mode such as plan or acceptEdits.

--dangerously-skip-permissions

Skip permission prompts (same as bypassPermissions mode).

--output-format

Print mode output: text, json or stream-json.

--input-format

Print mode input: text or stream-json.

--max-turns

Limit agentic turns in print mode.

--max-budget-usd

Stop a print mode run once estimated spend reaches this amount.

--append-system-prompt

Append text to the default system prompt.

--system-prompt

Replace the entire system prompt.

--mcp-config

Load MCP servers from JSON files or strings.

--strict-mcp-config

Only use MCP servers from --mcp-config.

--settings

Load a settings file or inline JSON for this session.

--session-id

Use a specific session UUID.

--fork-session

When resuming, create a new session ID instead of reusing the original.

--effort

Set the effort level for the session.

--worktree, -w

Start in an isolated git worktree.

--name, -n

Set a display name for the session.

--fallback-model

Fall back to other models when the primary is overloaded.

--debug

Enable debug mode, optionally filtered by category.

--verbose

Show full turn-by-turn output.

--bare

Minimal mode: skip auto-discovery of hooks, skills, plugins, MCP and CLAUDE.md.

--tools

Restrict which built-in tools Claude can use.

--ide

Connect to your IDE on startup.

--chrome

Enable Chrome browser integration.

-v, --version

Print the version number.

Slash commands