Commands overview

Claude Code accepts two categories of commands: CLI flags you pass at launch, and slash commands you type during a session.

Claude Code has two categories of commands:

• CLI flags — options you pass when starting Claude from your terminal (e.g. claude --model sonnet). They configure the session before it starts.
• Slash commands — text commands you type inside an active session (e.g. /help). They control Claude’s behavior while the session is running.

Getting help

# Show all CLI flags
claude --help

# Inside a session, list slash commands
/help

/help lists every slash command available in the current session, including commands added by plugins and skills.

Two types of commands

Type	When to use	Example
CLI flags	Configure a session at launch — set the model, output format, permission mode	claude --permission-mode acceptEdits "fix the tests"
Slash commands	Interact with a running session — manage memory, switch models, commit code	/commit

CLI flags are consumed once and cannot be changed mid-session (with the exception of /model and /permissions, which change the running configuration in place).

CLI flags

Pass flags directly after claude:

claude [flags] [prompt]

# Non-interactive: print response and exit
claude -p "summarize this file" < README.md

# Set model for the session
claude --model opus

# Accept all file edits automatically
claude --permission-mode acceptEdits

See CLI flags for the full list.

Slash commands

Type a slash command at the input prompt inside any session:

/command [arguments]

/init
/compact summarize only the last three tasks
/model claude-opus-4-5

See Slash commands for the full list.

Keyboard shortcuts

These shortcuts work inside any interactive Claude Code session:

Key	Action
Ctrl+C	Interrupt the current response (Claude stops mid-turn)
Ctrl+D	Exit Claude Code
Ctrl+L	Clear the terminal display (does not clear conversation history)
Up / Down	Navigate input history
Tab	Autocomplete slash command names
Escape	Cancel an in-progress permission prompt

Ctrl+C interrupts the current response but keeps the conversation alive. Use Ctrl+D or /exit to end the session entirely.

Subcommands

In addition to the main claude command, a few subcommands are available in your terminal:

Subcommand	Description
claude mcp	Configure and manage MCP servers
claude mcp serve	Start Claude Code as an MCP server
claude doctor	Diagnose installation and configuration issues
claude update	Update Claude Code to the latest version

claude mcp --help
claude doctor