Common workflows

Learn about common workflows with Claude Code.

Each task in this document includes clear instructions, example commands, and best practices to help you get the most from Claude Code.

Understand new codebases

Get a quick codebase overview

Suppose you've just joined a new project and need to understand its structure quickly.

cd /path/to/project 

claude 

> give me an overview of this codebase 

> explain the main architecture patterns used here 

> what are the key data models?

> how is authentication handled?

Find relevant code

Suppose you need to locate code related to a specific feature or functionality.

> find the files that handle user authentication 

> how do these authentication files work together? 

> trace the login process from front-end to database 

Fix bugs efficiently

Suppose you've encountered an error message and need to find and fix its source.

> I'm seeing an error when I run npm test 

> suggest a few ways to fix the @ts-ignore in user.ts 

> update user.ts to add the null check you suggested 

Refactor code

Suppose you need to update old code to use modern patterns and practices.

> find deprecated API usage in our codebase 

> suggest how to refactor utils.js to use modern JavaScript features 

> refactor utils.js to use ES2024 features while maintaining the same behavior 

> run tests for the refactored code 

Use specialized subagents

Suppose you want to use specialized AI subagents to handle specific tasks more effectively.

> /agents

> review my recent code changes for security issues

> run all tests and fix any failures

> use the code-reviewer subagent to check the auth module

> have the debugger subagent investigate why users can't log in

> /agents

Use Plan Mode for safe code analysis

Plan Mode instructs Claude to create a plan by analyzing the codebase with read-only operations, perfect for exploring codebases, planning complex changes, or reviewing code safely.

When to use Plan Mode

• Multi-step implementation: When your feature requires making edits to many files
• Code exploration: When you want to research the codebase thoroughly before changing anything
• Interactive development: When you want to iterate on the direction with Claude

How to use Plan Mode

Turn on Plan Mode during a session

You can switch into Plan Mode during a session using Shift+Tab to cycle through permission modes.

If you are in Normal Mode, Shift+Tab first switches into Auto-Accept Mode, indicated by ⏵⏵ accept edits on at the bottom of the terminal. A subsequent Shift+Tab will switch into Plan Mode, indicated by ⏸ plan mode on.

Start a new session in Plan Mode

To start a new session in Plan Mode, use the --permission-mode plan flag:

claude --permission-mode plan

Run "headless" queries in Plan Mode

You can also run a query in Plan Mode directly with -p (that is, in "headless mode"):

claude --permission-mode plan -p "Analyze the authentication system and suggest improvements"

Example: Planning a complex refactor

claude --permission-mode plan

> I need to refactor our authentication system to use OAuth2. Create a detailed migration plan.

Claude analyzes the current implementation and create a comprehensive plan. Refine with follow-ups:

> What about backward compatibility?
> How should we handle database migration?

Configure Plan Mode as default

// .claude/settings.json
{
  "permissions": {
    "defaultMode": "plan"
  }
}

See settings documentation for more configuration options.

Work with tests

Suppose you need to add tests for uncovered code.

> find functions in NotificationsService.swift that are not covered by tests 

> add tests for the notification service 

> add test cases for edge conditions in the notification service 

> run the new tests and fix any failures 

Claude can generate tests that follow your project's existing patterns and conventions. When asking for tests, be specific about what behavior you want to verify. Claude examines your existing test files to match the style, frameworks, and assertion patterns already in use.

For comprehensive coverage, ask Claude to identify edge cases you might have missed. Claude can analyze your code paths and suggest tests for error conditions, boundary values, and unexpected inputs that are easy to overlook.

Create pull requests

Suppose you need to create a well-documented pull request for your changes.

> summarize the changes I've made to the authentication module 

> create a pr 

> enhance the PR description with more context about the security improvements 

> add information about how these changes were tested 

Handle documentation

Suppose you need to add or update documentation for your code.

> find functions without proper JSDoc comments in the auth module 

> add JSDoc comments to the undocumented functions in auth.js 

> improve the generated documentation with more context and examples 

> check if the documentation follows our project standards 

Work with images

Suppose you need to work with images in your codebase, and you want Claude's help analyzing image content.

> What does this image show?

> Describe the UI elements in this screenshot

> Are there any problematic elements in this diagram?

> Here's a screenshot of the error. What's causing it?

> This is our current database schema. How should we modify it for the new feature?

> Generate CSS to match this design mockup

> What HTML structure would recreate this component?

Reference files and directories

Use @ to quickly include files or directories without waiting for Claude to read them.

> Explain the logic in @src/utils/auth.js

> What's the structure of @src/components?

> Show me the data from @github:repos/owner/repo/issues

Use extended thinking (thinking mode)

Extended thinking reserves a portion of the total output token budget for Claude to reason through complex problems step-by-step. This reasoning is visible in verbose mode, which you can toggle on with Ctrl+O.

Extended thinking is particularly valuable for complex architectural decisions, challenging bugs, multi-step implementation planning, and evaluating tradeoffs between different approaches. It provides more space for exploring multiple solutions, analyzing edge cases, and self-correcting mistakes.

You can configure thinking mode for Claude Code in several ways:

Per-request thinking with ultrathink

You can include ultrathink as a keyword in your message to enable thinking for a single request:

> ultrathink: design a caching layer for our API

Note that ultrathink both allocates the thinking budget AND semantically signals to Claude to reason more thoroughly, which may result in deeper thinking than necessary for your task.

The ultrathink keyword only works when MAX_THINKING_TOKENS is not set. When MAX_THINKING_TOKENS is configured, it takes priority and controls the thinking budget for all requests.

Other phrases like "think", "think hard", and "think more" are interpreted as regular prompt instructions and don't allocate thinking tokens.

To view Claude's thinking process, press Ctrl+O to toggle verbose mode and see the internal reasoning displayed as gray italic text.

See the token budget section below for detailed budget information and cost implications.

How extended thinking token budgets work

Extended thinking uses a token budget that controls how much internal reasoning Claude can perform before responding.

A larger thinking token budget provides:

• More space to explore multiple solution approaches step-by-step
• Room to analyze edge cases and evaluate tradeoffs thoroughly
• Ability to revise reasoning and self-correct mistakes

Token budgets for thinking mode:

• When thinking is enabled (via /config or ultrathink), Claude can use up to 31,999 tokens from your output budget for internal reasoning
• When thinking is disabled, Claude uses 0 tokens for thinking

Custom token budgets:

• You can set a custom thinking token budget using the MAX_THINKING_TOKENS environment variable
• This takes highest priority and overrides the default 31,999 token budget
• See the extended thinking documentation for valid token ranges

Resume previous conversations

When starting Claude Code, you can resume a previous session:

• claude --continue continues the most recent conversation in the current directory
• claude --resume opens a conversation picker or resumes by name

From inside an active session, use /resume to switch to a different conversation.

Sessions are stored per project directory. The /resume picker shows sessions from the same git repository, including worktrees.

Name your sessions

Give sessions descriptive names to find them later. This is a best practice when working on multiple tasks or features.

> /rename auth-refactor

claude --resume auth-refactor

> /resume auth-refactor

Use the session picker

The /resume command (or claude --resume without arguments) opens an interactive session picker with these features:

Keyboard shortcuts in the picker:

Session organization:

The picker displays sessions with helpful metadata:

• Session name or initial prompt
• Time elapsed since last activity
• Message count
• Git branch (if applicable)

Forked sessions (created with /rewind or --fork-session) are grouped together under their root session, making it easier to find related conversations.

Run parallel Claude Code sessions with Git worktrees

Suppose you need to work on multiple tasks simultaneously with complete code isolation between Claude Code instances.

# Create a new worktree with a new branch 
git worktree add ../project-feature-a -b feature-a

# Or create a worktree with an existing branch
git worktree add ../project-bugfix bugfix-123

# Navigate to your worktree 
cd ../project-feature-a

# Run Claude Code in this isolated environment
claude

cd ../project-bugfix
claude

# List all worktrees
git worktree list

# Remove a worktree when done
git worktree remove ../project-feature-a

Use Claude as a unix-style utility

Add Claude to your verification process

Suppose you want to use Claude Code as a linter or code reviewer.

Add Claude to your build script:

// package.json
{
    ...
    "scripts": {
        ...
        "lint:claude": "claude -p 'you are a linter. please look at the changes vs. main and report any issues related to typos. report the filename and line number on one line, and a description of the issue on the second line. do not return any other text.'"
    }
}

Pipe in, pipe out

Suppose you want to pipe data into Claude, and get back data in a structured format.

Pipe data through Claude:

cat build-error.txt | claude -p 'concisely explain the root cause of this build error' > output.txt

Control output format

Suppose you need Claude's output in a specific format, especially when integrating Claude Code into scripts or other tools.

cat data.txt | claude -p 'summarize this data' --output-format text > summary.txt

cat code.py | claude -p 'analyze this code for bugs' --output-format json > analysis.json

cat log.txt | claude -p 'parse this log file for errors' --output-format stream-json

Create custom slash commands

Claude Code supports custom slash commands that you can create to quickly execute specific prompts or tasks.

For more details, see the Slash commands reference page.

Create project-specific commands

Suppose you want to create reusable slash commands for your project that all team members can use.

mkdir -p .claude/commands

echo "Analyze the performance of this code and suggest three specific optimizations:" > .claude/commands/optimize.md 

> /optimize 

Add command arguments with $ARGUMENTS

Suppose you want to create flexible slash commands that can accept additional input from users.

echo 'Find and fix issue #$ARGUMENTS. Follow these steps: 1.
Understand the issue described in the ticket 2. Locate the relevant code in
our codebase 3. Implement a solution that addresses the root cause 4. Add
appropriate tests 5. Prepare a concise PR description' >
.claude/commands/fix-issue.md 

> /fix-issue 123 

Create personal slash commands

Suppose you want to create personal slash commands that work across all your projects.

mkdir -p ~/.claude/commands 

echo "Review this code for security vulnerabilities, focusing on:" >
~/.claude/commands/security-review.md 

> /security-review 

Ask Claude about its capabilities

Claude has built-in access to its documentation and can answer questions about its own features and limitations.

Example questions

> can Claude Code create pull requests?

> how does Claude Code handle permissions?

> what slash commands are available?

> how do I use MCP with Claude Code?

> how do I configure Claude Code for Amazon Bedrock?

> what are the limitations of Claude Code?

Next steps

To find navigation and other pages in this documentation, fetch the llms.txt file at: https://code.claude.com/docs/llms.txt