Interactive mode

Complete reference for keyboard shortcuts, input modes, and interactive features in Claude Code sessions.

Keyboard shortcuts

General controls

Shortcut	Description	Context
`Ctrl+C`	Cancel current input or generation	Standard interrupt
`Ctrl+D`	Exit Claude Code session	EOF signal
`Ctrl+G`	Open in default text editor	Edit your prompt or custom response in your default text editor
`Ctrl+L`	Clear terminal screen	Keeps conversation history
`Ctrl+O`	Toggle verbose output	Shows detailed tool usage and execution
`Ctrl+R`	Reverse search command history	Search through previous commands interactively
`Ctrl+V` or `Cmd+V` (iTerm2) or `Alt+V` (Windows)	Paste image from clipboard	Pastes an image or path to an image file
`Ctrl+B`	Background running tasks	Backgrounds bash commands and agents. Tmux users press twice
`Left/Right arrows`	Cycle through dialog tabs	Navigate between tabs in permission dialogs and menus
`Up/Down arrows`	Navigate command history	Recall previous inputs
`Esc` + `Esc`	Rewind the code/conversation	Restore the code and/or conversation to a previous point
`Shift+Tab` or `Alt+M` (some configurations)	Toggle permission modes	Switch between Auto-Accept Mode, Plan Mode, and normal mode
`Option+P` (macOS) or `Alt+P` (Windows/Linux)	Switch model	Switch models without clearing your prompt
`Option+T` (macOS) or `Alt+T` (Windows/Linux)	Toggle extended thinking	Enable or disable extended thinking mode. Run `/terminal-setup` first to enable this shortcut

Text editing

Shortcut	Description	Context
`Ctrl+K`	Delete to end of line	Stores deleted text for pasting
`Ctrl+U`	Delete entire line	Stores deleted text for pasting
`Ctrl+Y`	Paste deleted text	Paste text deleted with `Ctrl+K` or `Ctrl+U`
`Alt+Y` (after `Ctrl+Y`)	Cycle paste history	After pasting, cycle through previously deleted text. Requires Option as Meta on macOS
`Alt+B`	Move cursor back one word	Word navigation. Requires Option as Meta on macOS
`Alt+F`	Move cursor forward one word	Word navigation. Requires Option as Meta on macOS

Theme and display

Shortcut	Description	Context
`Ctrl+T`	Toggle syntax highlighting for code blocks	Only works inside the `/theme` picker menu. Controls whether code in Claude's responses uses syntax coloring

Multiline input

Method	Shortcut	Context
Quick escape	`\` + `Enter`	Works in all terminals
macOS default	`Option+Enter`	Default on macOS
Shift+Enter	`Shift+Enter`	Works out of the box in iTerm2, WezTerm, Ghostty, Kitty
Control sequence	`Ctrl+J`	Line feed character for multiline
Paste mode	Paste directly	For code blocks, logs

Quick commands

Shortcut	Description	Notes
`/` at start	Command or skill	See built-in commands and skills
`!` at start	Bash mode	Run commands directly and add execution output to the session
`@`	File path mention	Trigger file path autocomplete

Built-in commands

Built-in commands are shortcuts for common actions. The table below covers commonly used commands but not all available options. Type / in Claude Code to see the full list, or type / followed by any letters to filter.

To create your own commands you can invoke with /, see skills.

Command	Purpose
`/clear`	Clear conversation history
`/compact [instructions]`	Compact conversation with optional focus instructions
`/config`	Open the Settings interface (Config tab)
`/context`	Visualize current context usage as a colored grid
`/cost`	Show token usage statistics. See cost tracking guide for subscription-specific details.
`/doctor`	Checks the health of your Claude Code installation
`/exit`	Exit the REPL
`/export [filename]`	Export the current conversation to a file or clipboard
`/help`	Get usage help
`/init`	Initialize project with `CLAUDE.md` guide
`/mcp`	Manage MCP server connections and OAuth authentication
`/memory`	Edit `CLAUDE.md` memory files
`/model`	Select or change the AI model
`/permissions`	View or update permissions
`/plan`	Enter plan mode directly from the prompt
`/rename <name>`	Rename the current session for easier identification
`/resume [session]`	Resume a conversation by ID or name, or open the session picker
`/rewind`	Rewind the conversation and/or code
`/stats`	Visualize daily usage, session history, streaks, and model preferences
`/status`	Open the Settings interface (Status tab) showing version, model, account, and connectivity
`/statusline`	Set up Claude Code's status line UI
`/tasks`	List and manage background tasks
`/teleport`	Resume a remote session from claude.ai (subscribers only)
`/theme`	Change the color theme
`/todos`	List current TODO items
`/usage`	For subscription plans only: show plan usage limits and rate limit status

MCP prompts

MCP servers can expose prompts that appear as commands. These use the format /mcp__<server>__<prompt> and are dynamically discovered from connected servers. See MCP prompts for details.

Vim editor mode

Enable vim-style editing with /vim command or configure permanently via /config.

Mode switching

Command	Action	From mode
`Esc`	Enter NORMAL mode	INSERT
`i`	Insert before cursor	NORMAL
`I`	Insert at beginning of line	NORMAL
`a`	Insert after cursor	NORMAL
`A`	Insert at end of line	NORMAL
`o`	Open line below	NORMAL
`O`	Open line above	NORMAL

Command	Action
`h`/`j`/`k`/`l`	Move left/down/up/right
`w`	Next word
`e`	End of word
`b`	Previous word
`0`	Beginning of line
`$`	End of line
`^`	First non-blank character
`gg`	Beginning of input
`G`	End of input
`f{char}`	Jump to next occurrence of character
`F{char}`	Jump to previous occurrence of character
`t{char}`	Jump to just before next occurrence of character
`T{char}`	Jump to just after previous occurrence of character
`;`	Repeat last f/F/t/T motion
`,`	Repeat last f/F/t/T motion in reverse

Editing (NORMAL mode)

Command	Action
`x`	Delete character
`dd`	Delete line
`D`	Delete to end of line
`dw`/`de`/`db`	Delete word/to end/back
`cc`	Change line
`C`	Change to end of line
`cw`/`ce`/`cb`	Change word/to end/back
`yy`/`Y`	Yank (copy) line
`yw`/`ye`/`yb`	Yank word/to end/back
`p`	Paste after cursor
`P`	Paste before cursor
`>>`	Indent line
`<<`	Dedent line
`J`	Join lines
`.`	Repeat last change

Text objects (NORMAL mode)

Text objects work with operators like d, c, and y:

Command	Action
`iw`/`aw`	Inner/around word
`iW`/`aW`	Inner/around WORD (whitespace-delimited)
`i"`/`a"`	Inner/around double quotes
`i'`/`a'`	Inner/around single quotes
`i(`/`a(`	Inner/around parentheses
`i[`/`a[`	Inner/around brackets
`i{`/`a{`	Inner/around braces

Command history

Claude Code maintains command history for the current session:

History is stored per working directory
Cleared with /clear command
Use Up/Down arrows to navigate (see keyboard shortcuts above)
Note: History expansion (!) is disabled by default

Reverse search with Ctrl+R

Press Ctrl+R to interactively search through your command history:

Start search: Press Ctrl+R to activate reverse history search
Type query: Enter text to search for in previous commands - the search term will be highlighted in matching results
Navigate matches: Press Ctrl+R again to cycle through older matches
Accept match:
- Press Tab or Esc to accept the current match and continue editing
- Press Enter to accept and execute the command immediately
Cancel search:
- Press Ctrl+C to cancel and restore your original input
- Press Backspace on empty search to cancel

The search displays matching commands with the search term highlighted, making it easy to find and reuse previous inputs.

Background bash commands

Claude Code supports running bash commands in the background, allowing you to continue working while long-running processes execute.

How backgrounding works

When Claude Code runs a command in the background, it runs the command asynchronously and immediately returns a background task ID. Claude Code can respond to new prompts while the command continues executing in the background.

To run commands in the background, you can either:

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.)

Key features:

Output is buffered and Claude can retrieve it using the TaskOutput tool
Background tasks have unique IDs for tracking and output retrieval
Background tasks are automatically cleaned up when Claude Code exits

To disable all background task functionality, set the CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_BACKGROUND_TASKS environment variable to 1. See Environment variables for details.

Common backgrounded commands:

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

Bash mode with `!` prefix

Run bash commands directly without going through Claude by prefixing your input with !:

! npm test
! git status
! ls -la

Bash mode:

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
Does not require Claude to interpret or approve the command

This is useful for quick shell operations while maintaining conversation context.

interactive-mode.md +42 −3

73### Quick commands73### Quick commands

74 74

~~76| :----------- | :---------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------ |~~76| :----------- | :---------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------- |

79| `@` | File path mention | Trigger file path autocomplete |79| `@` | File path mention | Trigger file path autocomplete |

80 80

81## Built-in commands

83Built-in commands are shortcuts for common actions. The table below covers commonly used commands but not all available options. Type `/` in Claude Code to see the full list, or type `/` followed by any letters to filter.

85To create your own commands you can invoke with `/`, see [skills](/en/skills).

87| Command | Purpose |

88| :------------------------ | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |

89| `/clear` | Clear conversation history |

90| `/compact [instructions]` | Compact conversation with optional focus instructions |

91| `/config` | Open the Settings interface (Config tab) |

92| `/context` | Visualize current context usage as a colored grid |

93| `/cost` | Show token usage statistics. See [cost tracking guide](/en/costs#using-the-cost-command) for subscription-specific details. |

94| `/doctor` | Checks the health of your Claude Code installation |

95| `/exit` | Exit the REPL |

96| `/export [filename]` | Export the current conversation to a file or clipboard |

97| `/help` | Get usage help |

98| `/init` | Initialize project with `CLAUDE.md` guide |

99| `/mcp` | Manage MCP server connections and OAuth authentication |

100| `/memory` | Edit `CLAUDE.md` memory files |

101| `/model` | Select or change the AI model |

102| `/permissions` | View or update [permissions](/en/iam#configuring-permissions) |

103| `/plan` | Enter plan mode directly from the prompt |

104| `/rename <name>` | Rename the current session for easier identification |

105| `/resume [session]` | Resume a conversation by ID or name, or open the session picker |

106| `/rewind` | Rewind the conversation and/or code |

107| `/stats` | Visualize daily usage, session history, streaks, and model preferences |

108| `/status` | Open the Settings interface (Status tab) showing version, model, account, and connectivity |

109| `/statusline` | Set up Claude Code's status line UI |

110| `/tasks` | List and manage background tasks |

111| `/teleport` | Resume a remote session from claude.ai (subscribers only) |

112| `/theme` | Change the color theme |

113| `/todos` | List current TODO items |

114| `/usage` | For subscription plans only: show plan usage limits and rate limit status |

115

116### MCP prompts

117

118MCP servers can expose prompts that appear as commands. These use the format `/mcp__<server>__<prompt>` and are dynamically discovered from connected servers. See [MCP prompts](/en/mcp#use-mcp-prompts-as-commands) for details.

119

81## Vim editor mode120## Vim editor mode

82 121

83Enable vim-style editing with `/vim` command or configure permanently via `/config`.122Enable vim-style editing with `/vim` command or configure permanently via `/config`.

223 262

224## See also263## See also

225 264

226* [Slash commands](/en/slash-commands) - Interactive session commands265* [Skills](/en/skills) - Custom prompts and workflows

227* [Checkpointing](/en/checkpointing) - Rewind Claude's edits and restore previous states266* [Checkpointing](/en/checkpointing) - Rewind Claude's edits and restore previous states

228* [CLI reference](/en/cli-reference) - Command-line flags and options267* [CLI reference](/en/cli-reference) - Command-line flags and options

229* [Settings](/en/settings) - Configuration options268* [Settings](/en/settings) - Configuration options

interactive-mode.md 2026-01-19 21:01 UTC to 2026-01-20 21:03 UTC

Interactive mode

Keyboard shortcuts

General controls

Text editing

Theme and display

Multiline input

Quick commands

Built-in commands

MCP prompts

Vim editor mode

Mode switching

Navigation (NORMAL mode)

Editing (NORMAL mode)

Text objects (NORMAL mode)

Command history

Reverse search with Ctrl+R

Background bash commands

How backgrounding works

Bash mode with `!` prefix

See also

interactive-mode.md +42 −3

interactive-mode.md 2026-01-19 21:01 UTC to 2026-01-20 21:03 UTC

Interactive mode

Keyboard shortcuts

General controls

Text editing

Theme and display

Multiline input

Quick commands

Built-in commands

MCP prompts

Vim editor mode

Mode switching

Navigation (NORMAL mode)

Editing (NORMAL mode)

Text objects (NORMAL mode)

Command history

Reverse search with Ctrl+R

Background bash commands

How backgrounding works

Bash mode with ! prefix

See also

Bash mode with `!` prefix