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Complete reference for Claude Code command-line interface, including commands and flags.
You can start sessions, pipe content, resume conversations, and manage updates with these commands:
| Command | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
claude |
Start interactive session | claude |
claude "query" |
Start interactive session with initial prompt | claude "explain this project" |
claude -p "query" |
Query via SDK, then exit | claude -p "explain this function" |
cat file | claude -p "query" |
Process piped content | cat logs.txt | claude -p "explain" |
claude -c |
Continue most recent conversation in current directory | claude -c |
claude -c -p "query" |
Continue via SDK | claude -c -p "Check for type errors" |
claude -r "<session>" "query" |
Resume session by ID or name | claude -r "auth-refactor" "Finish this PR" |
claude update |
Update to latest version | claude update |
claude auth login |
Sign in to your Anthropic account. Use --email to pre-fill your email address and --sso to force SSO authentication |
claude auth login --email user@example.com --sso |
claude auth logout |
Log out from your Anthropic account | claude auth logout |
claude auth status |
Show authentication status as JSON. Use --text for human-readable output. Exits with code 0 if logged in, 1 if not |
claude auth status |
claude agents |
List all configured subagents, grouped by source | claude agents |
claude mcp |
Configure Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers | See the Claude Code MCP documentation. |
claude remote-control |
Start a Remote Control session to control Claude Code from Claude.ai or the Claude app while running locally. See Remote Control for flags | claude remote-control |
Customize Claude Code's behavior with these command-line flags:
| Flag | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
--add-dir |
Add additional working directories for Claude to access (validates each path exists as a directory) | claude --add-dir ../apps ../lib |
--agent |
Specify an agent for the current session (overrides the agent setting) |
claude --agent my-custom-agent |
--agents |
Define custom subagents dynamically via JSON (see below for format) | claude --agents '{"reviewer":{"description":"Reviews code","prompt":"You are a code reviewer"}}' |
--allow-dangerously-skip-permissions |
Enable permission bypassing as an option without immediately activating it. Allows composing with --permission-mode (use with caution) |
claude --permission-mode plan --allow-dangerously-skip-permissions |
--allowedTools |
Tools that execute without prompting for permission. See permission rule syntax for pattern matching. To restrict which tools are available, use --tools instead |
"Bash(git log *)" "Bash(git diff *)" "Read" |
--append-system-prompt |
Append custom text to the end of the default system prompt | claude --append-system-prompt "Always use TypeScript" |
--append-system-prompt-file |
Load additional system prompt text from a file and append to the default prompt | claude --append-system-prompt-file ./extra-rules.txt |
--betas |
Beta headers to include in API requests (API key users only) | claude --betas interleaved-thinking |
--chrome |
Enable Chrome browser integration for web automation and testing | claude --chrome |
--continue, -c |
Load the most recent conversation in the current directory | claude --continue |
--dangerously-skip-permissions |
Skip all permission prompts (use with caution) | claude --dangerously-skip-permissions |
--debug |
Enable debug mode with optional category filtering (for example, "api,hooks" or "!statsig,!file") |
claude --debug "api,mcp" |
--disable-slash-commands |
Disable all skills and commands for this session | claude --disable-slash-commands |
--disallowedTools |
Tools that are removed from the model's context and cannot be used | "Bash(git log *)" "Bash(git diff *)" "Edit" |
--fallback-model |
Enable automatic fallback to specified model when default model is overloaded (print mode only) | claude -p --fallback-model sonnet "query" |
--fork-session |
When resuming, create a new session ID instead of reusing the original (use with --resume or --continue) |
claude --resume abc123 --fork-session |
--from-pr |
Resume sessions linked to a specific GitHub PR. Accepts a PR number or URL. Sessions are automatically linked when created via gh pr create |
claude --from-pr 123 |
--ide |
Automatically connect to IDE on startup if exactly one valid IDE is available | claude --ide |
--init |
Run initialization hooks and start interactive mode | claude --init |
--init-only |
Run initialization hooks and exit (no interactive session) | claude --init-only |
--include-partial-messages |
Include partial streaming events in output (requires --print and --output-format=stream-json) |
claude -p --output-format stream-json --include-partial-messages "query" |
--input-format |
Specify input format for print mode (options: text, stream-json) |
claude -p --output-format json --input-format stream-json |
--json-schema |
Get validated JSON output matching a JSON Schema after agent completes its workflow (print mode only, see structured outputs) | claude -p --json-schema '{"type":"object","properties":{...}}' "query" |
--maintenance |
Run maintenance hooks and exit | claude --maintenance |
--max-budget-usd |
Maximum dollar amount to spend on API calls before stopping (print mode only) | claude -p --max-budget-usd 5.00 "query" |
--max-turns |
Limit the number of agentic turns (print mode only). Exits with an error when the limit is reached. No limit by default | claude -p --max-turns 3 "query" |
--mcp-config |
Load MCP servers from JSON files or strings (space-separated) | claude --mcp-config ./mcp.json |
--model |
Sets the model for the current session with an alias for the latest model (sonnet or opus) or a model's full name |
claude --model claude-sonnet-4-6 |
--no-chrome |
Disable Chrome browser integration for this session | claude --no-chrome |
--no-session-persistence |
Disable session persistence so sessions are not saved to disk and cannot be resumed (print mode only) | claude -p --no-session-persistence "query" |
--output-format |
Specify output format for print mode (options: text, json, stream-json) |
claude -p "query" --output-format json |
--permission-mode |
Begin in a specified permission mode | claude --permission-mode plan |
--permission-prompt-tool |
Specify an MCP tool to handle permission prompts in non-interactive mode | claude -p --permission-prompt-tool mcp_auth_tool "query" |
--plugin-dir |
Load plugins from directories for this session only (repeatable) | claude --plugin-dir ./my-plugins |
--print, -p |
Print response without interactive mode (see Agent SDK documentation for programmatic usage details) | claude -p "query" |
--remote |
Create a new web session on claude.ai with the provided task description | claude --remote "Fix the login bug" |
--resume, -r |
Resume a specific session by ID or name, or show an interactive picker to choose a session | claude --resume auth-refactor |
--session-id |
Use a specific session ID for the conversation (must be a valid UUID) | claude --session-id "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000" |
--setting-sources |
Comma-separated list of setting sources to load (user, project, local) |
claude --setting-sources user,project |
--settings |
Path to a settings JSON file or a JSON string to load additional settings from | claude --settings ./settings.json |
--strict-mcp-config |
Only use MCP servers from --mcp-config, ignoring all other MCP configurations |
claude --strict-mcp-config --mcp-config ./mcp.json |
--system-prompt |
Replace the entire system prompt with custom text | claude --system-prompt "You are a Python expert" |
--system-prompt-file |
Load system prompt from a file, replacing the default prompt | claude --system-prompt-file ./custom-prompt.txt |
--teleport |
Resume a web session in your local terminal | claude --teleport |
--teammate-mode |
Set how agent team teammates display: auto (default), in-process, or tmux. See set up agent teams |
claude --teammate-mode in-process |
--tools |
Restrict which built-in tools Claude can use. Use "" to disable all, "default" for all, or tool names like "Bash,Edit,Read" |
claude --tools "Bash,Edit,Read" |
--verbose |
Enable verbose logging, shows full turn-by-turn output | claude --verbose |
--version, -v |
Output the version number | claude -v |
--worktree, -w |
Start Claude in an isolated git worktree at <repo>/.claude/worktrees/<name>. If no name is given, one is auto-generated |
claude -w feature-auth |
The --agents flag accepts a JSON object that defines one or more custom subagents. Each subagent requires a unique name (as the key) and a definition object with the following fields:
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
description |
Yes | Natural language description of when the subagent should be invoked |
prompt |
Yes | The system prompt that guides the subagent's behavior |
tools |
No | Array of specific tools the subagent can use, for example ["Read", "Edit", "Bash"]. If omitted, inherits all tools. Supports Agent(agent_type) syntax |
disallowedTools |
No | Array of tool names to explicitly deny for this subagent |
model |
No | Model alias to use: sonnet, opus, haiku, or inherit. If omitted, defaults to inherit |
skills |
No | Array of skill names to preload into the subagent's context |
mcpServers |
No | Array of MCP servers for this subagent. Each entry is a server name string or a {name: config} object |
maxTurns |
No | Maximum number of agentic turns before the subagent stops |
Example:
claude --agents '{
"code-reviewer": {
"description": "Expert code reviewer. Use proactively after code changes.",
"prompt": "You are a senior code reviewer. Focus on code quality, security, and best practices.",
"tools": ["Read", "Grep", "Glob", "Bash"],
"model": "sonnet"
},
"debugger": {
"description": "Debugging specialist for errors and test failures.",
"prompt": "You are an expert debugger. Analyze errors, identify root causes, and provide fixes."
}
}'For more details on creating and using subagents, see the subagents documentation.
Claude Code provides four flags for customizing the system prompt. All four work in both interactive and non-interactive modes.
| Flag | Behavior | Use case |
|---|---|---|
--system-prompt |
Replaces entire default prompt | Complete control over Claude's behavior and instructions |
--system-prompt-file |
Replaces with file contents | Load prompts from files for reproducibility and version control |
--append-system-prompt |
Appends to default prompt | Add specific instructions while keeping default Claude Code behavior |
--append-system-prompt-file |
Appends file contents to default prompt | Load additional instructions from files while keeping defaults |
When to use each:
-
--system-prompt: use when you need complete control over Claude's system prompt. This removes all default Claude Code instructions, giving you a blank slate.claude --system-prompt "You are a Python expert who only writes type-annotated code" -
--system-prompt-file: use when you want to load a custom prompt from a file, useful for team consistency or version-controlled prompt templates.claude --system-prompt-file ./prompts/code-review.txt
-
--append-system-prompt: use when you want to add specific instructions while keeping Claude Code's default capabilities intact. This is the safest option for most use cases.claude --append-system-prompt "Always use TypeScript and include JSDoc comments" -
--append-system-prompt-file: use when you want to append instructions from a file while keeping Claude Code's defaults. Useful for version-controlled additions.claude --append-system-prompt-file ./prompts/style-rules.txt
--system-prompt and --system-prompt-file are mutually exclusive. The append flags can be used together with either replacement flag.
For most use cases, --append-system-prompt or --append-system-prompt-file is recommended as they preserve Claude Code's built-in capabilities while adding your custom requirements. Use --system-prompt or --system-prompt-file only when you need complete control over the system prompt.
- Chrome extension - Browser automation and web testing
- Interactive mode - Shortcuts, input modes, and interactive features
- Quickstart guide - Getting started with Claude Code
- Common workflows - Advanced workflows and patterns
- Settings - Configuration options
- Agent SDK documentation - Programmatic usage and integrations