cheatsheets/claude-code.md

title, category, tags, updated, keywords

title	category	tags	updated	keywords
Claude Code	AI	Featured	2025-01-08	AI assistant CLI Code generation File operations Interactive mode Memory management

Getting started

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Introduction

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Claude Code is an AI-powered CLI assistant for software engineering tasks. This reference covers the most commonly used commands and features.

• Claude Code docs (docs.anthropic.com)
• GitHub repository (github.com)

Installation & Setup

# Install Claude Code
npm install -g @anthropics/claude-code

# Login with API key
claude auth login

# Check authentication status
claude auth status

Quick Start

# Start interactive session
claude

# Run a single command
claude "help me write a Python function"

# Resume previous session
claude --resume

Core Commands

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Interactive Mode

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Command	Description
claude	Start interactive session
claude --resume	Resume last session
claude --memory	Start with memory enabled
/help	Show help and available commands
/clear	Clear current conversation
/exit	Exit interactive mode
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File Operations

Command	Description
claude "read file.py"	Read and analyze a file
claude "edit file.py"	Edit an existing file
claude "create file.py"	Create a new file
claude "fix tests"	Fix failing tests
claude "refactor code"	Refactor existing code
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Git Integration

Command	Description
claude "create commit"	Create git commit with message
claude "create PR"	Create pull request
claude "review changes"	Review git changes
claude "fix merge conflicts"	Help resolve merge conflicts
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Advanced Features

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Memory Management

# Enable memory for current session
claude --memory

# View memory contents
claude "show memory"

# Clear memory
claude "clear memory"

Extended Thinking

# Enable deeper analysis
claude --think

# Complex problem solving
claude "analyze this codebase and suggest improvements"

Image Analysis

# Analyze screenshot or diagram
claude "analyze this screenshot" --image path/to/image.png

# Paste image from clipboard
claude "explain this diagram" # then paste image

Slash Commands

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Session Management

Command	Description
/help	Show available commands
/clear	Clear conversation history
/reset	Reset conversation state
/exit	Exit interactive mode
/version	Show Claude Code version
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Settings

Command	Description
/settings	Show current settings
/model	Change AI model
/memory on	Enable memory
/memory off	Disable memory
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Productivity

Command	Description
/save	Save conversation
/load	Load previous conversation
/export	Export conversation to file
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Common Workflows

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Code Review

# Review specific file
claude "review this code for bugs" file.py

# Review all changes
claude "review my git changes"

# Check code quality
claude "suggest improvements" src/

Testing

# Generate tests
claude "write tests for this function"

# Fix failing tests
claude "fix these test failures"

# Test coverage analysis
claude "analyze test coverage"

Documentation

# Generate README
claude "create README for this project"

# Add code comments
claude "add documentation to this function"

# API documentation
claude "generate API docs"

Debugging

# Debug error
claude "help debug this error: [error message]"

# Performance analysis
claude "why is this code slow?"

# Code explanation
claude "explain how this works" complex_function.py

IDE Integrations

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VS Code

# Install VS Code extension
code --install-extension anthropic.claude-code

# Open in VS Code
claude --vscode

# VS Code commands
Ctrl+Shift+P -> "Claude: Ask"
Ctrl+Shift+P -> "Claude: Review"

Configuration

# Set default editor
claude config set editor code

# Set working directory
claude config set workdir /path/to/project

# View all settings
claude config list

Best Practices

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Effective Prompting

# Be specific about requirements
claude "write a Python function that validates email addresses with regex"

# Provide context
claude "in this Django project, add user authentication"

# Ask for explanations
claude "explain this code and suggest improvements"

Project Structure

# Analyze entire project
claude "analyze project structure and suggest improvements"

# Focus on specific areas
claude "review the database models in models.py"

# Architecture decisions
claude "should I use async here?"

Security

# Security review
claude "check this code for security vulnerabilities"

# Best practices
claude "make this code more secure"

# Audit dependencies
claude "review package.json for security issues"

CLI Options

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Global Options

Option	Description
--help	Show help information
--version	Show version number
--resume	Resume previous session
--memory	Enable memory
--think	Enable extended thinking
--no-color	Disable colored output
--verbose	Verbose logging
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Authentication

Command	Description
claude auth login	Login with API key
claude auth logout	Logout current session
claude auth status	Check authentication status
claude auth whoami	Show current user info
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Configuration

Command	Description
claude config set	Set configuration value
claude config get	Get configuration value
claude config list	List all configuration
claude config reset	Reset to default configuration
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Troubleshooting

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Common Issues

# Clear authentication
claude auth logout && claude auth login

# Reset configuration
claude config reset

# Clear cache
claude --clear-cache

# Debug mode
claude --verbose --debug

Network Issues

# Check connectivity
claude "test connection"

# Use proxy
claude --proxy http://proxy:8080

# Timeout settings
claude config set timeout 30

Memory Issues

# Clear memory
claude "clear memory"

# Disable memory
claude --no-memory

# Memory usage
claude "show memory usage"

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
CLAUDE_API_KEY	API key for authentication
CLAUDE_MODEL	Default model to use
CLAUDE_MEMORY	Enable memory by default
CLAUDE_EDITOR	Default text editor
CLAUDE_WORKDIR	Default working directory
NO_COLOR	Disable colored output

Also see

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• Claude Code documentation (docs.anthropic.com)
• GitHub repository (github.com)
• Claude API docs (docs.anthropic.com)
• Community discussions (github.com)