Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://code.claude.com/docs/llms.txt Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

CLI reference

Complete reference for Claude Code command-line interface, including commands and flags.

CLI commands

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 [email protected] --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

CLI flags

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 `--output-format json` flag is particularly useful for scripting and automation, allowing you to parse Claude's responses programmatically.

Agents flag format

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.

System prompt flags

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:

--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

--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"

--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

--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 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.

See also

• 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