---
title: "Interactive mode"
description: "> ## 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."
type: skill
canonical_url: https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com/skills/interactive-mode
source: "Claudary"
difficulty: intermediate
author: "Claude Code Knowledge Pack"
date: 2026-07-10T11:30:16.040Z
license: CC-BY-4.0
attribution: "Interactive mode — Claudary (https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com/skills/interactive-mode)"
---
# Interactive mode
> ## 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.
## Overview
> ## 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.
# Interactive mode
> Complete reference for keyboard shortcuts, input modes, and interactive features in Claude Code sessions.
## Keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts may vary by platform and terminal. Press `?` to see available shortcuts for your environment.
**macOS users**: Option/Alt key shortcuts (`Alt+B`, `Alt+F`, `Alt+Y`, `Alt+M`, `Alt+P`, `Alt+T`) require configuring Option as Meta in your terminal:
* **iTerm2**: Settings → Profiles → Keys → General → set Left/Right Option key to "Esc+"
* **Apple Terminal**: Settings → Profiles → Keyboard → check "Use Option as Meta Key"
* **VS Code**: set `"terminal.integrated.macOptionIsMeta": true` in VS Code settings
See [Terminal configuration](/en/terminal-config) for details.
### General controls
| Shortcut | Description | Context |
| :------------------------------------------------ | :------------------------------------------------------------------ | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `Ctrl+C` | Cancel current input or generation | Standard interrupt |
| `Ctrl+X Ctrl+K` | Kill all background agents. Press twice within 3 seconds to confirm | Background agent control |
| `Ctrl+D` | Exit Claude Code session | EOF signal |
| `Ctrl+G` or `Ctrl+X Ctrl+E` | Open in default text editor | Edit your prompt or custom response in your default text editor. `Ctrl+X Ctrl+E` is the readline-native binding. Turn on Show last response in external editor in `/config` to prepend Claude's previous reply as `#`-commented context above your prompt; the comment block is stripped when you save |
| `Ctrl+L` | Clear prompt input and redraw screen | Clears typed text and forces a full terminal redraw. Conversation history is kept. Use this to recover if the display becomes garbled or partially blank |
| `Ctrl+O` | Toggle transcript viewer | Shows detailed tool usage and execution. Also expands MCP calls, which collapse to a single line like "Called slack 3 times" by default |
| `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 | Inserts an `[Image #N]` chip at the cursor so you can reference it positionally in your prompt |
| `Ctrl+B` | Background running tasks | Backgrounds bash commands and agents. Tmux users press twice |
| `Ctrl+T` | Toggle task list | Show or hide the [task list](#task-list) in the terminal status area |
| `Left/Right arrows` | Cycle through dialog tabs | Navigate between tabs in permission dialogs and menus |
| `Up/Down arrows` or `Ctrl+P`/`Ctrl+N` | Move cursor or navigate command history | In multiline input, first moves the cursor within the prompt. Once the cursor is already on the top or bottom edge, pressing again navigates command history |
| `Esc` + `Esc` | Rewind or summarize | Restore code and/or conversation to a previous point, or summarize from a selected message |
| `Shift+Tab` or `Alt+M` (some configurations) | Cycle permission modes | Cycle through `default`, `acceptEdits`, `plan`, and any modes you have enabled, such as `auto` or `bypassPermissions`. See [permission modes](/en/permission-modes). |
| `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. On macOS, configure your terminal to send Option as Meta for this shortcut to work |
| `Option+O` (macOS) or `Alt+O` (Windows/Linux) | Toggle fast mode | Enable or disable [fast mode](/en/fast-mode) |
### Text editing
| Shortcut | Description | Context |
| :----------------------- | :----------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `Ctrl+A` | Move cursor to start of current line | In multiline input, moves to the start of the current logical line |
| `Ctrl+E` | Move cursor to end of current line | In multiline input, moves to the end of the current logical line |
| `Ctrl+K` | Delete to end of line | Stores deleted text for pasting |
| `Ctrl+U` | Delete from cursor to line start | Stores deleted text for pasting. Repeat to clear across lines in multiline input. On macOS, terminal emulators including iTerm2 and Terminal.app map `Cmd+Backspace` to this shortcut |
| `Ctrl+W` | Delete previous word | Stores deleted text for pasting. On Windows, `Ctrl+Backspace` also deletes the previous word |
| `Ctrl+Y` | Paste deleted text | Paste text deleted with `Ctrl+K`, `Ctrl+U`, or `Ctrl+W` |
| `Alt+Y` (after `Ctrl+Y`) | Cycle paste history | After pasting, cycle through previously deleted text. Requires [Option as Meta](#keyboard-shortcuts) on macOS |
| `Alt+B` | Move cursor back one word | Word navigation. Requires [Option as Meta](#keyboard-shortcuts) on macOS |
| `Alt+F` | Move cursor forward one word | Word navigation. Requires [Option as Meta](#keyboard-shortcuts) 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 |
| Option key | `Option+Enter` | After enabling [Option as Meta](/en/terminal-config#enable-option-key-shortcuts-on-macos) on macOS |
| Shift+Enter | `Shift+Enter` | Native in iTerm2, WezTerm, Ghostty, Kitty, Warp, Apple Terminal |
| Control sequence | `Ctrl+J` | Works in any terminal without configuration |
| Paste mode | Paste directly | For code blocks, logs |
Shift+Enter works without configuration in iTerm2, WezTerm, Ghostty, Kitty, Warp, and Apple Terminal. For VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Alacritty, and Zed, run `/terminal-setup` to install the binding.
### Quick commands
| Shortcut | Description | Notes |
| :----------- | :---------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `/` at start | Command or skill | See [commands](#commands) and [skills](/en/skills) |
| `!` at start | Bash mode | Run commands directly and add execution output to the session |
| `@` | File path mention | Trigger file path autocomplete |
### Transcript viewer
When the transcript viewer is open (toggled with `Ctrl+O`), these shortcuts are available. `Ctrl+E` can be rebound via [`transcript:toggleShowAll`](/en/keybindings).
| Shortcut | Description |
| :------------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `Ctrl+E` | Toggle show all content |
| `[` | Write the full conversation to
---
Source: [Claudary](https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com/skills/interactive-mode) · https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com