20+ Claude Code Shortcuts You Need to Know

Claude Code shortcuts and commands that separate beginners from power users. Stop using it like a basic chat window and start working 10x faster. This is Episode 1 in our Mastering Claude Code series. I see people typing, waiting, copy-pasting, completely missing the keyboard shortcuts and slash commands that change how you work. These are small changes that make a massive difference in your daily workflow. If you are new to Claude Code, check out our Getting Started video first (link below). Otherwise, these shortcuts will level up your Claude Code powers immediately. Timestamps 00:00 Claude Code Shortcuts Introduction 00:53 Permission Modes with Shift+Tab 01:36 External Text Editor with Ctrl+G 02:53 Terminal Prompt Editing Shortcuts 03:31 Paste Images and Screenshots 04:06 Extended Thinking and Verbose Mode 04:53 File References with @ Symbol 05:38 Context Management and /clear Command 06:19 5 Essential Built-in Slash Commands 08:28 Must Know Shortcuts Recap In this video I cover: Shift+Tab - Cycle through permission modes instantly. Accept Edits mode lets Claude modify files without asking for every single change. Plan Mode lets Claude explore your codebase without making any changes. Ctrl+G - Open your prompt in an external text editor. A lifesaver for longer prompts where terminal line editing becomes painful. Ctrl+V / Cmd+V - Paste images directly into Claude Code. Screenshots, mockups, diagrams, error messages. Claude is multimodal and can see what you share. Tab - Toggle extended thinking mode. Ctrl+O - Toggle verbose mode to see Claude's actual reasoning process. Gold for debugging. @ symbol - Reference files directly. No waiting for Claude to search. @src/utils/auth.js immediately includes that file content. /clear - Use between tasks. Your context window is precious. Old context about authentication bugs does not help when building a new dashboard. Plus /context, /resume, /bashes, /memory, /rewind, and more slash commands that power users rel