Claude Code Tools: A Complete Overview

What You Get Out of the Box

Claude Code is not just a wrapper around the API. It ships with a toolkit that controls how it reads your project, responds to your input, and integrates with your existing workflow. If you have been running it with default settings, you are missing most of what it can do.

Interactive Shortcuts

The most immediate tool is the interactive shortcut system. While a session is running:

• Ctrl+C — interrupt without killing the session
• Ctrl+\ — restart current task with fresh context
• Ctrl+V — paste directly into the input buffer

Slash Commands

Slash commands trigger specific behaviors without leaving your terminal. Built-in commands include /help, /model to switch models mid-session, /resume to continue a previous session, and /clear to start fresh with the same project context.

Tool Discovery

Run claude --tools to see the full list of available tools for your current configuration. This includes built-in tools, MCP server tools, and any custom tools you have configured.

Skills

Skills are pre-built capability extensions. They cover testing, architecture review, code generation, and domain-specific tasks. Enable with --skill when starting a session:

claude --skill testing

The skill system is extensible — you can create your own skills or install community ones.