A
Agent teams
Multiple independent Claude Code sessions coordinated by a team lead, with a shared task list and peer-to-peer messaging. Unlike subagents, which run within a single session and report only to the parent, teammates each have their own context window and you can interact with any of them directly. Agent teams are experimental and disabled by default; see Enable agent teams. Learn more: Run agent teamsAgentic coding
A workflow where the AI can read files, run commands, and make changes autonomously while you watch, redirect, or step away, as opposed to chat-based assistants that only respond with text you must apply yourself. Claude Code is agentic because it has tools that let it act, not just advise. Learn more: How Claude Code worksAgentic harness
The tools, context management, and execution environment that turn a language model into a capable coding agent. Claude Code is the harness; Claude is the model inside it. The harness supplies file access, shell execution, permission gating, memory loading, and the loop that chains actions together. Learn more: How Claude Code worksAgentic loop
The cycle Claude works through for every task: gather context, take action, verify results, and repeat until done. Each tool use returns information that informs the next step. You can interrupt the loop at any point to redirect. Most extension points, including hooks, skills, and MCP, plug into specific phases of this loop. Learn more: How Claude Code worksArtifact
A live, interactive web page Claude Code publishes from your session to a private URL on claude.ai, so you can see output visually or share it instead of reading terminal text. The page updates in place when the session republishes. Artifacts you create from Claude Code appear in the same gallery as artifacts created in claude.ai conversations. Sharing depends on your plan: on Pro and Max, a public link that anyone can open; on Team and Enterprise, sharing within your organization, plus public links once an Owner enables them. Learn more: Share session output as artifactsAuto memory
Notes Claude writes for itself based on your corrections and preferences, stored per git repository under~/.claude/projects/. All worktrees of the same repository share one auto memory directory. The first 200 lines or 25 KB of the MEMORY.md index loads at the start of every session. Auto memory is the Claude-written counterpart to CLAUDE.md, which you write.
Learn more: Auto memory
Auto mode
A permission mode where a separate classifier model reviews actions instead of you, so Claude Code runs most of them without asking you. Claude Code still asks you before actions your explicit ask rules match. On Pro, Max, and Team plans, auto mode is the built-in starting permission mode for interactive terminal and VS Code sessions. The classifier blocks scope escalation, untrusted infrastructure, and prompt injection. It never sees tool results, so injected instructions can’t influence its decisions. Learn more: Eliminate prompts with auto modeB
Bare mode
With--bare, Claude Code starts without loading hooks, skills, plugins, MCP servers, auto memory, or CLAUDE.md. Recommended for CI and scripted calls where you need the same result on every machine.
Learn more: Start faster with bare mode
Bundled skills
Prompt-based playbooks included with Claude Code, such as/batch, /code-review, /debug, and /loop. Unlike built-in commands, which execute fixed logic, bundled skills give Claude a detailed prompt and let it orchestrate the work, so they can spawn agents, read files, and adapt to your codebase.
Learn more: Bundled skills
C
Channel
An MCP server that pushes events into your running session so Claude can react to things that happen while you’re away from the terminal. Channels can be two-way: Claude reads an inbound event and replies back through the same channel. Telegram, Discord, and iMessage are included in the research preview. Learn more: ChannelsCheckpoint
A restore point created at each prompt you send. Claude Code snapshots files before every edit so a checkpoint can revert them. PressEsc twice or run /rewind to restore code, conversation, or both to an earlier point, or to summarize part of the conversation from a selected message. Checkpoints are saved with the conversation, so a resumed session can still /rewind to them. They’re separate from git and don’t track changes made through the Bash tool.
Learn more: Checkpointing
.claude directory
The directory where Claude Code reads project-scoped configuration: settings, hooks, skills, subagents, rules, and auto memory. A project has .claude/ at its root; your user-level defaults are at ~/.claude/.
Learn more: The .claude directory
CLAUDE.md
A markdown file of persistent instructions you write for Claude, loaded at the start of every session as a user message after the system prompt. Put project conventions, architecture notes, and “always do X” rules here. Project-root CLAUDE.md survives compaction and is re-read fresh from disk afterward. You can place CLAUDE.md at project scope in./CLAUDE.md or ./.claude/CLAUDE.md, at user scope in ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, or as managed policy for your organization. All discovered files are concatenated into context rather than overriding each other, ordered from broadest scope to most specific.
Learn more: CLAUDE.md files
Command
A reusable instruction you invoke by typing/name in the prompt. Built-in commands such as /clear, /model, and /compact control the session. You can define your own commands as files in .claude/commands/, or install them from a plugin. Skills are the recommended way to package multi-step commands.
Two other uses of the word are unrelated: claude CLI subcommands such as claude mcp add, listed in the CLI reference, and the command field of a stdio MCP server entry, which specifies the executable Claude Code launches to start the server.
Learn more: Commands · Skills
Compaction
Automatic summarization of your conversation when the context window approaches its limit. Older tool outputs are cleared first, then the conversation is summarized. Project-root CLAUDE.md and auto memory survive compaction and reload from disk; instructions given only in conversation may be lost. Run/compact to trigger manually, optionally with a focus like /compact focus on the API changes.
Learn more: What survives compaction · When context fills up
Connector
An MCP server added to your claude.ai account rather than configured in Claude Code. When you sign in to Claude Code with that account, your connectors appear in/mcp alongside the servers you added locally. Organizations can also provision connectors and set per-tool controls on them.
Learn more: Use MCP servers from claude.ai
Context window
The working memory for a session, holding conversation history, file contents, command outputs, CLAUDE.md, auto memory, loaded skills, and system instructions. As you work, context fills up until compaction summarizes it. Run/context to see what’s using space. For the underlying model concept, see the platform glossary.
Learn more: Explore the context window
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Dispatch
A phone-initiated task router that spawns a Claude Code session in the Desktop app when you send a coding task from the Claude mobile app. Your prompt routes to the right tool automatically. Available on Pro and Max plans. Learn more: Sessions from DispatchE
Effort level
A setting that controls how much of the adaptive-reasoning thinking budget Claude uses on each turn. Higher effort means more thinking tokens and deeper reasoning; lower effort is faster and cheaper. Effort is supported on Fable 5, on Opus 4.6 and later, and on Sonnet 4.6 and later. Learn more: Adjust effort levelExtended thinking
Visible step-by-step reasoning the model performs before responding. You can adjust it with the effort level, or cap thinking tokens withMAX_THINKING_TOKENS on models with a fixed thinking budget. Thinking appears in gray italic text in the terminal.
Learn more: Use extended thinking
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Hook
A user-defined handler that executes automatically at a specific point in Claude Code’s lifecycle, such as before a tool runs, after a file edit, or at session start. Handlers can be a shell command, HTTP endpoint, MCP tool, LLM prompt, or subagent. Hooks are deterministic: they fire at fixed lifecycle points rather than at the model’s discretion. A hook configuration has three levels:- Hook event: the lifecycle point
- Matcher: filters which events fire it
- Hook handler: what runs
M
Managed settings
Settings enforced org-wide by IT or DevOps, delivered from Anthropic’s servers through the admin console or deployed to devices at an OS-level path outside~/.claude. User and project settings cannot override managed settings. Server-managed delivery applies on eligible configurations; see Security considerations. Use this for security policies, compliance requirements, or standardized tooling across a fleet.
Learn more: Server-managed settings · Settings files
MCP (Model Context Protocol)
An open standard for connecting AI tools to external data sources and services. MCP servers give Claude new tools for Slack, Jira, databases, browsers, and hundreds of other integrations. You connect servers via/mcp or by adding them to .mcp.json. For the protocol itself, see the platform glossary.
Learn more: Model Context Protocol
MCP server
A program that gives Claude tools, prompts, or resources over MCP. You add servers withclaude mcp add, in .mcp.json, through a plugin, or as a claude.ai connector. A local stdio server runs as a process Claude Code starts from the command and args fields of its configuration, which have nothing to do with the commands you type at the prompt.
Learn more: Model Context Protocol
MCP Tool Search
A context-saving mechanism that defers MCP tool schemas until needed. Only tool names load at startup; Claude fetches the full schema on demand when it decides to use a specific tool. This keeps idle MCP servers from consuming much context. Learn more: Scale with MCP Tool SearchN
Non-interactive mode
A mode that executes a single prompt and exits without an interactive prompt, invoked with-p or --print. Used for CI, scripts, and piping. The run is still saved as a resumable session unless you pass --no-session-persistence. The Agent SDK is the Python and TypeScript equivalent. Formerly called headless mode.
Learn more: Run Claude Code programmatically
O
Output style
A configuration that modifies Claude’s system prompt to change response behavior, tone, or format. Output styles turn off the software-engineering-specific parts of the default system prompt, unlike CLAUDE.md which is delivered as a user message following the system prompt. Built-in styles include Default, Proactive, Explanatory, and Learning. Learn more: Output stylesP
Permission mode
The baseline approval behavior for the session. Cycle withShift+Tab in the CLI or use the mode selector in VS Code, Desktop, and claude.ai. Available modes are default, acceptEdits, plan, auto, dontAsk, and bypassPermissions.
The default mode is labeled Manual in the CLI, in the VS Code and JetBrains extensions, and in the desktop app, and Claude Code accepts manual as an alias for the value.
Learn more: Choose a permission mode