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1.4 Understanding the Interface

Course: Claude Code - Essentials Section: Getting Started Video Length: 2-5 minutes Presenter: Daniel Treasure

Opening Hook

You've started Claude Code and asked your first questions. Now let's master the interface. You'll learn keyboard shortcuts, how to navigate efficiently, and the commands that make working with Claude Code feel fast and natural.

Key Talking Points

1. The Terminal Interface Layout (The Visual)

Claude Code in the terminal is straightforward: - Conversation history: Your messages and Claude's responses scroll upward - Input prompt: Where you type (bottom of screen, or after the last response) - Claude's thinking: Shown with spinners/indicators while processing - Status line: Shows session info, context usage, and available actions

What to say: "The Claude Code interface is distraction-free. It's just conversation flowing down the screen. No panels, no buttons—just prompts and responses."

What to show on screen: A full terminal window with a active Claude Code session. Annotate or highlight: conversation history, the input prompt, and the status line.

2. Interactive Mode vs Print Mode (The Distinction)

  • Interactive mode (claude): Session stays open, you ask multiple questions
  • Print mode (claude -p "query"): Single question, Claude responds, session closes

What to say: "Interactive mode is what we've been doing—you stay in conversation. Print mode is for single questions or automation scripts. Use interactive for exploration, print for one-offs."

What to show on screen: Show the difference: - Terminal with interactive Claude Code session - Separate example of claude -p "question" and its immediate output

3. Keyboard Shortcuts for Terminal (The Productivity)

Essential shortcuts available in interactive mode:

Shortcut Action
? Show all available keyboard shortcuts
Tab Command/file completion
↑ Navigate command history (previous)
↓ Navigate command history (next)
/ Show all commands and skills
Shift+Enter Multi-line input (for longer prompts)
Ctrl+C Cancel current operation or exit
Ctrl+D Exit (alternative to exit or Ctrl+C)

What to say: "Here are the shortcuts that'll make you fast. The most useful: ? shows all shortcuts, Tab autocompletes, and ↑/↓ scroll through history. Learn these and you'll feel like a power user."

What to show on screen: Type ? and show the full shortcuts list. Highlight the most important ones (?, Tab, arrow keys, /, Shift+Enter). You can demo 1-2 of them (like Tab completion or history navigation) if time allows.

4. Commands vs Queries (The Language)

  • Queries/prompts: Natural language, what you ask Claude ("explain this file")
  • Commands: Start with /, trigger specific actions (/help, /exit, /clear, /resume, /memory, /permissions, /hooks, /mcp, /config, /add-dir)

What to say: "Commands start with slash. They're for session management and configuration. Queries are everything else—just talk to Claude. If you're not sure, type /help."

What to show on screen: Side-by-side examples: - A query: "what does this function do?" - A command: /help - Show output of /help highlighting the command list

5. Navigation and Context Management (The Tricks)

  • Scrolling: Use standard terminal scroll (PageUp, PageDown, or mouse wheel)
  • History: Press ↑ to revisit previous prompts
  • Context indicator: Claude shows token usage and context status
  • Resume conversations: Use /resume to pick up where you left off

What to say: "As sessions get longer, Claude manages context—it'll summarize older messages to keep things efficient. You can see context status in the status line. If you need a fresh start, type /clear. If you want to come back later, /resume remembers everything."

What to show on screen: Show status line with context information. Demonstrate /resume if you have a previous session to show. Otherwise, just explain the concept.

6. Transitioning to Other Interfaces (The Next Step)

  • Same commands everywhere: /help, /clear, /resume work in VS Code, desktop app, etc.
  • Different UX: Each interface has its own strengths (e.g., VS Code has diffs, desktop app has visual session management)
  • Workflow stays consistent: What you learn here transfers to every interface

What to say: "The power of Claude Code is that you learn the fundamentals here in the terminal, and they work everywhere. VS Code will feel familiar, the desktop app will feel familiar. The underlying experience is the same."

What to show on screen: (Optional) Quick screenshots of VS Code extension or desktop app showing similar commands/interface. Keep this brief—focus on terminal for now.

Demo Plan

Timeline: 3-4 minutes total

  1. Show active Claude Code session with conversation history visible (30 seconds)
  2. Explain the layout - point to conversation history, input prompt, status line (30 seconds)
  3. Type ? to show keyboard shortcuts and explain the most important ones (45 seconds)
  4. Demo one shortcut:
  5. Press ↑ to show command history
  6. Show it navigates to previous prompts
  7. Press ↑/↓ a few times to show how it works (30 seconds)
  8. Type /help to show available commands (45 seconds)
  9. Demo Tab completion:
  10. Start typing a command (e.g., /mem)
  11. Press Tab to auto-complete to /memory
  12. Show how it saves typing (30 seconds)
  13. Explain context management by pointing to status line or mentioning /clear (30 seconds)
  14. Wrap up by showing how these fundamentals will apply everywhere (30 seconds)

Code Examples & Commands

View all keyboard shortcuts:

?

Show all available commands:

/help

Navigate history (in terminal):

↑   (previous command)
↓   (next command)

Multi-line input (shift+enter for new line without sending):

Shift+Enter

Clear conversation history:

/clear

Resume a previous session:

/resume

View or edit project memory:

/memory

Check/manage permissions:

/permissions

View MCP servers:

/mcp

Exit:

exit

Or: Ctrl+C or Ctrl+D

Gotchas & Tips

  • Tab completion is smart: It works for commands, file paths, and even context like @filename—experiment!
  • History is persistent: Even after exiting, ↑ in a new session shows old commands
  • Keyboard shortcuts vary by shell: The shortcuts listed work in bash, zsh, and most modern shells. Fish shell has different conventions.
  • Status line information is helpful: Watch context usage—if it gets high, Claude will warn you
  • / is your friend: When lost, type / to see every available command
  • Shift+Enter is multi-line: For long or complex prompts, use this to format before sending

Lead-out

"You now understand the fundamentals of Claude Code's interface. You can navigate efficiently, use shortcuts, and leverage the right commands. In the next section, we'll dive into real workflows: exploring codebases, making changes, using git, debugging, and more. You're ready."

Reference URLs

Prep Reading

  • Test keyboard shortcuts in your own Claude Code session to feel natural in the demo
  • Understand the difference between interactive and print modes in the CLI reference
  • Read through the /help output in detail so you can speak authoritatively about commands
  • Experiment with multi-line input (Shift+Enter) and Tab completion

Notes for Daniel: This is the transition video from "Getting Started" (1.1-1.4) to "Core Workflows" (Section 2). Energy can be a bit more technical here, but keep it accessible. The point is to show that Claude Code is efficient and powerful once you know the fundamentals. Demo the shortcuts live so people see they actually work. This builds confidence for what's coming next.