40+ Claude Code Tips: From Basics to Advanced
Here are my tips for getting the most out of Claude Code, including a custom status line script and Claude Code running itself in a container. Also includes the dx plugin: skills for everyday dev workflows.
📺 Quick demo - See some of these tips in action with a multi-Claude workflow and voice input:
Table of Contents
- Tip 0: Customize your status line
- Tip 1: Learn a few essential slash commands
- Tip 2: Talk to Claude Code with your voice
- Tip 3: Break down large problems into smaller ones
- Tip 4: Using Git and GitHub CLI like a pro
- Tip 5: AI context is like milk; it's best served fresh and condensed!
- Tip 6: Getting output out of your terminal
- Tip 7: Set up terminal aliases for quick access
- Tip 8: Proactively compact your context
- Tip 9: Complete the write-test cycle for autonomous tasks
- Tip 10: Cmd+A and Ctrl+A are your friends
- Tip 11: Invest in your own workflow
- Tip 12: Search through your conversation history
- Tip 13: Multitasking with terminal tabs
- Tip 14: Git worktrees for parallel branch work
- Tip 15: Manual exponential backoff for long-running jobs
- Tip 16: Claude Code as a writing assistant
- Tip 17: Markdown is the s**t
- Tip 18: Use Notion to preserve links when pasting
- Tip 19: Isolated environments for long-running risky tasks
- Tip 20: The best way to get better at using Claude Code is by using it
- Tip 21: Clone/fork and half-clone conversations
- Tip 22: Use realpath to get absolute paths
- Tip 23: Understanding CLAUDE.md vs Skills vs Slash Commands vs Plugins
- Tip 24: Interactive PR reviews
- Tip 25: Claude Code as a research tool
- Tip 26: Mastering different ways of verifying its output
- Tip 27: Claude Code as a DevOps engineer
- Tip 28: Keep CLAUDE.md simple and review it periodically
- Tip 29: Claude Code as the universal interface
- Tip 30: It's all about choosing the right level of abstraction
- Tip 31: Use auto mode
- Tip 32: Control Claude Code from your phone
- Tip 33: Write lots of tests (and use TDD)
- Tip 34: Be braver in the unknown; iterative problem solving
- Tip 35: Running bash commands and subagents in the background
- Tip 36: The era of personalized software is here
- Tip 37: Navigating and editing your input box
- Tip 38: Spend some time planning, but also prototype quickly
- Tip 39: Simplify overcomplicated code
- Tip 40: Automation of automation
- Tip 41: Share your knowledge and contribute where you can
- Tip 42: Keep learning!
- Tip 43: Install the dx plugin
- Tip 44: Quick setup script
- Tip 45: Switch between multiple Claude accounts
Tip 0: Customize your status line
You can customize the status line at the bottom of Claude Code to show useful info. I set mine up to show the model, current directory, git branch (if any), uncommitted file count, sync status with origin, and a visual progress bar for token usage. It also shows a second line with my last message so I can see what the conversation was about:
Opus 4.5 | 📁claude-code-tips | 🔀main (scripts/context-bar.sh uncommitted, synced 12m ago) | ██░░░░░░░░ 18% of 200k tokens
💬 This is good. I don't think we need to change the documentation as long as we don't say that the default color is orange el...
This is especially helpful for keeping an eye on your context usage and remembering what you were working on. The script also supports 10 color themes (orange, blue, teal, green, lavender, rose, gold, slate, cyan, or gray).
To set this up, you can use this sample script and check the setup instructions.
Tip 1: Learn a few essential slash commands
There are a bunch of built-in slash commands (type / to see them all). Here are a few worth knowing:
/usage
Check your rate limits:
Current session
█████████▌ 19% used
Resets 12:59am (America/Vancouver)
Current week (all models)
█████████████████████▌ 43% used
Resets Feb 3 at 1:59pm (America/Vancouver)
Current week (Sonnet only)
███████████████████▌ 39% used
Resets 8:59am (America/Vancouver)
If you want to watch your usage closely, keep it open in a tab and use Tab then Shift+Tab or ← then → to refresh.
/chrome
Toggle Claude's native browser integration:
> /chrome
Chrome integration enabled
/mcp
Manage MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers:
Manage MCP servers
1 server
❯ 1. playwright ✔ connected · Enter to view details
MCP Config locations (by scope):
• User config (available in all your projects):
• /Users/yk/.claude.json
/stats
View your usage statistics with a GitHub-style activity graph:
Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan
··········································▒█░▓░█░▓▒▒
Mon ·········································▒▒██▓░█▓█░█
·········································░▒█▒▓░█▒█▒█
Wed ········································░▓▒█▓▓░▒▓▒██
········································░▓░█▓▓▓▓█░▒█
Fri ········································▒░░▓▒▒█▓▓▓█
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Less ░ ▒ ▓ █ More
Favorite model: Opus 4.5 Total tokens: 17.6m
Sessions: 4.1k Longest session: 20h 40m 45s
Active days: 79/80 Longest streak: 75 days
Most active day: Jan 26 Current streak: 74 days
You've used ~24x more tokens than War and Peace
/clear
Clear the conversation and start fresh.
Tip 2: Talk to Claude Code with your voice
I found that you can communicate much faster with your voice than typing with your hands. Using a voice transcription system on your local machine is really helpful for this.
On my Mac, I've tried a few different options:
- superwhisper
- MacWhisper
- Super Voice Assistant (open source, supports Parakeet v2/v3)
You can get more accuracy by using a hosted service, but I found that a local model is strong enough for this purpose. Even when there are mistakes or typos in the transcription, Claude is smart enough to understand what you're trying to say. Sometimes you need to say certain things extra clearly, but overall local models work well enough.
For example, in this screenshot you can see that Claude was able to interpret mistranscribed words like "ExcelElanishMark" and "advast" correctly as "exclamation mark" and "Advanced":
I think the best way to think about this is like you're trying to communicate with your friend. Of course, you can communicate through texts. That might be easier for some people, or emails, right? That's totally fine. That's what most people seem to do with Claude Code. But if you want to communicate faster, why wouldn't you get on a quick phone call? You can just send voice messages. You don't need to literally have a phone call with Claude Code. Just send a bunch of voice messages. It's faster, at least for me, as someone who's practiced the art of speaking a lot over the past number of years. But I think for a majority of people, it's going to be faster too.
A common objection is "what if you're in a room with other people?" I just whisper using earphones - I personally like Apple