How to use this cheat sheet
Claude Code has 80+ slash commands and shortcuts. Most of them you'll never need. This cheat sheet is the twelve I reach for every single day — the ones that actually make a difference to how fast you move, how much you spend, and how often you want to throw your laptop at the wall.
"Codes" here means three things:
- Slash commands like /plan or /compact — type them straight into the chat
- Keyboard shortcuts like Esc Esc or Ctrl+C — press them mid-session
- Prompt prefixes like ultrathink — words you add to your message to change Claude's behaviour
Which ones to memorise first
If you only learn five, make them the Big Five (next section). They'll cover 80% of your day. The Bonus Seven are for when you're ready to level up.
The Big Five (from the reel)
Start here. These are the five I showed in the reel — the ones that changed how I work once I actually started using them. Drill them into muscle memory before you worry about the rest.
ultrathink — maximum reasoning
Add this word anywhere in your prompt to unlock Claude's deepest reasoning budget before it responds. It thinks longer, considers more angles, and catches things it'd otherwise miss. Use it for architecture decisions, nasty bugs, anything where being wrong costs you hours. Example: "ultrathink — review this database schema and flag any issues before I migrate."
/compact — free up context
Summarises the current conversation into a condensed version so you can keep going without losing the thread. Use it when sessions drag past an hour, or the moment you see "context getting large" in the corner. Saves you from starting over and losing everything Claude just learned about your project.
"be direct, don't glaze me" — kill the sycophancy
Add this as a prefix to any prompt where you need an honest answer. Claude's default is to be encouraging, which is lovely but useless when you're trying to figure out if your idea is actually bad. Use it every time you want real feedback — on code, on copy, on business decisions. I use it 10+ times a day.
/export — save your session
Exports your entire session as a markdown file you can save, share, or paste into Notion. Use it after you've built something you want to keep — a working script, a solid plan, a useful debugging thread. Future-you will thank you when you need to remember how you did something three weeks ago.
Esc Esc (or /rewind) — undo button
Rewinds the session to any earlier checkpoint — before Claude broke your file, before you gave it a bad instruction, before the whole thing went sideways. Use it when Claude does something destructive or heads down the wrong path. This is your "oh no" insurance. Way faster than trying to explain the fix.
The Bonus Seven
The seven I didn't have room for in the reel. Add these to your toolkit once the Big Five feel natural. Every one of them saves you time, money, or frustration.
Start fresh, same session
Clears the chat history so you can start a new topic without restarting Claude Code entirely.
Switch between models
Swap between Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku mid-session without leaving the chat.
Check your token spend
Shows exactly how many tokens you've burned this session and roughly what it's cost you.
Plan before touching files
Claude plans the whole task out before writing a single line. Also accessible via Shift+Tab into Plan Mode.
Add a memory instantly
Starting your message with # adds that line to your CLAUDE.md memory file. Example: "# always use npm not yarn in this project".
Pick up a past session
Shows a list of your previous sessions so you can jump back into one that's still relevant.
Bonus #12 — Ctrl+C
The one keyboard shortcut in the bunch. Stops Claude mid-generation. Use it the second you see it heading the wrong direction — don't wait for it to finish the bad answer. Interrupting early saves tokens and your sanity, and you can redirect with a better prompt.
Cheat sheet at a glance
Screenshot this. Pin it. Bookmark it. The whole lot in one scannable grid — code, what it does, when to use it.
Pro tip: print this page
Hit Cmd+P (or Ctrl+P on Windows) — the page is print-optimised. The CTA bar, nav, and footer all drop away and you get a clean one-pager you can stick on the wall next to your desk.
My daily flow
Here's how I actually string these together in a real session. This is what a "build something" day looks like — from opening the terminal to closing it again without hating myself.
A typical Claude Code session
The pattern
Plan first. Use the smartest model for the hardest parts. Drop to the cheapest model for the dumb parts. Rewind when wrong. Compact when long. Export when done. That's the whole game.
Common mistakes (that waste your tokens)
Three traps I see people fall into over and over. Avoid these and you'll be in the top 10% of Claude Code users inside a week.
Mistake 1: Running Opus for everything
Opus is expensive. If you're using it to rename variables or write a README, you're bleeding money. Switch to Haiku with /model for the grunt work. Save Opus for the hard stuff — architecture, debugging, anything where getting it right really matters.
Mistake 2: Never using /plan
Letting Claude start editing files without a plan is how you end up with a 40-minute session that rewrote your whole codebase to fix a two-line bug. /plan (or Shift+Tab into Plan Mode) forces Claude to think first, touch files second. Takes 30 seconds, saves hours.
Mistake 3: Letting bad responses finish
If you can see Claude is going in the wrong direction three sentences in, don't wait politely for it to finish. Hit Ctrl+C, give it a better prompt, move on. Every paragraph it writes after you've realised it's wrong is just money and time down the drain.
One more: not reading CLAUDE.md
Claude Code reads a file called CLAUDE.md at the start of every session — it's your project's rulebook. Drop your preferences in there (tech stack, spelling, testing conventions, whatever) and you stop repeating yourself. Use # at the start of any message to add a rule instantly. If you're correcting Claude more than twice on the same thing, you've got a CLAUDE.md problem, not a Claude problem.
Ready to actually use Claude Code?
These codes are the keyboard shortcuts. These resources are the whole keyboard.
Wright Mode Membership
Join a community of women entrepreneurs implementing AI and automation in their businesses. Live calls, templates, and ongoing support — where you actually build stuff alongside me.
Claude Masterclass
Learn how to use Claude like a pro. From prompting fundamentals to building real workflows that save hours every week — for the chat interface, not the CLI.
Claude Code Masterclass
Go beyond the chat interface. Build automations, process data, and create tools with Claude Code — no developer experience needed. The full deep dive.