Invocation Modes

Interactive REPL (default)

Entering claude with no arguments or a custom prompt opens the default interactive REPL where you can run multiple turns, use slash commands, and interact with Claude.

claude

One-shot prompt

Passing a prompt as a positional argument runs Claude once and exits. Works in both interactive and print modes.

claude "Explain this code"
claude --model opus "Analyze this architecture"

Piped stdin

Pipe content directly into Claude for processing. Use -p (print mode) for non-interactive workflows.

cat logs.txt | claude -p "Find errors"
echo "code snippet" | claude -p "Review for bugs"

Session resume

Load and continue a recent conversation or resume by name/ID.

claude --continue              # Load most recent
claude --resume my-project     # Resume by custom name
claude -r 550e8400-...         # Resume by UUID

Print mode (SDK / headless)

Run Claude once and output structured results without an interactive REPL. Essential for scripting, CI/CD, and programmatic access.

claude -p "query"
claude -p --output-format json "query"
claude -p --output-format stream-json "query"

Git worktree

Run Claude in an isolated worktree for parallel development.

claude -w feature-branch
claude -w feature-branch --tmux

Remote / web sessions

Create or resume sessions on claude.ai.

claude --remote "Fix login bug"        # Create web session
claude --teleport session-id           # Resume in terminal
claude --remote-control "My Project"   # Enable Remote Control

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