⌨️ Slash Commands Mastery

Slash Commands = Claude Code’s Shortcuts

When you tell Siri “commute,” it turns off the alarm, starts navigation, and plays music all at once. One word triggers multiple automatic actions.

Claude Code’s slash commands work the same way. A short command starting with / handles complex tasks in one go. Think of them as keyboard shortcuts for the chat interface.

9 Essential Commands — All You Need

Claude Code has many slash commands, but 9 are the ones worth knowing from the start. Sorted by frequency of use.

/copy — Instantly Copy Results

When Claude generates code or writes a report, you often want to paste it somewhere else — into an email, document, or send to a colleague.

Dragging to select with a mouse is tedious, especially for long code where getting the selection range right is tricky./copy does it in one word.

Basic Usage

/copy

This copies Claude’s last response to your clipboard. Just Ctrl+V to paste.

Copy a Specific Response

/copy 3

Adding a number copies only the 3rd response. Useful in long conversations for grabbing a specific result.

/compact — The Key to Saving Memory

Long Claude Code conversations consume more tokens, make Claude slower, cost more, and in the worst case exceed the context limit, making it impossible to continue.

/compact solves this by summarizing to just the essentials, drastically reducing memory usage.

Basic Usage

/compact

One word and done. Claude analyzes the conversation and keeps only key decisions, file changes, and progress — summarizing the rest.

Custom Summary Instructions

/compact Only remember the API integration part. Forget the rest.

Adding instructions lets you tell Claude what to prioritize. Especially useful when the work direction has changed.

When to Use It

/init — Auto-Generate CLAUDE.md

Starting a new project? The first thing to do is create a CLAUDE.md file. This tells Claude Code what the project is and how to work on it.

Writing it from scratch is tedious. Type /init and Claude analyzes your project structure to automatically create CLAUDE.md.

/init

What /init Does

# CLAUDE.md

## Project Overview
Next.js 14 App Router + Tailwind CSS + TypeScript website.

## Development Commands
- npm run dev — Start dev server
- npm run build — Production build
- npm run lint — Run linter

## Directory Structure
- app/ — Page routes
- components/ — Reusable components
- lib/ — Utility functions
- public/ — Static files

/model & /fast — Switch Models

Claude Code supports multiple AI models. Choose the right one per task to optimize speed and cost.

Switching Models

/model

Type /model to see the list of available models and pick one.

Quick Mode Switch

/fast

/fast is a shortcut to switch to the fastest model (Haiku) instantly. Good enough for simple questions and minor fixes.

Create Custom Commands (Skills)

The built-in slash commands are great, but for repetitive tasks, you can create your own slash commands called Skills.

Instead of typing “write the commit message in English with conventional format” every time, just type /commit and it’s done.

How to Create — .claude/commands/ Folder

# Commit Automation

1. Check changes with git diff --staged
2. Analyze changes and write a commit message
3. Commit message rules:
   - Write in English
   - Convention: feat: / fix: / content: / chore:
   - Title under 50 chars + body
4. Show the commit message to the user for approval
5. If approved, run git commit

/commit

Real-World Custom Command Examples

Analyze changes in the current branch and do a code review.
Check for potential bugs, performance issues, and code style.
Mark severity (High/Medium/Low).

Analyze files I modified and commits today.
Create a daily work report:
- Completed tasks
- Number of files changed
- Remaining TODOs (based on TODO comments)
Format as clean Markdown.

Write tests for the $ARGUMENTS file.
- Include both success and error cases
- Test framework: vitest
- Filename: originalname.test.ts

$ARGUMENTS captures arguments after the command. Typing /test src/utils/calculator.ts replaces$ARGUMENTS with src/utils/calculator.ts.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Beyond slash commands, Claude Code has useful keyboard shortcuts for fast mouse-free work.

Frequently Used Combos

Try It Yourself

Reading alone won’t click. Open Claude Code and follow these exercises.

/help
# → Check if help appears

/status
# → Check current model and settings

Hello! Nice weather today.
# → Get a response from Claude

/copy
# → Check if the response copies to clipboard (test with Ctrl+V)

# Chat several times first
Explain this project's structure.
# (after response)
Analyze the package.json.
# (after response)
Summarize the README.
# (after response)

# Then run compact
/compact

Create a .claude/commands/hello.md file.
Content: "Hello! Show me the current time and today's to-do list."

Then test that the /hello command works.

Verification Checklist

Tips + Sources

Practical tips for more effective slash command usage.