Claude Code Input

History Autocomplete

Start your input with ! and Claude Code enters bash mode: what you type runs directly in your shell, its output lands in the conversation, and Claude responds to it. The commands you run there tend to repeat — the same test invocation, the same git log flags, the same deploy check — and bash mode remembers them. Press Tab partway through a command and Claude Code completes it from the ! commands you've run before in this project.

Add live file-path suggestions on top, and the ! prompt starts to feel like a small, project-aware shell of its own.

Completing From Your `!` History

Type ! — the prompt switches to bash mode.
Type the start of a command you've run before:
```
! npm run test:
```
A gray ghost-text suggestion from your earlier ! commands appears at the cursor. Press Tab to accept it.
Edit if needed, then press Enter to run.

The history is your Claude Code ! history for the current project — not your system-wide shell history, so suggestions are always commands that made sense in this repo. A command you just ran shows up as a suggestion straight away.

This is separate from shell-style ! history expansion (!!, !$), which is off by default.

Completing File Paths

Bash mode also completes paths live. Type a token containing a forward slash — ./src/, ~/, ../config/ — and a dropdown of matching files and directories appears; press Tab to accept and keep going:

! wc -l ./src/logic/       # dropdown shows the files in src/logic/

Use forward slashes on Windows too: the dropdown is triggered by /, not \.

Getting In and Out Quickly

Action	Keys
Enter bash mode	Type `!` at the start, or paste text that begins with `!` into an empty prompt
Leave bash mode	`Esc`, `Backspace`, or `Ctrl+U` on an empty prompt
Background a slow command	`Ctrl+B` while it runs
Recall a full earlier prompt instead	`Up`, or `Ctrl+R` to search

By default Claude replies to each command's output automatically. If you'd rather run several commands and then ask about them together, set "respondToBashCommands": false in settings.json.

Pro tip: Run your project's longer incantations through ! once — the full test command with its flags, the log query with its filters — and from then on they're two letters and a Tab away, in exactly the project where they belong.

Try It Now

Run a command you use often:
```
! git log --oneline -10
```
Notice the output arrives and Claude comments on it.
Type ! git l and watch the ghost text offer the rest; press Tab, then Enter.
Type ! ls ./ and pick a directory from the path dropdown with Tab.

! Bash Mode — Everything else about running shell commands from the prompt
Tab completion — The same Tab habit for @ file mentions and slash commands
Ctrl+R — Search your full prompt history interactively
Ctrl+B — Background long-running ! commands to keep working
Queue messages — ! commands typed while Claude works wait their turn

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