Ever wanted to try a different approach mid-conversation without losing your current progress? The --fork-session flag creates a new session that starts from the same conversation history but gets its own independent ID.
claude --resume "auth-refactor" --fork-session
This loads the full transcript from "auth-refactor" into a brand new session. You can take the conversation in a completely different direction without touching the original. The original session stays exactly where you left it.
This is useful for exploring alternative approaches:
# Original session: you've been building auth with JWT
claude -n "auth-jwt" "Implement JWT-based authentication"
# Fork to try a session-based approach instead
claude --resume "auth-jwt" --fork-session -n "auth-sessions"
# Both sessions exist independently
claude --resume "auth-jwt" # Still has the JWT approach
claude --resume "auth-sessions" # Has the session-based approach
It also works with --continue for the most recent conversation:
# Fork your most recent session
claude --continue --fork-session
Think of it like git branch for conversations. The fork point preserves all the context Claude has built up (understanding of your codebase, decisions made, code already written), giving the new branch a head start.
Fork your conversations like you fork your branches. Explore freely, commit to the best approach.
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When typing feels slow — describing a complex bug, explaining architecture, or thinking through a problem out loud — press Option+V to switch to voice input. Speak naturally and Claude Code transcribes your words into a prompt, so you can describe what you need at the speed of thought.
When Claude is heading down the wrong path — editing the wrong file, writing code you don't want, or giving a long explanation you don't need — press Escape to stop it immediately. You keep everything it did up to that point and can redirect with a new prompt.
Closed a session and realized you weren't done? Pass --continue (or -c) when launching Claude Code to pick up exactly where you left off — same context, same files, same conversation history — without re-explaining what you were working on.