Press Ctrl+L to Clear the Screen Without Losing Your Session Context
After Claude runs a few commands, reads some files, and outputs a long analysis, your terminal can get visually overwhelming. Ctrl+L clears the screen without touching your session — the conversation continues exactly where it was, just with a clean display.
Ctrl+L = clear the visible terminal display
This is different from /clear, which wipes the conversation context and starts fresh. Ctrl+L is purely visual — it scrolls the old output off screen so you can focus on your next prompt and Claude's next response.
When to reach for Ctrl+L:
- After a large output — Claude just printed a 200-line file or a long test suite result. You've read it, now clear the noise.
- Before a new task — you're switching from debugging to implementation within the same session. Clean slate visually, but context preserved.
- After a long search — Claude grepped across many files and the results filled multiple screens. You found what you needed, now declutter.
- During a demo — showing someone Claude Code and want a clean-looking terminal without starting over.
The key distinction:
| Action | Display | Context |
|---|---|---|
Ctrl+L |
Cleared | Preserved |
/clear |
Cleared | Wiped |
/compact |
Unchanged | Compressed |
Use Ctrl+L freely — it has zero impact on your session. Use /clear when you actually want to reset. Use /compact when the context itself is too large.
A clean screen helps you think clearly — Ctrl+L gives you visual breathing room without sacrificing anything Claude remembers.
via Claude Code
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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.