Claude Code CLI Guide

Claude Code is Anthropic's agentic coding tool. It reads your codebase, edits files, runs commands, and integrates with dev tools. Available as a terminal CLI, VS Code/Cursor extension, desktop app, and in-browser.

Official docs: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/overview CLI reference: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/cli-reference

Installation

# macOS / Linux / WSL (recommended — auto-updates)
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

# Homebrew (does NOT auto-update)
brew install --cask claude-code

# npm (global)
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Installed on: Tabitha, Hunter's machine, Ozymandias

Authentication

claude auth login              # Sign in with Claude subscription (claude.ai)
claude auth login --console    # Sign in with Anthropic Console (API billing)
claude auth status             # Check current auth state (JSON)
claude auth status --text      # Human-readable
claude auth logout

Core CLI Commands

claude                              # Start interactive session
claude "query"                      # Start session with initial prompt
claude -p "query"                   # One-shot query, then exit (SDK mode)
cat file.ts | claude -p "explain"   # Pipe content in
claude -c                           # Continue most recent conversation
claude -c -p "query"                # Continue + one-shot
claude -r "session-name" "query"    # Resume session by ID or name
claude update                       # Update to latest version

Key Flags

Flag	Description
`--model <model>`	Specify model (e.g. `claude-opus-4-5`, `claude-sonnet-4-6`)
`--add-dir <path>`	Add directory to allowed paths
`--permission-mode`	Set permission mode (`auto`, `default`, `manual`)
`--output-format`	`text` (default), `json`, `stream-json`
`--max-turns <n>`	Limit agentic loop turns
`--no-update-notifier`	Suppress update messages
`--mcp-config <file>`	Load MCP config from file
`--settings <file>`	Load settings from JSON file

In-Session Slash Commands

/help           Show available commands
/status         Show auth, model, context info
/model          Switch model mid-session
/clear          Clear conversation history
/compact        Summarize conversation to save context
/memory         Show loaded memory files (CLAUDE.md etc.)
/tools          List available tools
/reasoning      Toggle extended thinking on/off
/cost           Show token usage for session
/quit           Exit

MCP Servers (Tabitha — User Scope)

Configured in ~/.claude.json. All available in every Claude Code session on Tabitha:

claude mcp list                                          # Show all MCPs
claude mcp add --scope user -e KEY=val -- name npx -y pkg  # Add one
claude mcp remove --scope user name                      # Remove one

MCP	What it gives Claude
`github`	GitHub API (silmaai PAT)
`postgres`	SQL → silma DB
`memory`	Knowledge graph (`memory/knowledge-graph.json`)
`redis`	Redis client
`qdrant`	Vector search on `silma` collection
`elasticsearch`	Full-text search
`minio`	S3-compatible object storage
`playwright`	Headless browser automation
`kubernetes`	`kubectl` via MCP
`google-workspace`	Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Calendar

⚠️ postgres, redis, qdrant, elasticsearch, minio require k8s port-forward active.

CLAUDE.md (Project Memory)

Claude Code automatically loads CLAUDE.md from the project root and parent directories. This is how you give Claude project-specific instructions that persist across sessions.

Create one at the project root:

echo "# Project Instructions\nAlways use TypeScript strict mode." > CLAUDE.md

On Tabitha, Silma's workspace CLAUDE.md equivalent is AGENTS.md.

Using Local LLMs with Claude Code

Claude Code supports OpenAI-compatible third-party providers. Point it at the local llama.cpp server:

# Set provider to local llama.cpp (Gemma models on Tabitha)
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080/v1
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=local   # required but ignored by llama.cpp

claude --model gemma-4-e4b

See tools/local-llm.llm.md for full local LLM details.

Environment in This Workspace

Detail	Value
Workspace	`/Users/Tabitha/.openclaw/workspace/`
OCPlatform channel	webchat (main session)
Model	`anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6` (check `/status`)
Agent YAML	`AGENTS.md` at workspace root
Memory	`memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md` (daily) + `MEMORY.md` (long-term)

Tips for This Environment

Glob and Grep built-in tools are not available in OCPlatform sessions — use Bash with find/grep instead
For cross-machine work, use the kittens WebSocket bridge (see tools/tailscale.llm.md)
Run source credentials/secrets.env inside Bash tool calls to load credentials
k8s MCPs require port-forward — run bash k8s/silma-ai/scripts/port-forward.sh first

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