Bash Mode - Claude Code

Bash mode lets you drop straight into the shell without spending a turn asking Claude to run a command.

What it does

Start any prompt with ! and the rest of the line runs as a shell command. Output appears inline and is captured into the conversation so Claude can reference it on the next turn. This is faster than please run ls -la and more honest - you're not spending tokens on the interpreter round-trip.

When to use it

• Quick directory listings, git status checks, or file inspections.
• Sanity-checking the shell state before asking Claude to do real work.
• Piping output into a follow-up Claude prompt without editing files.
• Teaching Claude about your environment without explaining it.

Gotchas

• Bash mode respects your current permission rules. Denied commands still get blocked.
• The working directory is the same as Claude's Bash tool, not wherever your outer terminal sits.
• Shell state (exported vars, aliases) doesn't persist between bash-mode calls unless you use SessionStart hooks.

Official docs: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/interactive-mode.md#bash-mode-with--prefix