Most developers use Claude Code like a fancy autocomplete. That's maybe 20% of what it can do.

Claude Code is a terminal agent with full project access. It reads files, runs shell commands, commits to git, runs parallel subagents, and enforces rules through lifecycle hooks. Once you know the full feature set, the way you work changes.

I put together a complete reference covering:

Every slash command and when to reach for each

Keyboard shortcuts worth memorizing ( Esc Esc , Ctrl+B , !command )

CLAUDE.md — the file that shapes every session

Hooks — the rules Claude literally cannot ignore

Custom slash commands vs. Skills (and the threshold for choosing)

Subagents — how parallel workers cut a 20-min task to 7 min

PR review setup with inline GitHub comments

The thing most people miss: CLAUDE.md vs. Hooks

CLAUDE.md is advisory . Claude reads it at session start and follows its instructions roughly 80% of the time.…