Tools reference

Claude Code has access to a set of tools that help it understand and modify your codebase. The tool names below are the exact strings you use in permission rules, subagent tool lists, and hook matchers.

Tool	Description	Permission Required
`Agent`	Spawns a subagent with its own context window to handle a task	No
`AskUserQuestion`	Asks multiple-choice questions to gather requirements or clarify ambiguity	No
`Bash`	Executes shell commands in your environment. See Bash tool behavior	Yes
`CronCreate`	Schedules a recurring or one-shot prompt within the current session (gone when Claude exits). See scheduled tasks	No
`CronDelete`	Cancels a scheduled task by ID	No
`CronList`	Lists all scheduled tasks in the session	No
`Edit`	Makes targeted edits to specific files	Yes
`EnterPlanMode`	Switches to plan mode to design an approach before coding	No
`EnterWorktree`	Creates an isolated git worktree and switches into it	No
`ExitPlanMode`	Presents a plan for approval and exits plan mode	Yes
`ExitWorktree`	Exits a worktree session and returns to the original directory	No
`Glob`	Finds files based on pattern matching	No
`Grep`	Searches for patterns in file contents	No
`ListMcpResourcesTool`	Lists resources exposed by connected MCP servers	No
`LSP`	Code intelligence via language servers. Reports type errors and warnings automatically after file edits. Also supports navigation operations: jump to definitions, find references, get type info, list symbols, find implementations, trace call hierarchies. Requires a code intelligence plugin and its language server binary	No
`NotebookEdit`	Modifies Jupyter notebook cells	Yes
`PowerShell`	Executes PowerShell commands on Windows. Opt-in preview. See PowerShell tool	Yes
`Read`	Reads the contents of files	No
`ReadMcpResourceTool`	Reads a specific MCP resource by URI	No
`Skill`	Executes a skill within the main conversation	Yes
`TaskCreate`	Creates a new task in the task list	No
`TaskGet`	Retrieves full details for a specific task	No
`TaskList`	Lists all tasks with their current status	No
`TaskOutput`	(Deprecated) Retrieves output from a background task. Prefer `Read` on the task’s output file path	No
`TaskStop`	Kills a running background task by ID	No
`TaskUpdate`	Updates task status, dependencies, details, or deletes tasks	No
`TodoWrite`	Manages the session task checklist. Available in non-interactive mode and the Agent SDK; interactive sessions use TaskCreate, TaskGet, TaskList, and TaskUpdate instead	No
`ToolSearch`	Searches for and loads deferred tools when tool search is enabled	No
`WebFetch`	Fetches content from a specified URL	Yes
`WebSearch`	Performs web searches	Yes
`Write`	Creates or overwrites files	Yes

Permission rules can be configured using /permissions or in permission settings. Also see Tool-specific permission rules.

Bash tool behavior

The Bash tool runs each command in a separate process with the following persistence behavior:

Working directory persists across commands. Set CLAUDE_BASH_MAINTAIN_PROJECT_WORKING_DIR=1 to reset to the project directory after each command.
Environment variables do not persist. An export in one command will not be available in the next.

Activate your virtualenv or conda environment before launching Claude Code. To make environment variables persist across Bash commands, set CLAUDE_ENV_FILE to a shell script before launching Claude Code, or use a SessionStart hook to populate it dynamically.

PowerShell tool

On Windows, Claude Code can run PowerShell commands natively instead of routing through Git Bash. This is an opt-in preview.

Enable the PowerShell tool

Set CLAUDE_CODE_USE_POWERSHELL_TOOL=1 in your environment or in settings.json:

{
  "env": {
    "CLAUDE_CODE_USE_POWERSHELL_TOOL": "1"
  }
}

Claude Code auto-detects pwsh.exe (PowerShell 7+) with a fallback to powershell.exe (PowerShell 5.1). The Bash tool remains registered alongside the PowerShell tool, so you may need to ask Claude to use PowerShell.

Shell selection in settings, hooks, and skills

Three additional settings control where PowerShell is used:

"defaultShell": "powershell" in settings.json: routes interactive ! commands through PowerShell. Requires the PowerShell tool to be enabled.
"shell": "powershell" on individual command hooks: runs that hook in PowerShell. Hooks spawn PowerShell directly, so this works regardless of CLAUDE_CODE_USE_POWERSHELL_TOOL.
shell: powershell in skill frontmatter: runs !`command` blocks in PowerShell. Requires the PowerShell tool to be enabled.

Preview limitations

The PowerShell tool has the following known limitations during the preview:

Auto mode does not work with the PowerShell tool yet
PowerShell profiles are not loaded
Sandboxing is not supported
Only supported on native Windows, not WSL
Git Bash is still required to start Claude Code

Reference

Bash tool behavior

PowerShell tool

Enable the PowerShell tool

Shell selection in settings, hooks, and skills

Preview limitations

See also

Reference

​Bash tool behavior

​PowerShell tool

​Enable the PowerShell tool

​Shell selection in settings, hooks, and skills

​Preview limitations

​See also

Bash tool behavior

PowerShell tool

Enable the PowerShell tool

Shell selection in settings, hooks, and skills

Preview limitations

See also