A guide to interactive mode in Claude Code

AI coding assistants are getting pretty smart. They’ve moved way beyond just autocompleting a line of code; now they feel more like a junior dev you can pair program with. One of the most interesting tools in this space is Claude Code from Anthropic. It’s a command-line tool that acts like a conversational partner right inside your terminal.

In this guide, we’re going to dive deep into interactive mode Claude Code. We’ll cover what it actually is, what it can do, how developers are using it, and, maybe most importantly, when it’s not the right tool for the job.

What is interactive mode Claude Code?

So, what exactly is Claude Code? Think of it as an AI assistant built for developers that lives in your terminal. Its main feature, interactive mode Claude Code, is basically a souped-up chat session. If you’re familiar with a REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop), it feels a lot like that, but instead of just running code, you’re having a full conversation with an AI about your project.

A screenshot showing the interactive mode Claude Code running in a terminal, ready for developer commands.

This isn’t the same as its "headless" mode, which is more for running scripts. The interactive mode is where you can do what some people are calling "vibe-coding." You can toss ideas around, tell it to poke around your codebase, ask it for a plan, and then let it get to work. It can read your files, run terminal commands, and edit code directly. It really does feel like you have a junior dev sitting next to you, ready to take direction.

Key features of interactive mode Claude Code

The interactive mode has some neat features that make it a handy partner for coding. Let’s walk through what makes it tick.

Direct interaction with your codebase

Claude Code can get its hands dirty with your project files, almost like a person using your machine. You can point it to specific files with "@./path/to/file" or tell it to run any shell command by starting your prompt with !. This lets it do useful things like check your git status (!git status) or install a package (!npm install). It remembers the files it’s read and the commands it’s run during your session, which allows you to string together more complex tasks.

Context and memory management

One of Claude Code’s best tricks is its ability to remember things about your project from one session to the next. It uses special "CLAUDE.md" files for this, which act like a long-term memory. You can drop one of these files in your project’s root folder and fill it with notes on your tech stack, coding style, or frequently used commands. Claude reads this file every time you start a new session, so you don’t have to repeat yourself constantly.

You can even add to this memory on the fly. If you come up with a new project rule during a session, just start your prompt with a "#". Claude will automatically save that line to your "CLAUDE.md" file for next time.

Different modes for different tasks

Claude Code isn’t a one-size-fits-all tool. You can switch up its behavior with different modes to match what you’re doing.

• Plan Mode: For those bigger, more complicated problems, you can hit "Shift+Tab" to enter Plan Mode. Here, Claude will stop and think, creating a step-by-step plan without writing any code. It waits for your "okay" before it starts implementing, which is a great way to make sure you’re both headed in the right direction.

• Output Styles: You can also change how it talks to you with the "/output-style" command. This lets you pick between the quick and simple "default" style, an "explanatory" mode where it tells you its reasoning, or a "learning" mode where it asks you to fill in some of the code yourself.

An example of Plan Mode in interactive mode Claude Code, where the AI outlines a step-by-step plan for a coding task.

Common interactive mode Claude Code workflows and best practices

Alright, so how are people actually using this thing day-to-day? Here are a few workflows that seem to work really well.

Codebase Q&A and exploration

We’ve all been there: dropped into a massive, unfamiliar codebase with a deadline looming. Claude Code can help you get your bearings much faster. You can ask it broad questions like, "How does auth work here?" or "Where’s all the logging logic?" It will dig through the code, find the right files, and explain how they all connect, acting as a personal tour guide for the project.

Test-driven development (TDD)

AI agents tend to do their best work when they have a clear goal. Test-driven development gives them exactly that, which makes it a great fit for working with Claude Code. The flow is pretty simple:

1. First, tell Claude to write the tests for a new feature, making sure it knows the implementation doesn’t exist yet.

2. Then, run those tests. They should all fail, which tells you they’re working correctly.

3. Next, ask Claude to write the actual code to make those tests pass.

4. Rinse and repeat until everything is green.

This loop helps improve the quality of the code because the AI always has a specific, measurable target to hit.

This video showcases some of the most effective workflows and features in interactive mode Claude Code from over three months of intensive use.

Refactoring and debugging

When you’re staring down a nasty bug or a messy bit of old code, Claude Code can be a huge help. You can hand it an error log or a confusing function and ask it to spot the issue or suggest a cleaner way to write it. For instance, a prompt like "> Look at this log @./logs/error.log and tell me how to fix the null pointer exception" can get a debugging session started. It can also use Git commands like "!git diff" to see recent changes and help you write a decent commit message.

A VS Code diff view showing the changes made by interactive mode Claude Code during a refactoring session.

Limitations of interactive mode Claude Code for business workflows

Claude Code is a fantastic tool for its target audience: developers who live in the terminal. Its real power is its flexibility and deep integration into a dev environment. But those strengths become major weaknesses when you try to apply it to business needs like customer support.

Here are a few of its real drawbacks for business use cases:

• It’s for developers, period: It’s a command-line tool. You need to know your way around a terminal and have some coding knowledge to use it. Your support agents, sales team, or HR folks aren’t going to be using it to get their work done.

• It’s not a helpdesk tool: Claude Code doesn’t have any built-in connections to helpdesks like Zendesk or Freshdesk. Trying to jury-rig it to handle support tickets would be a massive engineering project, and it’s just not what the tool is for.

• It’s missing business controls: There’s no dashboard for managing an AI’s personality, no way to test its performance on old support tickets, and no feature for slowly rolling out automation. These are things you absolutely need when an AI is talking to your customers.

• It’s built for code, not customer chats: It might be conversational, but its goal is to produce code. It isn’t trained to pick up on the subtleties of a frustrated customer or pull together knowledge from a help center, past tickets, and internal docs like Google Docs.

For business automation, you need a platform that was actually built for that purpose. That’s where a tool like eesel AI fits in. It’s a radically self-serve and simple platform made for things like automating customer support, triaging tickets, and answering internal questions. A support manager can connect their Zendesk, Confluence, and ticket history in just a few minutes, with no developers needed.

More importantly, eesel AI has a simulation mode that lets you test the AI on thousands of your past tickets before it ever goes live. This kind of risk-free testing is a must-have for business functions but is totally missing from developer tools like Claude Code.

Claude Code pricing explained

Claude Code isn’t a separate product you can buy. It comes bundled with Anthropic’s paid plans, Claude Pro and Claude Max.

It’s worth noting that your usage isn’t unlimited. It’s based on a message and token allowance that can fluctuate with server demand. If your team plans on using it heavily all day, every day, that’s something to keep in mind.

The right tool for the right job

At the end of the day, interactive mode Claude Code is an impressive tool that gives developers an intelligent coding partner right in their terminal. It’s genuinely useful for exploring code, working with tests, and squashing bugs, and it’s a clear step forward for AI in development.

But it’s a tool for a very specific job. It’s not the answer for automating business workflows like customer service, which require a totally different set of features, like helpdesk integrations, proper testing and simulation, and an interface that non-technical people can actually use. It all comes down to picking the right tool for the task at hand. For agentic coding, Claude Code is a strong choice. For agentic business and support automation, you need a dedicated platform.

If you’re looking to give your customer support team or internal helpdesk some AI-powered help, check out how eesel AI can get you up and running in minutes, not months.