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15 Hidden & Under-Utilized Features in Claude Code — From Boris Cherny ​

A summary of tips shared by Boris Cherny (@bcherny), creator of Claude Code, on March 30, 2026.

Context ​

Boris shared a bunch of his favorite hidden and under-utilized features in Claude Code, focusing on the ones he uses the most.

1/ Claude Code Has a Mobile App ​

Did you know Claude Code has a mobile app? Boris writes a lot of his code from the iOS app — it's a convenient way to make changes without opening a laptop.

  • Download the Claude app for iOS/Android
  • Navigate to the Code tab on the left
  • You can review changes, approve PRs, and write code directly from your phone

2/ Move Sessions Between Mobile/Web/Desktop and Terminal ​

Run claude --teleport or /teleport to continue a cloud session on your machine. Or run /remote-control to control a locally running session from your phone/web.

  • Teleport: pulls a cloud session down to your local terminal
  • Remote Control: lets you control a local session from any device
  • Boris has "Enable Remote Control for all sessions" set in his /config

TIP

Run claude --teleport to pull a cloud session down to your local terminal, or /remote-control to control a local session from any device.

3/ /loop and /schedule — Two of the Most Powerful Features ​

Use these to schedule Claude to run automatically at a set interval, for up to a week at a time. Boris has a bunch of loops running locally:

  • /loop 5m /babysit — auto-address code review, auto-rebase, and shepherd PRs to production
  • /loop 30m /slack-feedback — automatically put up PRs for Slack feedback every 30 mins
  • /loop /post-merge-sweeper — put up PRs to address code review comments he missed
  • /loop 1h /pr-pruner — close out stale and no longer necessary PRs
  • ...and lots more!

TIP

Experiment with turning workflows into skills + loops. It's powerful.

4/ Use Hooks to Deterministically Run Logic ​

Use hooks to run logic as part of the agent lifecycle. For example:

  • Dynamically load in context each time you start Claude (SessionStart)
  • Log every bash command the model runs (PreToolUse)
  • Route permission prompts to WhatsApp for you to approve/deny (PermissionRequest)
  • Poke Claude to keep going whenever it stops (Stop)

5/ Cowork Dispatch ​

Boris uses Dispatch every day to catch up on Slack and emails, manage files, and do things on his laptop when he's not at a computer. When he's not coding, he's dispatching.

  • Dispatch is a secure remote control for the Claude Desktop app
  • It can use your MCPs, browser, and computer, with your permission
  • Think of it as a way to delegate non-coding tasks to Claude from anywhere

6/ Use the Chrome Extension for Frontend Work ​

The most important tip for using Claude Code: give Claude a way to verify its output. Once you do that, Claude will iterate until the result is great.

  • Think of it like asking someone to build a website but they aren't allowed to use a browser — the result probably won't look good
  • Give Claude a browser and it will write code and iterate until it looks good
  • Boris uses the Chrome extension every time he works on web code — it tends to work more reliably than other similar MCPs

WARNING

Think of it like asking someone to build a website but they aren't allowed to use a browser — the result probably won't look good. Give Claude a browser and it will iterate until it looks great.

7/ Use the Claude Desktop App to Auto-Start and Test Web Servers ​

Along the same vein, the Desktop app bundles in the ability for Claude to automatically run your web server and even test it in a built-in browser.

  • You can set up something similar in CLI or VSCode using the Chrome extension
  • Or just use the Desktop app for the integrated experience

8/ Fork Your Session ​

People often ask how to fork an existing session. Two ways:

  1. Run /branch from your session
  2. From the CLI, run claude --resume <session-id> --fork-session

/branch creates a branched conversation — you are now in the branch. To resume the original, use claude -r <original-session-id>.

9/ Use /btw for Side Queries ​

Boris uses this all the time to answer quick questions while the agent works. /btw lets you ask a side question without interrupting the agent's current task.

Example
/btw how do I spell dachshund?
> dachshund — German for "badger dog" (dachs + badger, hund + dog).
↑/↓ to scroll · Space, Enter, or Escape to dismiss

10/ Use Git Worktrees ​

Claude Code ships with deep support for git worktrees. Worktrees are essential for doing lots of parallel work in the same repository. Boris has dozens of Claudes running at all times, and this is how he does it.

  • Use claude -w to start a new session in a worktree
  • Or hit the "worktree" checkbox in the Claude Desktop app
  • For non-git VCS users, use the WorktreeCreate hook to add your own logic for worktree creation

11/ Use /batch to Fan Out Massive Changesets ​

/batch interviews you, then has Claude fan out the work to as many worktree agents as it takes (dozens, hundreds, even thousands) to get it done.

  • Use it for large code migrations and other kinds of parallelizable work
  • Each worktree agent works independently on its own copy of the codebase

12/ Use --bare to Speed Up SDK Startup by Up to 10x ​

By default, when you run claude -p (or the TypeScript or Python SDKs), Claude searches for local CLAUDE.md's, settings, and MCPs. But for non-interactive usage, most of the time you want to explicitly specify what to load via --system-prompt, --mcp-config, --settings, etc.

  • This was a design oversight when the SDK was first built
  • In a future version, they will flip the default to --bare
  • For now, opt in with the flag to get up to 10x faster startup
bash
claude -p "summarize this codebase" \
    --output-format=stream-json \
    --verbose \
    --bare

13/ Use --add-dir to Give Claude Access to More Folders ​

When working across multiple repositories, Boris usually starts Claude in one repo and uses --add-dir (or /add-dir) to let Claude see the other repo.

  • This not only tells Claude about the repo, but also gives it permissions to work in the repo
  • Or, add "additionalDirectories" to your team's settings.json to always load in additional folders when starting Claude Code

14/ Use --agent to Give Claude Code a Custom System Prompt & Tools ​

Custom agents are a powerful primitive that often gets overlooked. To use it, just define a new agent in .claude/agents/, then run:

bash
claude --agent=<your agent's name>
  • Agents can have restricted tools, custom descriptions, and specific models
  • They're great for creating read-only agents, specialized review agents, or domain-specific tools

15/ Use /voice to Enable Voice Input ​

Fun fact: Boris does most of his coding by speaking to Claude, rather than typing.

  • Run /voice in CLI then hold the space bar to speak
  • Press the voice button on Desktop
  • Or enable dictation in your iOS settings

Sources ​