The conversation

What the transcript shows, and how much of it.

Your messages

A long message is clipped to Preview lines, with Show more / Show less. Hovering a message of yours gives Copy message, Fork conversation from here (see Sessions) and how long ago it was sent.

Chips on the bubble show what went with it: the editor file and lines, images, attached files. Clicking the file chip opens it at those lines; an image opens the lightbox, which has Copy image.

A message still waiting in the queue is shown dimmed. A turn you stopped leaves a [Request interrupted…] line, marked in orange.

Tool rows

Collapsible rows, one per tool call. An open row has an IN and an OUT cell (ERR on a failure), each with a copy button; clicking a cell opens its full text in a Visual Studio document. Clicking a file path opens the file in VS.

• Read shows its line range and opens the file there.
• Edit shows an inline diff; on opening the file the selection lands on the lines that changed, taken from the patch the CLI itself computed, so it is right even after the edit has been applied and the file touched again (Select lines when opening file). Its title carries the counts (+3 −14), or Edit failed.
• Write shows the content itself, with the line count in the title: see Reviewing changes.
• Bash and PowerShell commands are never clipped and are highlighted; their output stays a preview even with the row open, the full text being one click away.
• Grep, Glob and WebSearch show a count (12 matches, No files) that opens the full result.
• MCP tools read MCP Tool then server · tool, with input and output as indented, highlighted JSON, never clipped.
• Agent rows group a sub-agent’s own tool calls: see Sub-agents.

A failed row has a Show error details button; with Show tool errors inline on, the error is shown under the output instead. A row left unfinished in a reopened session is shown as failed.

View mode

How much of the work the transcript shows, from the View mode slider in the / menu.

Mode	Command	Shows
Full	/vm:full or /vm:0	every row
Focus	/vm:focus or /vm:1	every reply; each run of tool calls and thinking between two of them folds into one row (5 tool calls · 1 failed, Running Bash… while it works) that opens in place
Hide tools	/vm:hide or /vm:2	the tool rows are dropped altogether; thinking rows stay

The commands set a mode outright, without leaving the keyboard: type /vm:1 and press Enter. The number is how much is hidden, 0 nothing and 2 the most. They work with a draft in the composer too: a / that starts a word opens the menu anywhere in the text, and what you typed for the command is removed once it has run. /view, /hide or /tools bring the slider itself to the top of the list. The mode is shared by every open chat.

Kept in every mode: your answers to questions, plan decisions, the task list, and a call waiting for your approval. In Focus and Hide tools an answered question starts closed, down to its header (Question · Answered); its chevron opens it.

A fold opened while its run was still working closes again when the turn ends.

Diffs

Edit rows show a diff with the file’s own line numbers and the context around each change, syntax-highlighted, with the changed words marked inside an edited line. Clicking it opens the change in Visual Studio’s native side-by-side diff. See Reviewing changes.

Thinking

With Thinking on, the model’s reasoning appears as a closed row above the answer: Thinking… 12s while it runs, Thought for 12s · ~88 tok afterwards. Open it to read the reasoning.

Compaction

When the CLI compacts the conversation the spinner reads Compacting…, and the transcript gains a separator: Compacted chat · auto · 84k tok freed. Open it to read the summary that replaced the earlier messages, fetched when first opened. A compaction that fails leaves a red Compaction failed: … line.

Markdown and copy

• Full Markdown rendering: tables, lists, blockquotes, links, and fenced code blocks rendered with syntax highlighting (highlight.js) across all common languages.
• Everything is copyable: a copy button on every message, tool row, code block and table, so any part of the conversation can be lifted out. A table copies as markdown, pipes and alignment included, so it parses back as the same table wherever you paste it.
• Clickable file references: ClientEvents.cs:208 in an answer is a link that opens the file; see Clickable file references.
• Image lightbox and a welcome screen for empty chats.

Cost and elapsed time

The spinner counts the seconds while the turn runs, and the output tokens received so far (↓ 1.2k tok, an estimate).

With Show cost and duration on, the row of actions that appears when you hover a finished answer also carries what the turn cost: $0.3260 · ↑ 1.2k ↓ 84 tok · 3.2s (cost, input and output tokens, time). A turn read back from history shows its tokens only: cost and duration are not stored in the session file.

An Agent row carries a running clock while its sub-agent works and, once it has finished, the run’s own totals (1m 23s · 12k tok · 8 tools), whatever the option says.

Notices

There are two places: session notices at the top of the chat, turn notices above the prompt. Each shows at most three; information and success fade after 7 seconds, warnings and errors stay until you dismiss them.

• A turn that ends without an answer says why: Turn limit reached, Budget limit reached, Usage limit reached, Prompt too long, Stopped by a hook, API error, Model error. A turn you stopped yourself shows none.
• If the CLI process exits: Claude Code process exited (code N), with a View logs button. It clears when the CLI starts again, which your next message does. See Troubleshooting.
• A file that will not open says so, with the reason.
• Rate-limit notices are in Context, usage & statistics.

Read a response aloud

A speaker button on each answer reads it out with the system voice (Web Speech, no extra install); click to pause, click to resume. The markdown is spoken as plain prose: no “asterisk asterisk”, no code blocks recited. One reading at a time: starting another stops the first.

Code review findings as a list

/code-review reports its findings as a readable list: severity first, each with its file and line as a link that opens there, instead of the raw call data. The row grows to fit them, so nothing hides behind an inner scrollbar; after a --fix run it also says what each finding became.

Long sessions

• Lazy history: the transcript is read from the .jsonl on demand: the newest page (batch of 50) first, older pages only as you scroll up, and heavy blocks (images, sub-agent transcripts, full diffs) fetched only when opened. Nothing is held in memory up front: long sessions open fast and stay light.
• Jump to the latest: scrolling up puts a button in the corner that returns you to the bottom of the transcript.

Related options

Preview lines, Collapse tool results, View mode, Sticky user messages, Show tool errors inline and Chat font size are under Options → Chat.