The single most important key in is Esc.
When Claude is about to do something you don’t want — modify the wrong file, run a destructive command, head down a wrong path — press Esc and it stops right now. You don’t have to wait for it to finish; you don’t have to control-C the .
Use it freely:
- It looked confused mid-edit? Esc.
- It’s running a long task you’ve changed your mind about? Esc.
- Your phone rang? Esc.
After you stop, you can correct (“no, what I meant was…”) and continue. The session is intact.
Esc Esc (press it twice) opens a session-history scrubber where you can jump back to any earlier checkpoint — useful when Claude has gone several steps wrong and you want to rewind, not just stop.