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Rajesh Royal
Rajesh Royal

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Commands: Stop Repeating Yourself and Start Shipping Faster

#tutorial #claudecode #productivity #beginners

Turn your best prompts into reusable slash commands with a single markdown file

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Have you ever typed the same prompt for the hundredth time and thought, "There has to be a better way"? Maybe it's that detailed code review prompt you've perfected. Or the security audit checklist you run on every PR. Or the explanation format that works perfectly for your team's documentation style.

Copy-pasting prompts is the developer's version of manual labor. It's error-prone, tedious, and frankly beneath you. What if you could save any prompt as a reusable command and invoke it with a simple slash?

Welcome to Claude Code Commands — where your best prompts become first-class citizens in your workflow.

The Problem

Every developer has their "golden prompts" — the carefully crafted instructions that produce exactly the output they need. But these prompts live in:

  • Random text files scattered across your machine
  • Your browser history (good luck finding them)
  • Slack messages you sent yourself
  • That one Notion page you keep forgetting to bookmark

Even worse, these prompts often need slight modifications based on context. You want to explain src/auth.ts today, but tomorrow it's lib/database.js. So you copy, paste, find-replace, and hope you didn't miss anything.

This friction adds up. Every time you hunt for that perfect prompt, you lose focus. Every manual edit is a chance for error. Every repeated keystroke is time stolen from actual problem-solving.

The Solution: Custom Commands

Claude Code lets you transform any prompt into a reusable slash command. One markdown file in, one slash command out. It's that simple.

How to Use It

Create a markdown file in your project's .claude/commands/ directory:

# .claude/commands/explain.md

Analyze and explain the following file in detail:

File: $ARGUMENTS

Please provide:
1. A high-level overview of what this code does
2. Key functions/classes and their purposes
3. Any notable patterns or design decisions
4. Potential areas for improvement
5. Dependencies and how they're used
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Now you can invoke it with:

/explain src/auth.ts
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That's it. The $ARGUMENTS placeholder gets replaced with whatever you type after the command. Your carefully crafted prompt executes instantly, with zero copy-pasting.

Creating More Complex Commands

Commands can be as sophisticated as you need:

# .claude/commands/security-review.md

Perform a comprehensive security review of: $ARGUMENTS

Check for:
- SQL injection vulnerabilities
- XSS attack vectors  
- Authentication/authorization flaws
- Sensitive data exposure
- Input validation issues
- Dependency vulnerabilities

Format your response as a security report with severity ratings.
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# .claude/commands/refactor.md

Refactor the following code for better maintainability: $ARGUMENTS

Guidelines:
- Follow SOLID principles
- Extract reusable functions
- Add meaningful variable names
- Include TypeScript types where beneficial
- Preserve existing functionality
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Project vs. Personal Commands

  • Project commands live in .claude/commands/ — shared with your team via version control
  • Personal commands live in ~/.claude/commands/ — your private productivity boosters

Pro Tips

  1. Version control your commands: Project commands in .claude/commands/ become part of your repository. Your entire team gets consistent, battle-tested prompts.

  2. Build command libraries: Create commands for your most common tasks — code reviews, documentation, testing, debugging. Over time, you'll have a personalized AI toolkit.

  3. Chain arguments creatively: Use $ARGUMENTS for more than just file paths. Pass configuration flags, specify output formats, or include context:

   /review src/api.ts --focus security --format markdown
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  1. Document your commands: Add comments in your markdown files explaining when and how to use each command. Future you will thank present you.

  2. Start small, iterate often: Begin with your three most-used prompts. Refine them based on results. Expand from there.

Real-World Use Case

A fintech startup I worked with had a 47-point checklist for reviewing payment-related code. Before Commands, this review took 20 minutes of setup — finding the checklist, pasting it, specifying the files, formatting the request.

They created /payment-review $ARGUMENTS:

# .claude/commands/payment-review.md

Conduct a payment system code review for: $ARGUMENTS

[Full 47-point checklist here...]

Flag any violations as CRITICAL, HIGH, MEDIUM, or LOW.
Generate a compliance report suitable for audit documentation.
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Setup time dropped from 20 minutes to 3 seconds. More importantly, every engineer now runs the exact same comprehensive review. No more "I forgot to check for PCI compliance" incidents.

Conclusion

Commands transform Claude Code from a tool you use into a tool that knows you. Your best prompts become instant, reliable, and shareable. Your team gets consistency. You get your time back.

Stop repeating yourself. Start commanding.

Tomorrow: We're entering the danger zone — safely. Day 27 introduces Sandbox Mode, where Claude gets to work freely within boundaries you define. YOLO speed meets actual security.

What prompt do you type most often? That's your first command. Create it today.

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