Tools

• With tools Claude Code can act
• read your code
• edit files
• run commands
• search the web
• interact with external services

• Each tool use returns information that feeds back into the agentic loop, informing Claude's next decision.

• Categories of built-in tools (base capabilities)

• File operations: Read files, edit code, create new files, rename and reorganize
• Search: Find files by pattern, search content with regex, explore codebases
• Execution: Run shell commands, start servers, run tests, use git
• Web: Search the web, fetch documentation, look up error messages

• Code intelligence: See type errors and warnings after edits, jump to definitions, find references (requires code intelligence plugins)

• You can extend the base capabilities with

• Skills: what claude knows
• MCP: connect to external services
• Hooks: automate workflows

• Subagents: offload tasks

• Plugins are the packaging layer. A plugin bundles skills, hooks, subagents, and MCP servers into a single installable unit. Plugin skills are namespaced (like /my-plugin:review) so multiple plugins can coexist