How to get Claude Code to tell you what it changed.

(1)Step 1 · The record

Read the diff, not the reply.

Claude’s last message describes what it meant to do. The files on disk are what it did. /diff opens them without leaving Claude Code: with fullscreen rendering, a panel beside the conversation that refreshes each time Claude edits a file or runs a shell command; with the classic renderer, a dialog above the prompt that you close when you are done. The panel’s list skips test and generated files at first; click their count line to show them.

One catch: the per-turn views come from Claude’s file edits, not from git. A change Claude makes through a shell command, such as a formatter, a code generator or sed, appears only under Current, the working-tree view. Check Current before you trust a turn view.

(2)Step 2 · In git

Get the same list from any terminal.

The working tree is plain git, so the usual commands work in any terminal or editor. Commit or stash your own work before a long run; if you leave the files alone while it runs, everything the diff shows afterwards is the agent’s.

git status --short     # which files changed, and new files
git diff --stat        # lines added and removed per file
git diff               # the full changes

(3)Step 3 · In words

Ask for a summary you can check against the diff.

/recap writes a one-line summary of the session on demand. Claude Code also shows one on its own when you come back after stepping away: it is generated once at least three minutes have passed since the last turn while the terminal is unfocused, and only in sessions with at least three turns. Recaps are capped at 400 characters, so treat one as a headline rather than a file list.

For a file-by-file account at the end of every task, put the instruction in your project’s CLAUDE.md. A list in that shape is quick to check against /diff.

When you finish a task, list every file you changed, one line each:the path, what changed, and why. Mention any change you made byrunning a command rather than editing a file.

(4)Step 4 · Out loud

Hear what changed while you do something else.

The Claude Code CLI has no spoken output of its own. Heard is a macOS app (macOS 14 or later) that installs a hook for your Claude Code sessions and speaks questions, approvals, blockers, failures and final results, so the end of a task reaches you as a sentence instead of a screen you have to come back to. With several sessions running, each keeps its own context. On Pro and above you can also ask Heard to catch you up on what your agents did. It starts with a 14-day Heard Power trial, no card required; plans are on heard.dev/pricing.

If you only want a signal that the turn ended, a free Stop hook that plays a sound is enough: see how to make Claude Code play a sound when it finishes.