Every couple of weeks, someone sends me a post promising "100 secret Claude codes" or "5 cheat codes Anthropic doesn't want you to know," and asks if they actually work.
So I tested them. Most of them do nothing.
I kept waiting to feel like I was missing a hidden menu. There isn't one. The useful part was never a secret word, it was knowing what to ask for.
That sounds like a letdown, but it's actually good news, because it means you don't have to memorise anything. You just need a handful of go-to shortcuts for the things you do over and over. Below are the ones I lean on for marketing and project work, with the exact prompt I'd paste in for each.
First, what's really going on
A "shortcut" is just a short nickname for a request you make all the time. Instead of typing out "rewrite this so it sounds less robotic," you type /human. That's the whole trick.
Here's the part the viral posts skip: the slash isn't magic. There's no hidden command menu in the chat. Typing /human and typing "make this sound human" get you the exact same result, because the AI is reading your words, not the symbol. Which is also why all of this works in any AI chat, not just Claude.
If you want proof the "codes" aren't real, look at how people define them. One viral post swears /ghost means "make it sound human." Another swears it means "just give me the answer, no explanation." Same code, two completely different meanings, because nobody ever actually defined it. They're just words people made up.
How I actually use them
A few things that make these work better than the hype suggests:
You can drop the slash entirely. It's a memory hook for you, nothing more. Type it if it's faster, skip it if it's not.
Give the AI something to work with. The shortcut points it in a direction, but your details are what steer it. "Make me a plan" is weak. "Make me a launch plan for a 30-day product drop, I'm a team of one, here's the budget" is strong.
Stack two at most. /critic plus /eli5 is a great pair. Stack five and it just gets confused.
That's it. No incantations. Now here's the list.
Content and copy
Turning what you've already written into something sharper, shorter, or more you.
/human — strip the AI tells so it reads like you actually wrote it. Try: "Rewrite this so it sounds like a real person wrote it. Cut the buzzwords and the stiff phrasing, vary the sentence length, and don't add a cheery sign-off: [paste your text]"
/repurpose — reshape one post for several different channels. Try: "Turn this into a LinkedIn post, an Instagram carousel outline, a short newsletter intro, and one post for X. Keep my voice and don't pad it: [paste your post]"
/hooks — ten different opening lines to choose from. Try: "Give me 10 opening lines for this. Mix curiosity, a bold claim, and a relatable problem, and keep each under 15 words: [paste your topic or draft]"
/trim — cut it down without losing the point. Try: "Cut this by about half. Keep the main point and the tone, lose the filler: [paste your text]"
/voice — match your own tone instead of generic AI. Try: "Here are two things I've written. Study the tone and match it from now on: [sample 1] / [sample 2]. Now write: [your ask]"
Campaign and strategy
Getting from a fuzzy idea to a plan you can actually act on.
/brief — turn scattered notes into a proper campaign brief. Try: "Turn these notes into a one-page brief with objective, audience, key message, channels, and how we'll measure it: [paste your notes]"
/angles — five ways to position the same thing. Try: "Give me 5 different angles to position this. For each, one line on who it speaks to and why it lands: [describe the thing]"
/audience — who it's really for, and what they care about. Try: "Who is this actually for? Give me 3 audience segments, what each one cares about, what makes them hesitate, and the message that would move them: [describe the offer]"
/calendar — turn a theme into a real posting schedule. Try: "Build a 2-week posting schedule around this theme. Mix formats and give each post a working title: [your theme]"
/teardown — break down a competitor's campaign. Try: "Break this campaign down for me. What's the offer, the hook, the funnel, and what's worth borrowing or avoiding? [paste or describe it]"
Project and delivery
Keeping a project moving and easy to report on, minus the busywork.
/breakdown — split a big goal into phases with clear owners. Try: "Break this goal into phases with steps, rough timing, and who should own each part. Flag anything that depends on something else: [describe the goal]"
/status — turn rough notes into a clean update. Try: "Turn these notes into a short stakeholder update: what's done, what's next, any blockers. Keep it plain: [paste your notes]"
/risks — spot what could go wrong, and the early signs. Try: "What are the top risks in this plan? For each, give me the early warning sign and one way to reduce it: [describe the plan]"
/next — name the one thing that matters most right now. Try: "Given all of this, what's the single most important next action, and why that one over the others? [paste the context]"
/retro — what worked, what didn't, what you'd change. Try: "Run a quick retro on this. What worked, what didn't, and three things to do differently next time: [describe what happened]"
Decisions and analysis
Making a clearer call when you're weighing options or buried in detail.
/prioritize — rank things by impact against effort. Try: "Rank these by impact versus effort, then explain your top three. Be honest about the ones that aren't worth it: [paste the list]"
/tradeoffs — the honest pros, cons, and hidden costs. Try: "Lay out the real pros, cons, and hidden costs of each option, then tell me which you'd pick and why: [describe the options]"
/sanity — poke holes before you commit. Try: "Poke holes in this before I commit. What am I assuming, and where could it fall apart? [describe your plan]"
/numbers — explain the data in plain language. Try: "Read this data back to me in plain language. What's the story, what's surprising, and what would you double-check? [paste the numbers]"
/eli5 — explain it simply, no jargon. Try: "Explain this like I'm new to it. Use a plain analogy and skip the jargon: [paste the concept]"
Thinking partners
Giving the AI a role so it pushes back instead of just agreeing with you.
/critic — just the flaws, no flattery. Try: "Be a tough editor. Point out only the flaws, gaps, and weak spots. No compliments: [paste your work]"
/steelman — the strongest case for the side you disagree with. Try: "Make the strongest possible case for the side I disagree with, so I'm sure I'm not dismissing it too fast: [describe the position]"
/contrarian — argue the opposite on purpose. Try: "Argue the opposite of what I just said, as convincingly as you can, so I can stress-test it: [paste your take]"
/firstprinciples — strip it back to basics and rebuild. Try: "Forget how this is usually done. Strip it to the actual goal and rebuild an approach from scratch: [describe the problem]"
Two of these in action
The easiest way to get what these do is to watch one work.
Same idea with content. Writing something once and reshaping it for every channel is the most tedious part of my week, so /repurpose is the one I reach for most.
That's the whole list
None of this is a secret, and you don't need to remember the slashes. Save the post, steal the prompts, and rename them to whatever makes sense for your work.
If you only take one thing from this: the next time you're staring at a blank chat box, the question to ask yourself isn't "what's the magic word." It's "what do I actually want back." The list above is just my shortcuts for answering that faster.
Found this useful? I write honest notes on marketing and AI over at bycamillenicole.com.