Claude Code /tasks — View and Manage Your Background Task List

When you push a few long jobs to the back and do other things, you get confused: "what's running right now? Is it done?" /tasks is a command that gathers background-running jobs in one place so you can view and manage them.

Definition (what it is)

/tasks is a command that views and manages background-running jobs. It can also be used by the alias (a different name for the same command) /bashes.

Background means work that keeps running behind the scenes even when you're not watching it in front. When you run several at once, it's hard to track how far each has progressed, but /tasks lets you check that list and status at a glance. Because it manages workflow, it's classified as intermediate.

How to use it (by level)

Basic — View the list of running jobs

Type this in the input box.

/tasks

This lists out the jobs currently running in the background. You can check the state of each job in one place. Typing /bashes gives the same result.

Real-world example

In a situation where you've pushed several jobs like tests, builds, and long scripts to the background, inspect their progress with /tasks. Since you can see at a glance what's done and what's still running, you can run several jobs at once with peace of mind.

Taking it further

If you spot a job in the list you no longer need, halt it with /stop (halt a background session). Learning the flow of starting with /background (which pushes work to the back), inspecting with /tasks, and tidying with /stop as a bundle makes background task management much smoother.

Wrap-up

/tasks is a command that views and manages background-running jobs (alias /bashes). Being able to check the progress of multiple jobs in one place means you won't get confused even running many things at once. For tidying, use it together with /stop.

Based on Claude Code v2.1.154 (2026.05)