Turn
One complete response from , from your message to its finish. See what it is, how it works, how it is used and what to watch for, with pictures and examples.
What it is
A turn is one full answer from . It starts when you send a message and ends when Claude finishes responding. In between, Claude may use tools many times, for example run the tests, read the errors, edit a file and run the tests again. A session is a chain of many turns.
How it works
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You send one message
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Claude gathers with tools
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Claude acts and checks results
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Claude finishes; the turn ends
How to use it
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Escstops Claude right away; the running is canceled and Claude waits for you.
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Type and press
Enterwhile Claude works — your message is queued, and Claude reads it within the same turn after the current tool calls finish. -
— a hook that runs each time Claude finishes responding, for example to send a notification.
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Commands sent during a turn — most of them and runs them after the turn ends; a few, such as
/status, run at once.
Watch out
One turn is not one tool call. A single turn can hold dozens of actions. A Stop hook does not run when you interrupt Claude yourself, and errors fire a different hook named StopFailure.
Related terms
Original and official docs
This page explains the term in plain words. The original is the authority: if they differ, follow the original.