TL;DR If you never use the gray text after each reply, turn it off: in the terminal,
/configand set Prompt suggestions tofalse; in Desktop, Settings > Claude Code > Prompt suggestions. If you do use it, pressTabto accept andEnterto send: pressingEnterbefore accepting sends nothing.
Claude Code's prompt suggestions aren't local autocomplete. Every time Claude finishes a reply, Claude Code sends a short background request to your session's model to guess your next prompt, then shows it as gray text in the empty input.
Per the docs, that request counts toward your plan's usage limits or your API bill, alongside everything else that eats your usage limit. It reuses the conversation's prompt cache, so it's mostly cache reads and a few output tokens: small per reply, but it's one per reply, whether you use it or not.
Two things look similar and aren't the same. The gray example you see when a session opens comes from the project's git history, not from your conversation. And the Desktop card with a Start button is a different feature that opens a new session, covered in the tip on suggested tasks in Desktop.
What it looks like
Captured on Claude Code v2.1.312, in a scratch folder with a calc.py whose add() subtracts. The prompt asked what was wrong and said tests would come next. When the reply finished, the input looked like this:
● add() in calc.py subtracts instead of adding: it returns a-b where it should return a+b.
So add(2, 3) gives -1 instead of 5.
I haven't edited anything. Next I'll write the tests, then make the fix.
✻ Crunched for 3s · done 9:38 AM
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
❯ write the tests
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
⏸ manual mode on · ? for shortcuts
Nobody typed write the tests: the terminal draws it dimmed (the ESC[2m sequence). What each key does, tested in that same session:
| Key | What happens |
|---|---|
Enter before accepting |
Nothing. No message is sent |
Tab or Right arrow |
Places the suggestion as normal, editable text |
Enter after Tab |
Sends the prompt |
| Start typing | Dismisses it |
The Desktop Code tab works the same way, with one more condition: the suggestion only shows while the prompt box is empty and has no attached files.
How to turn them off
1. In the terminal, from /config
Type /config, filter by prompt, and set Prompt suggestions to false. The toggle writes the promptSuggestionEnabled setting.
2. In your settings file
The same thing by hand, in ~/.claude/settings.json or a project's settings:
{
"promptSuggestionEnabled": false
}
Started with --settings '{"promptSuggestionEnabled":false}' and the same test conversation, the input stayed empty after the reply.
3. With the environment variable, which beats both
export CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_PROMPT_SUGGESTION=false
The variable takes precedence over the setting. The reverse test confirms it: with promptSuggestionEnabled: false in settings and CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_PROMPT_SUGGESTION=true in the environment, the write the tests suggestion came back. If you turned them off in /config and still see them, look for the variable in your .zshrc or .bashrc.
4. In Claude Code Desktop
Go to Settings > Claude Code (or Settings > Code, whichever your app shows) and turn off Prompt suggestions. Open sessions stop showing them the next time they start or resume, not right away.
5. In cloud sessions
Add CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_PROMPT_SUGGESTION=false to the cloud environment's environment variables, in .env format. Before v2.1.290, new cloud sessions ignored it: if it didn't work for you earlier, it does now. Editing those variables is covered in the tip on Desktop cloud environments.
When they skip on their own
Even when they're on, Claude Code doesn't generate a suggestion in these cases, per the docs and the changelog:
- Cold cache. If the prompt cache has expired, a suggestion would cost the whole conversation uncached, so it isn't requested. What cools the cache is in the tip on what broke your cache.
- Close to your usage limit. When your account is running low, they pause. With
CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_PROMPT_SUGGESTION=truethey keep going until you hit the limit (since v2.1.238). - Replies billed to credits. Since v2.1.302, no suggestion follows a reply billed to usage credits.
- Plan mode, a reply that ended in an error, and agent team teammates. In a team, only the lead's session shows them.
- Twenty unused in a row. Since v2.1.283 the terminal shows them less often and says
Showing fewer prompt suggestions · use one to bring them back. Using one brings them back. claude -p. Print mode generates none unless you pass--prompt-suggestionswith--output-format stream-json --verbose. A short test query produced noprompt_suggestionmessage: very short conversations are skipped too.
One more case can throw you: in a session that doesn't fetch feature flags (a third-party provider, a Claude apps gateway, or the first session after an upgrade), they're off by default and the toggle doesn't appear in /config.
Official docs: Prompt suggestions
Tested on Claude Code v2.1.312 on October 29, 2026.
