openclaw/docs/tools/slash-commands.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
Slash commands: text vs native, config, and supported commands	Using or configuring chat commands Debugging command routing or permissions	Slash Commands

Slash commands

Commands are handled by the Gateway. Most commands must be sent as a standalone message that starts with /. The host-only bash chat command uses ! <cmd> (with /bash <cmd> as an alias).

There are two related systems:

• Commands: standalone /... messages.
• Directives: /think, /fast, /verbose, /reasoning, /elevated, /exec, /model, /queue.
  • Directives are stripped from the message before the model sees it.
  • In normal chat messages (not directive-only), they are treated as “inline hints” and do not persist session settings.
  • In directive-only messages (the message contains only directives), they persist to the session and reply with an acknowledgement.
  • Directives are only applied for authorized senders. If commands.allowFrom is set, it is the only allowlist used; otherwise authorization comes from channel allowlists/pairing plus commands.useAccessGroups. Unauthorized senders see directives treated as plain text.

There are also a few inline shortcuts (allowlisted/authorized senders only): /help, /commands, /status, /whoami (/id). They run immediately, are stripped before the model sees the message, and the remaining text continues through the normal flow.

Config

{
  commands: {
    native: "auto",
    nativeSkills: "auto",
    text: true,
    bash: false,
    bashForegroundMs: 2000,
    config: false,
    mcp: false,
    plugins: false,
    debug: false,
    restart: true,
    ownerAllowFrom: ["discord:123456789012345678"],
    ownerDisplay: "raw",
    ownerDisplaySecret: "${OWNER_ID_HASH_SECRET}",
    allowFrom: {
      "*": ["user1"],
      discord: ["user:123"],
    },
    useAccessGroups: true,
  },
}

• commands.text (default true) enables parsing /... in chat messages.
  • On surfaces without native commands (WhatsApp/WebChat/Signal/iMessage/Google Chat/Microsoft Teams), text commands still work even if you set this to false.
• commands.native (default "auto") registers native commands.
  • Auto: on for Discord/Telegram; off for Slack (until you add slash commands); ignored for providers without native support.
  • Set channels.discord.commands.native, channels.telegram.commands.native, or channels.slack.commands.native to override per provider (bool or "auto").
  • false clears previously registered commands on Discord/Telegram at startup. Slack commands are managed in the Slack app and are not removed automatically.
• commands.nativeSkills (default "auto") registers skill commands natively when supported.
  • Auto: on for Discord/Telegram; off for Slack (Slack requires creating a slash command per skill).
  • Set channels.discord.commands.nativeSkills, channels.telegram.commands.nativeSkills, or channels.slack.commands.nativeSkills to override per provider (bool or "auto").
• commands.bash (default false) enables ! <cmd> to run host shell commands (/bash <cmd> is an alias; requires tools.elevated allowlists).
• commands.bashForegroundMs (default 2000) controls how long bash waits before switching to background mode (0 backgrounds immediately).
• commands.config (default false) enables /config (reads/writes openclaw.json).
• commands.mcp (default false) enables /mcp (reads/writes OpenClaw-managed MCP config under mcp.servers).
• commands.plugins (default false) enables /plugins (plugin discovery/status plus install + enable/disable controls).
• commands.debug (default false) enables /debug (runtime-only overrides).
• commands.restart (default true) enables /restart plus gateway restart tool actions.
• commands.ownerAllowFrom (optional) sets the explicit owner allowlist for owner-only command/tool surfaces. This is separate from commands.allowFrom.
• commands.ownerDisplay controls how owner ids appear in the system prompt: raw or hash.
• commands.ownerDisplaySecret optionally sets the HMAC secret used when commands.ownerDisplay="hash".
• commands.allowFrom (optional) sets a per-provider allowlist for command authorization. When configured, it is the only authorization source for commands and directives (channel allowlists/pairing and commands.useAccessGroups are ignored). Use "*" for a global default; provider-specific keys override it.
• commands.useAccessGroups (default true) enforces allowlists/policies for commands when commands.allowFrom is not set.

Command list

Current source-of-truth:

• core built-ins come from src/auto-reply/commands-registry.shared.ts
• generated dock commands come from src/auto-reply/commands-registry.data.ts
• plugin commands come from plugin registerCommand() calls
• actual availability on your gateway still depends on config flags, channel surface, and installed/enabled plugins

Core built-in commands

Built-in commands available today:

• /new [model] starts a new session; /reset is the reset alias.
• /compact [instructions] compacts the session context. See /concepts/compaction.
• /stop aborts the current run.
• /session idle <duration|off> and /session max-age <duration|off> manage thread-binding expiry.
• /think <off|minimal|low|medium|high|xhigh> sets the thinking level. Aliases: /thinking, /t.
• /verbose on|off|full toggles verbose output. Alias: /v.
• /fast [status|on|off] shows or sets fast mode.
• /reasoning [on|off|stream] toggles reasoning visibility. Alias: /reason.
• /elevated [on|off|ask|full] toggles elevated mode. Alias: /elev.
• /exec host=<auto|sandbox|gateway|node> security=<deny|allowlist|full> ask=<off|on-miss|always> node=<id> shows or sets exec defaults.
• /model [name|#|status] shows or sets the model.
• /models [provider] [page] [limit=<n>|size=<n>|all] lists providers or models for a provider.
• /queue <mode> manages queue behavior (steer, interrupt, followup, collect, steer-backlog) plus options like debounce:2s cap:25 drop:summarize.
• /help shows the short help summary.
• /commands shows the generated command catalog.
• /tools [compact|verbose] shows what the current agent can use right now.
• /status shows runtime status, including provider usage/quota when available.
• /tasks lists active/recent background tasks for the current session.
• /context [list|detail|json] explains how context is assembled.
• /export-session [path] exports the current session to HTML. Alias: /export.
• /whoami shows your sender id. Alias: /id.
• /skill <name> [input] runs a skill by name.
• /allowlist [list|add|remove] ... manages allowlist entries. Text-only.
• /approve <id> <decision> resolves exec approval prompts.
• /btw <question> asks a side question without changing future session context. See /tools/btw.
• /subagents list|kill|log|info|send|steer|spawn manages sub-agent runs for the current session.
• /acp spawn|cancel|steer|close|sessions|status|set-mode|set|cwd|permissions|timeout|model|reset-options|doctor|install|help manages ACP sessions and runtime options.
• /focus <target> binds the current Discord thread or Telegram topic/conversation to a session target.
• /unfocus removes the current binding.
• /agents lists thread-bound agents for the current session.
• /kill <id|#|all> aborts one or all running sub-agents.
• /steer <id|#> <message> sends steering to a running sub-agent. Alias: /tell.
• /config show|get|set|unset reads or writes openclaw.json. Owner-only. Requires commands.config: true.
• /mcp show|get|set|unset reads or writes OpenClaw-managed MCP server config under mcp.servers. Owner-only. Requires commands.mcp: true.
• /plugins list|inspect|show|get|install|enable|disable inspects or mutates plugin state. /plugin is an alias. Owner-only for writes. Requires commands.plugins: true.
• /debug show|set|unset|reset manages runtime-only config overrides. Owner-only. Requires commands.debug: true.
• /usage off|tokens|full|cost controls the per-response usage footer or prints a local cost summary.
• /tts on|off|status|provider|limit|summary|audio|help controls TTS. See /tools/tts.
• /restart restarts OpenClaw when enabled. Default: enabled; set commands.restart: false to disable it.
• /activation mention|always sets group activation mode.
• /send on|off|inherit sets send policy. Owner-only.
• /bash <command> runs a host shell command. Text-only. Alias: ! <command>. Requires commands.bash: true plus tools.elevated allowlists.
• !poll [sessionId] checks a background bash job.
• !stop [sessionId] stops a background bash job.

Generated dock commands

Dock commands are generated from channel plugins with native-command support. Current bundled set:

• /dock-discord (alias: /dock_discord)
• /dock-mattermost (alias: /dock_mattermost)
• /dock-slack (alias: /dock_slack)
• /dock-telegram (alias: /dock_telegram)

Bundled plugin commands

Bundled plugins can add more slash commands. Current bundled commands in this repo:

• /dreaming [on|off|status|help] toggles memory dreaming. See Dreaming.
• /pair [qr|status|pending|approve|cleanup|notify] manages device pairing/setup flow. See Pairing.
• /phone status|arm <camera|screen|writes|all> [duration]|disarm temporarily arms high-risk phone node commands.
• /voice status|list [limit]|set <voiceId|name> manages Talk voice config. On Discord, the native command name is /talkvoice.
• /card ... sends LINE rich card presets. See LINE.
• QQBot-only commands:
  • /bot-ping
  • /bot-version
  • /bot-help
  • /bot-upgrade
  • /bot-logs

Dynamic skill commands

User-invocable skills are also exposed as slash commands:

• /skill <name> [input] always works as the generic entrypoint.
• skills may also appear as direct commands like /prose when the skill/plugin registers them.
• native skill-command registration is controlled by commands.nativeSkills and channels.<provider>.commands.nativeSkills.

Notes:

• Commands accept an optional : between the command and args (e.g. /think: high, /send: on, /help:).
• /new <model> accepts a model alias, provider/model, or a provider name (fuzzy match); if no match, the text is treated as the message body.
• For full provider usage breakdown, use openclaw status --usage.
• /allowlist add|remove requires commands.config=true and honors channel configWrites.
• In multi-account channels, config-targeted /allowlist --account <id> and /config set channels.<provider>.accounts.<id>... also honor the target account's configWrites.
• /usage controls the per-response usage footer; /usage cost prints a local cost summary from OpenClaw session logs.
• /restart is enabled by default; set commands.restart: false to disable it.
• /plugins install <spec> accepts the same plugin specs as openclaw plugins install: local path/archive, npm package, or clawhub:<pkg>.
• /plugins enable|disable updates plugin config and may prompt for a restart.
• Discord-only native command: /vc join|leave|status controls voice channels (requires channels.discord.voice and native commands; not available as text).
• Discord thread-binding commands (/focus, /unfocus, /agents, /session idle, /session max-age) require effective thread bindings to be enabled (session.threadBindings.enabled and/or channels.discord.threadBindings.enabled).
• ACP command reference and runtime behavior: ACP Agents.
• /verbose is meant for debugging and extra visibility; keep it off in normal use.
• /fast on|off persists a session override. Use the Sessions UI inherit option to clear it and fall back to config defaults.
• /fast is provider-specific: OpenAI/OpenAI Codex map it to service_tier=priority on native Responses endpoints, while direct public Anthropic requests, including OAuth-authenticated traffic sent to api.anthropic.com, map it to service_tier=auto or standard_only. See OpenAI and Anthropic.
• Tool failure summaries are still shown when relevant, but detailed failure text is only included when /verbose is on or full.
• /reasoning (and /verbose) are risky in group settings: they may reveal internal reasoning or tool output you did not intend to expose. Prefer leaving them off, especially in group chats.
• /model persists the new session model immediately.
• If the agent is idle, the next run uses it right away.
• If a run is already active, OpenClaw marks a live switch as pending and only restarts into the new model at a clean retry point.
• If tool activity or reply output has already started, the pending switch can stay queued until a later retry opportunity or the next user turn.
• Fast path: command-only messages from allowlisted senders are handled immediately (bypass queue + model).
• Group mention gating: command-only messages from allowlisted senders bypass mention requirements.
• Inline shortcuts (allowlisted senders only): certain commands also work when embedded in a normal message and are stripped before the model sees the remaining text.
  • Example: hey /status triggers a status reply, and the remaining text continues through the normal flow.
• Currently: /help, /commands, /status, /whoami (/id).
• Unauthorized command-only messages are silently ignored, and inline /... tokens are treated as plain text.
• Skill commands: user-invocable skills are exposed as slash commands. Names are sanitized to a-z0-9_ (max 32 chars); collisions get numeric suffixes (e.g. _2).
  • /skill <name> [input] runs a skill by name (useful when native command limits prevent per-skill commands).
  • By default, skill commands are forwarded to the model as a normal request.
  • Skills may optionally declare command-dispatch: tool to route the command directly to a tool (deterministic, no model).
  • Example: /prose (OpenProse plugin) — see OpenProse.
• Native command arguments: Discord uses autocomplete for dynamic options (and button menus when you omit required args). Telegram and Slack show a button menu when a command supports choices and you omit the arg.

/tools

/tools answers a runtime question, not a config question: what this agent can use right now in this conversation.

• Default /tools is compact and optimized for quick scanning.
• /tools verbose adds short descriptions.
• Native-command surfaces that support arguments expose the same mode switch as compact|verbose.
• Results are session-scoped, so changing agent, channel, thread, sender authorization, or model can change the output.
• /tools includes tools that are actually reachable at runtime, including core tools, connected plugin tools, and channel-owned tools.

For profile and override editing, use the Control UI Tools panel or config/catalog surfaces instead of treating /tools as a static catalog.

Usage surfaces (what shows where)

• Provider usage/quota (example: “Claude 80% left”) shows up in /status for the current model provider when usage tracking is enabled. OpenClaw normalizes provider windows to % left; for MiniMax, remaining-only percent fields are inverted before display, and model_remains responses prefer the chat-model entry plus a model-tagged plan label.
• Token/cache lines in /status can fall back to the latest transcript usage entry when the live session snapshot is sparse. Existing nonzero live values still win, and transcript fallback can also recover the active runtime model label plus a larger prompt-oriented total when stored totals are missing or smaller.
• Per-response tokens/cost is controlled by /usage off|tokens|full (appended to normal replies).
• /model status is about models/auth/endpoints, not usage.

Model selection (/model)

/model is implemented as a directive.

Examples:

/model
/model list
/model 3
/model openai/gpt-5.4
/model opus@anthropic:default
/model status

Notes:

• /model and /model list show a compact, numbered picker (model family + available providers).
• On Discord, /model and /models open an interactive picker with provider and model dropdowns plus a Submit step.
• /model <#> selects from that picker (and prefers the current provider when possible).
• /model status shows the detailed view, including configured provider endpoint (baseUrl) and API mode (api) when available.

Debug overrides

/debug lets you set runtime-only config overrides (memory, not disk). Owner-only. Disabled by default; enable with commands.debug: true.

Examples:

/debug show
/debug set messages.responsePrefix="[openclaw]"
/debug set channels.whatsapp.allowFrom=["+1555","+4477"]
/debug unset messages.responsePrefix
/debug reset

Notes:

• Overrides apply immediately to new config reads, but do not write to openclaw.json.
• Use /debug reset to clear all overrides and return to the on-disk config.

Config updates

/config writes to your on-disk config (openclaw.json). Owner-only. Disabled by default; enable with commands.config: true.

Examples:

/config show
/config show messages.responsePrefix
/config get messages.responsePrefix
/config set messages.responsePrefix="[openclaw]"
/config unset messages.responsePrefix

Notes:

• Config is validated before write; invalid changes are rejected.
• /config updates persist across restarts.

MCP updates

/mcp writes OpenClaw-managed MCP server definitions under mcp.servers. Owner-only. Disabled by default; enable with commands.mcp: true.

Examples:

/mcp show
/mcp show context7
/mcp set context7={"command":"uvx","args":["context7-mcp"]}
/mcp unset context7

Notes:

• /mcp stores config in OpenClaw config, not Pi-owned project settings.
• Runtime adapters decide which transports are actually executable.

Plugin updates

/plugins lets operators inspect discovered plugins and toggle enablement in config. Read-only flows can use /plugin as an alias. Disabled by default; enable with commands.plugins: true.

Examples:

/plugins
/plugins list
/plugin show context7
/plugins enable context7
/plugins disable context7

Notes:

• /plugins list and /plugins show use real plugin discovery against the current workspace plus on-disk config.
• /plugins enable|disable updates plugin config only; it does not install or uninstall plugins.
• After enable/disable changes, restart the gateway to apply them.

Surface notes

• Text commands run in the normal chat session (DMs share main, groups have their own session).
• Native commands use isolated sessions:
  • Discord: agent:<agentId>:discord:slash:<userId>
  • Slack: agent:<agentId>:slack:slash:<userId> (prefix configurable via channels.slack.slashCommand.sessionPrefix)
  • Telegram: telegram:slash:<userId> (targets the chat session via CommandTargetSessionKey)
• /stop targets the active chat session so it can abort the current run.
• Slack: channels.slack.slashCommand is still supported for a single /openclaw-style command. If you enable commands.native, you must create one Slack slash command per built-in command (same names as /help). Command argument menus for Slack are delivered as ephemeral Block Kit buttons.
  • Slack native exception: register /agentstatus (not /status) because Slack reserves /status. Text /status still works in Slack messages.

BTW side questions

/btw is a quick side question about the current session.

Unlike normal chat:

• it uses the current session as background context,
• it runs as a separate tool-less one-shot call,
• it does not change future session context,
• it is not written to transcript history,
• it is delivered as a live side result instead of a normal assistant message.

That makes /btw useful when you want a temporary clarification while the main task keeps going.

Example:

/btw what are we doing right now?

See BTW Side Questions for the full behavior and client UX details.