| --- |
| summary: "Directive syntax for /think, /fast, /verbose, and reasoning visibility" |
| read_when: |
| - Adjusting thinking, fast-mode, or verbose directive parsing or defaults |
| title: "Thinking Levels" |
| --- |
| |
| # Thinking Levels (/think directives) |
|
|
| ## What it does |
|
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| - Inline directive in any inbound body: `/t <level>`, `/think:<level>`, or `/thinking <level>`. |
| - Levels (aliases): `off | minimal | low | medium | high | xhigh | adaptive` |
| - minimal → “think” |
| - low → “think hard” |
| - medium → “think harder” |
| - high → “ultrathink” (max budget) |
| - xhigh → “ultrathink+” (GPT-5.2 + Codex models only) |
| - adaptive → provider-managed adaptive reasoning budget (supported for Anthropic Claude 4.6 model family) |
| - `x-high`, `x_high`, `extra-high`, `extra high`, and `extra_high` map to `xhigh`. |
| - `highest`, `max` map to `high`. |
| - Provider notes: |
| - Anthropic Claude 4.6 models default to `adaptive` when no explicit thinking level is set. |
| - Z.AI (`zai/*`) only supports binary thinking (`on`/`off`). Any non-`off` level is treated as `on` (mapped to `low`). |
| - Moonshot (`moonshot/*`) maps `/think off` to `thinking: { type: "disabled" }` and any non-`off` level to `thinking: { type: "enabled" }`. When thinking is enabled, Moonshot only accepts `tool_choice` `auto|none`; OpenClaw normalizes incompatible values to `auto`. |
|
|
| ## Resolution order |
|
|
| 1. Inline directive on the message (applies only to that message). |
| 2. Session override (set by sending a directive-only message). |
| 3. Global default (`agents.defaults.thinkingDefault` in config). |
| 4. Fallback: `adaptive` for Anthropic Claude 4.6 models, `low` for other reasoning-capable models, `off` otherwise. |
|
|
| ## Setting a session default |
|
|
| - Send a message that is **only** the directive (whitespace allowed), e.g. `/think:medium` or `/t high`. |
| - That sticks for the current session (per-sender by default); cleared by `/think:off` or session idle reset. |
| - Confirmation reply is sent (`Thinking level set to high.` / `Thinking disabled.`). If the level is invalid (e.g. `/thinking big`), the command is rejected with a hint and the session state is left unchanged. |
| - Send `/think` (or `/think:`) with no argument to see the current thinking level. |
|
|
| ## Application by agent |
|
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| - **Embedded Pi**: the resolved level is passed to the in-process Pi agent runtime. |
|
|
| ## Fast mode (/fast) |
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| - Levels: `on|off`. |
| - Directive-only message toggles a session fast-mode override and replies `Fast mode enabled.` / `Fast mode disabled.`. |
| - Send `/fast` (or `/fast status`) with no mode to see the current effective fast-mode state. |
| - OpenClaw resolves fast mode in this order: |
| 1. Inline/directive-only `/fast on|off` |
| 2. Session override |
| 3. Per-model config: `agents.defaults.models["<provider>/<model>"].params.fastMode` |
| 4. Fallback: `off` |
| - For `openai/*`, fast mode applies the OpenAI fast profile: `service_tier=priority` when supported, plus low reasoning effort and low text verbosity. |
| - For `openai-codex/*`, fast mode applies the same low-latency profile on Codex Responses. OpenClaw keeps one shared `/fast` toggle across both auth paths. |
| - For direct `anthropic/*` API-key requests, fast mode maps to Anthropic service tiers: `/fast on` sets `service_tier=auto`, `/fast off` sets `service_tier=standard_only`. |
| - Anthropic fast mode is API-key only. OpenClaw skips Anthropic service-tier injection for Claude setup-token / OAuth auth and for non-Anthropic proxy base URLs. |
|
|
| ## Verbose directives (/verbose or /v) |
|
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| - Levels: `on` (minimal) | `full` | `off` (default). |
| - Directive-only message toggles session verbose and replies `Verbose logging enabled.` / `Verbose logging disabled.`; invalid levels return a hint without changing state. |
| - `/verbose off` stores an explicit session override; clear it via the Sessions UI by choosing `inherit`. |
| - Inline directive affects only that message; session/global defaults apply otherwise. |
| - Send `/verbose` (or `/verbose:`) with no argument to see the current verbose level. |
| - When verbose is on, agents that emit structured tool results (Pi, other JSON agents) send each tool call back as its own metadata-only message, prefixed with `<emoji> <tool-name>: <arg>` when available (path/command). These tool summaries are sent as soon as each tool starts (separate bubbles), not as streaming deltas. |
| - Tool failure summaries remain visible in normal mode, but raw error detail suffixes are hidden unless verbose is `on` or `full`. |
| - When verbose is `full`, tool outputs are also forwarded after completion (separate bubble, truncated to a safe length). If you toggle `/verbose on|full|off` while a run is in-flight, subsequent tool bubbles honor the new setting. |
|
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| ## Reasoning visibility (/reasoning) |
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| - Levels: `on|off|stream`. |
| - Directive-only message toggles whether thinking blocks are shown in replies. |
| - When enabled, reasoning is sent as a **separate message** prefixed with `Reasoning:`. |
| - `stream` (Telegram only): streams reasoning into the Telegram draft bubble while the reply is generating, then sends the final answer without reasoning. |
| - Alias: `/reason`. |
| - Send `/reasoning` (or `/reasoning:`) with no argument to see the current reasoning level. |
|
|
| ## Related |
|
|
| - Elevated mode docs live in [Elevated mode](/tools/elevated). |
|
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| ## Heartbeats |
|
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| - Heartbeat probe body is the configured heartbeat prompt (default: `Read HEARTBEAT.md if it exists (workspace context). Follow it strictly. Do not infer or repeat old tasks from prior chats. If nothing needs attention, reply HEARTBEAT_OK.`). Inline directives in a heartbeat message apply as usual (but avoid changing session defaults from heartbeats). |
| - Heartbeat delivery defaults to the final payload only. To also send the separate `Reasoning:` message (when available), set `agents.defaults.heartbeat.includeReasoning: true` or per-agent `agents.list[].heartbeat.includeReasoning: true`. |
|
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| ## Web chat UI |
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| - The web chat thinking selector mirrors the session's stored level from the inbound session store/config when the page loads. |
| - Picking another level applies only to the next message (`thinkingOnce`); after sending, the selector snaps back to the stored session level. |
| - To change the session default, send a `/think:<level>` directive (as before); the selector will reflect it after the next reload. |
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