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| summary: "Slash commands: text vs native, config, and supported commands" | |
| read_when: | |
| - Using or configuring chat commands | |
| - Debugging command routing or permissions | |
| title: "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`, `/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** (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 | |
| ```json5 | |
| { | |
| commands: { | |
| native: "auto", | |
| nativeSkills: "auto", | |
| text: true, | |
| bash: false, | |
| bashForegroundMs: 2000, | |
| config: false, | |
| debug: false, | |
| restart: false, | |
| useAccessGroups: true, | |
| }, | |
| } | |
| ``` | |
| - `commands.text` (default `true`) enables parsing `/...` in chat messages. | |
| - On surfaces without native commands (WhatsApp/WebChat/Signal/iMessage/Google Chat/MS 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.debug` (default `false`) enables `/debug` (runtime-only overrides). | |
| - `commands.useAccessGroups` (default `true`) enforces allowlists/policies for commands. | |
| ## Command list | |
| Text + native (when enabled): | |
| - `/help` | |
| - `/commands` | |
| - `/skill <name> [input]` (run a skill by name) | |
| - `/status` (show current status; includes provider usage/quota for the current model provider when available) | |
| - `/allowlist` (list/add/remove allowlist entries) | |
| - `/approve <id> allow-once|allow-always|deny` (resolve exec approval prompts) | |
| - `/context [list|detail|json]` (explain “context”; `detail` shows per-file + per-tool + per-skill + system prompt size) | |
| - `/whoami` (show your sender id; alias: `/id`) | |
| - `/subagents list|stop|log|info|send` (inspect, stop, log, or message sub-agent runs for the current session) | |
| - `/config show|get|set|unset` (persist config to disk, owner-only; requires `commands.config: true`) | |
| - `/debug show|set|unset|reset` (runtime overrides, owner-only; requires `commands.debug: true`) | |
| - `/usage off|tokens|full|cost` (per-response usage footer or local cost summary) | |
| - `/tts off|always|inbound|tagged|status|provider|limit|summary|audio` (control TTS; see [/tts](/tts)) | |
| - Discord: native command is `/voice` (Discord reserves `/tts`); text `/tts` still works. | |
| - `/stop` | |
| - `/restart` | |
| - `/dock-telegram` (alias: `/dock_telegram`) (switch replies to Telegram) | |
| - `/dock-discord` (alias: `/dock_discord`) (switch replies to Discord) | |
| - `/dock-slack` (alias: `/dock_slack`) (switch replies to Slack) | |
| - `/activation mention|always` (groups only) | |
| - `/send on|off|inherit` (owner-only) | |
| - `/reset` or `/new [model]` (optional model hint; remainder is passed through) | |
| - `/think <off|minimal|low|medium|high|xhigh>` (dynamic choices by model/provider; aliases: `/thinking`, `/t`) | |
| - `/verbose on|full|off` (alias: `/v`) | |
| - `/reasoning on|off|stream` (alias: `/reason`; when on, sends a separate message prefixed `Reasoning:`; `stream` = Telegram draft only) | |
| - `/elevated on|off|ask|full` (alias: `/elev`; `full` skips exec approvals) | |
| - `/exec host=<sandbox|gateway|node> security=<deny|allowlist|full> ask=<off|on-miss|always> node=<id>` (send `/exec` to show current) | |
| - `/model <name>` (alias: `/models`; or `/<alias>` from `agents.defaults.models.*.alias`) | |
| - `/queue <mode>` (plus options like `debounce:2s cap:25 drop:summarize`; send `/queue` to see current settings) | |
| - `/bash <command>` (host-only; alias for `! <command>`; requires `commands.bash: true` + `tools.elevated` allowlists) | |
| Text-only: | |
| - `/compact [instructions]` (see [/concepts/compaction](/concepts/compaction)) | |
| - `! <command>` (host-only; one at a time; use `!poll` + `!stop` for long-running jobs) | |
| - `!poll` (check output / status; accepts optional `sessionId`; `/bash poll` also works) | |
| - `!stop` (stop the running bash job; accepts optional `sessionId`; `/bash stop` also works) | |
| 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`. | |
| - `/usage` controls the per-response usage footer; `/usage cost` prints a local cost summary from OpenClaw session logs. | |
| - `/restart` is disabled by default; set `commands.restart: true` to enable it. | |
| - `/verbose` is meant for debugging and extra visibility; keep it **off** in normal use. | |
| - `/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. | |
| - **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](/prose). | |
| - **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. | |
| ## 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. | |
| - **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-5.2 | |
| /model opus@anthropic:default | |
| /model status | |
| ``` | |
| Notes: | |
| - `/model` and `/model list` show a compact, numbered picker (model family + available providers). | |
| - `/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. | |
| ## 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. | |