Slash commands

The Gateway handles commands sent as standalone messages starting with /. Host-only bash commands use ! <cmd> (with /bash <cmd> as an alias).

When a conversation is bound to an ACP session, normal text routes to the ACP harness. Gateway management commands remain local: /acp ... always reaches the OpenClaw command handler, and /status plus /unfocus stay local whenever command handling is enabled for the surface.

Three command types

Commands

Standalone /... messages handled by the Gateway. Must be sent as the only content in the message.

Directives

/think, /fast, /verbose, /trace, /reasoning, /elevated, /exec, /model, /queue — stripped from the message before the model sees it. Persist session settings when sent alone; act as inline hints when sent with other text.

Inline shortcuts

/help, /commands, /status, /whoami — run immediately and are stripped before the model sees the remaining text. Authorized senders only.

Directive behavior details

• Directives are stripped from the message before the model sees it.
• In directive-only messages (the message is only directives), they persist to the session and reply with an acknowledgement.
• In normal chat messages with other text, they act as inline hints and do not persist session settings.
• Directives only apply 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.

Configuration

{
  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 · boolean · default: "true"

Enables parsing /... in chat messages. On surfaces without native commands (WhatsApp, WebChat, Signal, iMessage, Google Chat, Microsoft Teams), text commands work even when set to false.

commands.native · boolean | "auto" · default: "\"auto\""

Registers native commands. Auto: on for Discord/Telegram; off for Slack; ignored for providers without native support. Override per-channel with channels.<provider>.commands.native. On Discord, false skips slash-command registration; previously registered commands may stay visible until removed.

commands.nativeSkills · boolean | "auto" · default: "\"auto\""

Registers skill commands natively when supported. Auto: on for Discord/Telegram; off for Slack. Override with channels.<provider>.commands.nativeSkills.

commands.bash · boolean · default: "false"

Enables ! <cmd> to run host shell commands (/bash <cmd> alias). Requires tools.elevated allowlists.

commands.bashForegroundMs · number · default: "2000"

How long bash waits before switching to background mode (0 backgrounds immediately).

commands.config · boolean · default: "false"

Enables /config (reads/writes openclaw.json). Owner-only.

commands.mcp · boolean · default: "false"

Enables /mcp (reads/writes OpenClaw-managed MCP config under mcp.servers). Owner-only.

commands.plugins · boolean · default: "false"

Enables /plugins (plugin discovery/status plus install + enable/disable). Owner-only for writes.

commands.debug · boolean · default: "false"

Enables /debug (runtime-only config overrides). Owner-only.

commands.restart · boolean · default: "true"

Enables /restart and external SIGUSR1 restart requests.

commands.ownerAllowFrom · string[]

Explicit owner allowlist for owner-only command surfaces. Separate from commands.allowFrom and DM pairing access.

channels.<channel>.commands.enforceOwnerForCommands · boolean · default: "false"

Per-channel: requires owner identity for owner-only commands. When true, sender must match commands.ownerAllowFrom or hold internal operator.admin scope. A wildcard allowFrom entry is not sufficient.

commands.ownerDisplay · "raw" | "hash"

Controls how owner ids appear in the system prompt.

commands.ownerDisplaySecret · string

HMAC secret used when commands.ownerDisplay: "hash".

commands.allowFrom · object

Per-provider allowlist for command authorization. When configured, it is the only authorization source for commands and directives. Use "*" for a global default; provider-specific keys override it.

commands.useAccessGroups · boolean · default: "true"

Enforces allowlists/policies for commands when commands.allowFrom is not set.

Command list

Commands come from three sources:

• Core built-ins: src/auto-reply/commands-registry.shared.ts
• Generated dock commands: src/auto-reply/commands-registry.data.ts
• Plugin commands: plugin registerCommand() calls

Availability depends on config flags, channel surface, and installed/enabled plugins.

Core commands

Sessions and runs

Command	Description
/new [model]	Archive the current session and start a fresh one
/reset [soft [message]]	Reset the current session in place. soft keeps the transcript, drops reused CLI backend session ids, and reruns startup
/name <title>	Name or rename the current session. Omit the title to see the current name and a suggestion
/compact [instructions]	Compact the session context. See Compaction
/stop	Abort the current run
/session idle <duration|off>	Manage thread-binding idle expiry
/session max-age <duration|off>	Manage thread-binding max-age expiry
/export-session [path]	Owner-only. Export the current session to HTML inside the workspace. Alias: /export
/export-trajectory [path]	Export a JSONL trajectory bundle for the current session. Alias: /trajectory

Explicit /export-session paths replace existing files inside the workspace. Omit the path to generate a collision-safe filename.

Control UI intercepts typed /new to create and switch to a fresh dashboard session, except when session.dmScope: "main" is configured and the current parent is the agent’s main session — in that case /new resets the main session in place. Typed /reset still runs the Gateway’s in-place reset. Use /model default when you want to clear a pinned session model selection.

Model and run controls

Command	Description
/think <level|default>	Set the thinking level or clear the session override. Aliases: /thinking, /t
/verbose on|off|full	Toggle verbose output. Alias: /v
/trace on|off	Toggle plugin trace output for the current session
/fast [status|auto|on|off|default]	Show, set, or clear fast mode
/reasoning [on|off|stream]	Toggle reasoning visibility. Alias: /reason
/elevated [on|off|ask|full]	Toggle elevated mode. Alias: /elev
/exec host=<auto|sandbox|gateway|node> security=<deny|allowlist|full> ask=<off|on-miss|always> node=<id>	Show or set exec defaults
/login [codex|openai|openai-codex]	Pair Codex/OpenAI login from a private chat or Web UI session. Owner/admin only
/model [name|#|status]	Show or set the model
/models [provider] [page] [limit=<n>|all]	List configured/auth-available providers or models
/queue <mode>	Manage active-run queue behavior. See Queue and Queue steering
/steer <message>	Inject guidance into the active run. Alias: /tell. See Steer

verbose / trace / fast / reasoning safety

• /verbose is for debugging — keep it off in normal use.
• /trace reveals only plugin-owned trace/debug lines; normal verbose chatter stays off.
• /fast auto|on|off persists a session override; use the Sessions UI inherit option to clear it.
• /fast is provider-specific: OpenAI/Codex map it to service_tier=priority; direct Anthropic requests map it to service_tier=auto or standard_only.
• /reasoning, /verbose, and /trace are risky in group settings — they may reveal internal reasoning or plugin diagnostics. Keep them off in group chats.

Model switching details

• /model persists the new model immediately to the session.
• If the agent is idle, the next run uses it right away.
• If a run is active, the switch is marked pending and applied at the next clean retry point.

Discovery and status

Command	Description
/help	Show the short help summary
/commands	Show the generated command catalog
/tools [compact|verbose]	Show what the current agent can use right now
/status	Show execution/runtime status, Gateway and system uptime, plugin health, plus provider usage/quota
/status plugins	Show detailed plugin health: load errors, quarantines, channel plugin failures, dependency issues, compatibility notices. Requires commands.plugins: true
/goal [status|start|edit|pause|resume|complete|block|clear] ...	Manage the current session’s durable goal
/diagnostics [note]	Owner-only support-report flow. Asks for exec approval every time
/openclaw <request>	Run the OpenClaw setup and repair helper from an owner DM
/tasks	List active/recent background tasks for the current session
/context [list|detail|map|json]	Explain how context is assembled
/whoami	Show your sender id. Alias: /id
/usage off|tokens|full|reset|cost	Control the per-response usage footer (reset/inherit/clear/default clears the session override to re-inherit the configured default) or print a local cost summary

Skills, allowlists, approvals

Command	Description
/skill <name> [input]	Run a skill by name
/learn [request]	Draft one reviewable skill from the current conversation or named sources through Skill Workshop
/allowlist [list|add|remove] ...	Manage allowlist entries. Text-only
/approve <id> <decision>	Resolve exec or plugin approval prompts
/btw <question>	Ask a side question without changing session context. Alias: /side. See BTW

Subagents and ACP

Command	Description
/subagents list|log|info	Inspect 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	Manage ACP sessions and runtime options. Runtime controls require external owner or internal Gateway admin identity
/focus <target>	Bind the current Discord thread or Telegram topic to a session target
/unfocus	Remove the current thread binding
/agents	List thread-bound agents for the current session

Owner-only writes and admin

Command	Requires	Description
/config show|get|set|unset	commands.config: true	Read or write openclaw.json. Owner-only
/mcp show|get|set|unset	commands.mcp: true	Read or write OpenClaw-managed MCP server config. Owner-only
/plugins list|inspect|show|get|install|enable|disable	commands.plugins: true	Inspect or mutate plugin state. Owner-only for writes. Alias: /plugin
/debug show|set|unset|reset	commands.debug: true	Runtime-only config overrides. Owner-only
/restart	commands.restart: true (default)	Restart OpenClaw
/send on|off|inherit	owner	Set send policy

Voice, TTS, channel control

Command	Description
/tts on|off|status|chat|latest|provider|limit|summary|audio|help	Control TTS. See TTS
/activation mention|always	Set group activation mode
/bash <command>	Run a host shell command. Alias: ! <command>. Requires commands.bash: true
!poll [sessionId]	Check a background bash job
!stop [sessionId]	Stop a background bash job

Dock commands

Dock commands switch the active session’s reply route to another linked channel. See Channel docking for setup and troubleshooting.

Generated from channel plugins with native-command support:

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

Dock commands require session.identityLinks. The source sender and target peer must be in the same identity group.

Bundled plugin commands

Command	Description
/dreaming [on|off|status|help]	Toggle memory dreaming (owner or Gateway admin). See Dreaming
/pair [qr|status|pending|approve|cleanup|notify]	Manage device pairing. See Pairing
/phone status|arm ...|disarm	Temporarily arm high-risk node commands (camera/screen/computer/writes). See Computer use
/voice status|list|set <voiceId>	Manage Talk voice config. Discord native name: /talkvoice
/card ...	Send LINE rich card presets. See LINE
/codex <action> ...	Bind, steer, and inspect the Codex app-server harness (status, threads, resume, model, fast, permissions, compact, review, mcp, skills, and more). See Codex harness

QQBot-only: /bot-ping, /bot-version, /bot-help, /bot-upgrade, /bot-logs

Skill commands

User-invocable skills are exposed as slash commands:

• /skill <name> [input] always works as the generic entrypoint.
• Skills may register as direct commands (e.g. /prose for OpenProse).
• Native skill-command registration is controlled by commands.nativeSkills and channels.<provider>.commands.nativeSkills.
• Names are sanitized to a-z0-9_ (max 32 chars); collisions get numeric suffixes.

Skill command dispatch

By default, skill commands route to the model as a normal request.

Skills can declare command-dispatch: tool to route directly to a tool (deterministic, no model involvement). Example: /prose (OpenProse plugin) — see OpenProse.

Native command arguments

Discord uses autocomplete for dynamic options and button menus when required args are omitted. Telegram and Slack show a button menu for commands with choices. Dynamic choices resolve against the target session model, so model- specific options like /think levels follow the session’s /model override.

/tools: what the agent can use now

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

/tools         # compact view
/tools verbose # with short descriptions

Results are session-scoped. Changing agent, channel, thread, sender authorization, or model can change the output. For profile and override editing, use the Control UI Tools panel or config surfaces.

/model: model selection

/model             # show model picker
/model list        # same
/model 3           # select by number from picker
/model openai/gpt-5.4
/model opus@anthropic:default
/model default     # clear the session model selection
/model status      # detailed view with endpoint and API mode

On Discord, /model and /models open an interactive picker with provider and model dropdowns. The picker respects agents.defaults.models, including provider/* entries.

/config: on-disk config writes

Owner-only. Disabled by default — enable with commands.config: true.

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

Config is validated before write. Invalid changes are rejected. /config updates persist across restarts.

/mcp: MCP server config

Owner-only. Disabled by default — enable with commands.mcp: true.

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

/mcp stores config in OpenClaw config, not embedded-agent project settings. /mcp show redacts credential-bearing fields, recognized credential flag values, and known secret-shaped arguments. When run from a group, the configuration is sent to the owner privately; if no private owner route is available, the command fails closed and asks the owner to retry from a direct chat.

/debug: runtime-only overrides

Owner-only. Disabled by default — enable with commands.debug: true. Overrides apply immediately to new config reads but do not write to disk.

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

/plugins: plugin management

Owner-only for writes. Disabled by default — enable with commands.plugins: true.

/plugins
/plugins list
/plugin show context7
/plugins enable context7
/plugins disable context7
/plugins install clawhub:<package>
/plugins install npm:@openclaw/<official-package>
/plugins install npm:<package> --force
/plugins install git:<repository>@<ref> --force

/plugins enable|disable updates plugin config and hot-reloads the Gateway plugin runtime for new agent turns. /plugins install restarts managed Gateways automatically because plugin source modules changed. Trusted ClawHub and official-catalog installs do not need extra acknowledgement. Arbitrary npm, git, archive, npm-pack:, and local path sources show a provenance warning and require a trailing --force after you review the source. This flag acknowledges the source and permits replacement of an existing install; it does not bypass security.installPolicy or installer security checks. ClawHub releases with risk warnings still require the separate shell-only --acknowledge-clawhub-risk flag. Marketplace, linked, and pinned installs also remain shell-only.

/trace: plugin trace output

/trace          # show current trace state
/trace on
/trace off

/trace reveals session-scoped plugin trace/debug lines without full verbose mode. It does not replace /debug (runtime overrides) or /verbose (normal tool output).

/btw: side questions

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

/btw what are we doing right now?
/side what changed while the main run continued?

Unlike a normal message:

• Uses the current session as background context.
• In Codex harness sessions, runs as an ephemeral Codex side thread.
• Does not change future session context.
• Is not written to transcript history.

See BTW side questions for the full behavior.

Surface notes

Session scoping per surface

• Text commands: run in the normal chat session (DMs share main, groups have their own session).
• Native Discord commands: agent:<agentId>:discord:slash:<userId>
• Native Slack commands: agent:<agentId>:slack:slash:<userId> (prefix configurable via channels.slack.slashCommand.sessionPrefix)
• Native Telegram commands: telegram:slash:<userId> (targets the chat session via CommandTargetSessionKey)
• /login codex sends device pairing codes only through private chat or Web UI response paths. Telegram group/topic invocations ask the owner to DM the bot instead.
• /stop targets the active chat session to abort the current run.

Slack specifics

channels.slack.slashCommand supports a single /openclaw-style command. With commands.native: true, create one Slack slash command per built-in command. Register /agentstatus (not /status) because Slack reserves /status. Text /status still works in Slack messages.

Fast path and inline shortcuts

• Command-only messages from allowlisted senders are handled immediately (bypass queue + model).
• Inline shortcuts (/help, /commands, /status, /whoami) also work embedded in normal messages and are stripped before the model sees the remaining text.
• Unauthorized command-only messages are silently ignored; inline /... tokens are treated as plain text.

Argument notes

• Commands accept an optional : between the command and args (/think: high, /send: on).
• /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.
• /allowlist add|remove requires commands.config: true and honors channel configWrites.

Provider usage and status

• Provider usage/quota (e.g., “Claude 80% left”) shows in /status for the current model provider when usage tracking is enabled.
• Token/cache lines in /status can fall back to the latest transcript usage entry when the live session snapshot is sparse.
• Execution vs runtime: /status reports Execution for the effective sandbox path and Runtime for who is running the session: OpenClaw Default, OpenAI Codex, a CLI backend, or an ACP backend.
• Per-response tokens/cost: controlled by /usage off|tokens|full.
• /model status is about models/auth/endpoints, not usage.

Related

Skills

How skill slash commands are registered and gated.

Creating skills

Build a skill that registers its own slash command.

BTW

Side questions without changing session context.

Steer

Guide the agent mid-run with /steer.