Slash commands - OpenClaw

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 gateway restart tool actions.

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
`/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]`	Export the current session to HTML. Alias: `/export`
`/export-trajectory [path]`	Export a JSONL trajectory bundle for the current session. Alias: `/trajectory`

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.

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\|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
`/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 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, plus provider usage/quota
`/goal [status\|start\|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
`/crestodian <request>`	Run the Crestodian 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\|cost`	Control the per-response usage footer or print a local cost summary

Skills, allowlists, approvals

Command	Description
`/skill <name> [input]`	Run a skill by name
`/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
`/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. See Dreaming
`/pair [qr\|status\|pending\|approve\|cleanup\|notify]`	Manage device pairing. See Pairing
`/phone status\|arm ...\|disarm`	Temporarily arm high-risk phone node commands
`/voice status\|list\|set <voiceId>`	Manage Talk voice config. Discord native name: `/talkvoice`
`/card ...`	Send LINE rich card presets. See LINE
`/codex status\|models\|threads\|resume\|compact\|review\|diagnostics\|account\|mcp\|skills`	Control the Codex app-server harness. 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 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.

`/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 ./path/to/plugin

/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.

`/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)
/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.

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.

Documentation Index

​Three command types

Commands

Directives

Inline shortcuts

​Configuration

​Command list

​Core commands

​Dock commands

​Bundled plugin commands

​Skill commands

​/tools — what the agent can use now

​/model — model selection

​/config — on-disk config writes

​/mcp — MCP server config

​/debug — runtime-only overrides

​/plugins — plugin management

​/trace — plugin trace output

​/btw — side questions

​Surface notes

​Provider usage and status

​Related

Skills

Creating skills

BTW

Steer

Three command types

Configuration

Command list

Core commands

Dock commands

Bundled plugin commands

Skill commands

`/tools` — what the agent can use now

`/model` — model selection

`/config` — on-disk config writes

`/mcp` — MCP server config

`/debug` — runtime-only overrides

`/plugins` — plugin management

`/trace` — plugin trace output

`/btw` — side questions

Surface notes

Provider usage and status

Related