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). When a conversation or thread is bound to an ACP session, normal follow-up text routes to that ACP harness. Gateway management commands still stay local: /acp ... always reaches the OpenClaw ACP command handler, and /status plus /unfocus stay local whenever command handling is enabled for the surface. There are two related systems:

Commands

Standalone /... messages.

Directives

/think, /fast, /verbose, /trace, /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.

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

boolean

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

boolean | "auto"

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

boolean | "auto"

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

boolean

default:"false"

Enables ! <cmd> to run host shell commands (/bash <cmd> is an alias; requires tools.elevated allowlists).

commands.bashForegroundMs

number

default:"2000"

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

commands.config

boolean

default:"false"

Enables /config (reads/writes openclaw.json).

commands.mcp

boolean

default:"false"

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

commands.plugins

boolean

default:"false"

Enables /plugins (plugin discovery/status plus install + enable/disable controls).

commands.debug

boolean

default:"false"

Enables /debug (runtime-only overrides).

commands.restart

boolean

default:"true"

Enables /restart plus gateway restart tool actions.

commands.ownerAllowFrom

string[]

Sets the explicit owner allowlist for owner-only command/tool surfaces. This is the human operator account that can approve dangerous actions and run commands such as /diagnostics, /export-trajectory, and /config. It is separate from commands.allowFrom and from DM pairing access.

channels.<channel>.commands.enforceOwnerForCommands

boolean

default:"false"

Per-channel: makes owner-only commands require owner identity to run on that surface. When true, the sender must either match a resolved owner candidate (for example an entry in commands.ownerAllowFrom or provider-native owner metadata) or hold internal operator.admin scope on an internal message channel. A wildcard entry in channel allowFrom, or an empty/unresolved owner-candidate list, is not sufficient — owner-only commands fail closed on that channel. Leave this off if you want owner-only commands gated only by ownerAllowFrom and the standard command allowlists.

commands.ownerDisplay

"raw" | "hash"

Controls how owner ids appear in the system prompt.

commands.ownerDisplaySecret

string

Optionally sets the 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 (channel allowlists/pairing and commands.useAccessGroups are ignored). 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

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

Sessions and runs

/new [model] starts a new session; /reset is the reset alias.
/reset soft [message] keeps the current transcript, drops reused CLI backend session ids, and reruns startup/system-prompt loading in-place.
/compact [instructions] compacts the session context. See Compaction.
/stop aborts the current run.
/session idle <duration|off> and /session max-age <duration|off> manage thread-binding expiry.
/export-session [path] exports the current session to HTML. Alias: /export.
/export-trajectory [path] asks for exec approval, then exports a JSONL trajectory bundle for the current session. Use it when you need the prompt, tool, and transcript timeline for one OpenClaw session. In group chats, the approval prompt and export result go to the owner privately. Alias: /trajectory.

Model and run controls

/think <level> sets the thinking level. Options come from the active model’s provider profile; common levels are off, minimal, low, medium, and high, with custom levels such as xhigh, adaptive, max, or binary on only where supported. Aliases: /thinking, /t.
/verbose on|off|full toggles verbose output. Alias: /v.
/trace on|off toggles plugin trace output for the current session.
/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.

Discovery and status

/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 execution/runtime status, including Execution/Runtime labels and provider usage/quota when available.
/diagnostics [note] is the owner-only support-report flow for Gateway bugs and Codex harness runs. It asks for explicit exec approval every time before running openclaw gateway diagnostics export --json; do not approve diagnostics with an allow-all rule. After approval, it sends a pasteable report with the local bundle path, manifest summary, privacy notes, and relevant session ids. In group chats, the approval prompt and report go to the owner privately. When the active session uses the OpenAI Codex harness, the same approval also sends relevant Codex feedback to OpenAI servers and the completed reply lists the OpenClaw session ids, Codex thread ids, and codex resume <thread-id> commands. See Diagnostics Export.
/crestodian <request> runs the Crestodian setup and repair helper from an owner DM.
/tasks lists active/recent background tasks for the current session.
/context [list|detail|json] explains how context is assembled.
/whoami shows your sender id. Alias: /id.
/usage off|tokens|full|cost controls the per-response usage footer or prints a local cost summary.

Skills, allowlists, approvals

/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 BTW.

Subagents and ACP

/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.

Owner-only writes and admin

/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.
/restart restarts OpenClaw when enabled. Default: enabled; set commands.restart: false to disable it.
/send on|off|inherit sets send policy. Owner-only.

Voice, TTS, channel control

/tts on|off|status|chat|latest|provider|limit|summary|audio|help controls TTS. See TTS.
/activation mention|always sets group activation mode.
/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 switch the current session’s reply route to another linked channel. See Channel docking for setup, examples, and troubleshooting. 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)

Use dock commands from a direct chat to switch the current session’s reply route to another linked channel. The agent keeps the same session context, but future replies for that session are delivered to the selected channel peer. Dock commands require session.identityLinks. The source sender and target peer must be in the same identity group, for example ["telegram:123", "discord:456"]. If a Telegram user with id 123 sends /dock_discord, OpenClaw stores lastChannel: "discord" and lastTo: "456" on the active session. If the sender is not linked to a Discord peer, the command replies with a setup hint instead of falling through to normal chat. Docking changes the active session route only. It does not create channel accounts, grant access, bypass channel allowlists, or move transcript history to another session. Use /dock-telegram, /dock-slack, /dock-mattermost, or another generated dock command to switch the route again.

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.
/codex status|models|threads|resume|compact|review|diagnostics|account|mcp|skills inspects and controls the bundled Codex app-server harness. See Codex harness.
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.

Argument and parser 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.

Channel-specific behavior

Discord-only native command: /vc join|leave|status controls voice channels (not available as text). join requires a guild and selected voice/stage channel. Requires channels.discord.voice and native commands.
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 / trace / fast / reasoning safety

/verbose is meant for debugging and extra visibility; keep it off in normal use.
/trace is narrower than /verbose: it only reveals plugin-owned trace/debug lines and keeps normal verbose tool chatter off.
/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, /verbose, and /trace are risky in group settings: they may reveal internal reasoning, tool output, or plugin diagnostics you did not intend to expose. Prefer leaving them off, especially in group chats.

Model switching

/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.
In the local TUI, /crestodian [request] returns from the normal agent TUI to Crestodian. This is separate from message-channel rescue mode and does not grant remote config authority.

Fast path and inline shortcuts

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 and native arguments

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. Dynamic choices are resolved against the target session model, so model-specific options such as /think levels follow that session’s /model override.

`/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.
Execution vs runtime: /status reports Execution for the effective sandbox path and Runtime for who is actually running the session: OpenClaw Pi Default, OpenAI Codex, a CLI backend, or an ACP backend.
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

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.

Plugin trace output

/trace lets you toggle session-scoped plugin trace/debug lines without turning on full verbose mode. Examples:

/trace
/trace on
/trace off

Notes:

/trace with no argument shows the current session trace state.
/trace on enables plugin trace lines for the current session.
/trace off disables them again.
Plugin trace lines can appear in /status and as a follow-up diagnostic message after the normal assistant reply.
/trace does not replace /debug; /debug still manages runtime-only config overrides.
/trace does not replace /verbose; normal verbose tool/status output still belongs to /verbose.

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

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

/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

/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

Sessions per surface

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 specifics

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.

Overview

Plugins

Skills

Automation and tasks

Tools

Agent coordination

Config

Command list

Core built-in commands

Generated dock commands

Bundled plugin commands

Dynamic skill commands

`/tools`

Usage surfaces (what shows where)

Model selection (`/model`)

Debug overrides

Plugin trace output

Config updates

MCP updates

Plugin updates

Surface notes

BTW side questions

Overview

Plugins

Skills

Automation and tasks

Tools

Agent coordination

Documentation Index

​Config

​Command list

​Core built-in commands

​Generated dock commands

​Bundled plugin commands

​Dynamic skill commands

​/tools

​Usage surfaces (what shows where)

​Model selection (/model)

​Debug overrides

​Plugin trace output

​Config updates

​MCP updates

​Plugin updates

​Surface notes

​BTW side questions

​Related

Config

Command list

Core built-in commands

Generated dock commands

Bundled plugin commands

Dynamic skill commands

`/tools`

Usage surfaces (what shows where)

Model selection (`/model`)

Debug overrides

Plugin trace output

Config updates

MCP updates

Plugin updates

Surface notes

BTW side questions

Related