Interactive reference

Type / in the composer to search commands. Use the arrow keys to select a result, Tab to complete it, and Enter to run it. /help shows the same command set together with the keybindings resolved from your configuration.

To send a prompt that begins with /, put one space before the slash. An unrecognized slash command is recorded in the conversation as an error instead of being sent to the model.

Slash commands

The Read-only column identifies commands available while observing a conversation owned by another Cagent process. See Read-only observers for the restrictions.

Command	Purpose	Read-only
/providers	Choose, connect, enable, or disable providers.	✓
/model [query]	Choose a model and reasoning effort, optionally starting with a search query.	—
`/fast [on	off]`	Toggle or explicitly set the global Fast service-tier preference. It applies only to models that advertise support.
/dir [path]	Show or change the conversation’s working directory.	—
/agent [name]	Choose an agent profile.	—
/skills	Manage project and global skills.	—
/mode [name] [message]	Choose a mode, or switch mode and submit a message.	—
/<mode> [message]	Switch directly to any enabled mode, optionally submitting a message.	—
/permissions	View and manage conversation, project, and global permission rules.	—
/spawn <message>	Submit a message that requires at least one delegated task.	—
/search [query]	Configure web search, or require a search for a submitted query.	✓
/statusline	Choose, order, and color status-line modules.	✓
/settings	Edit common UI, limit, mode, model, and keybinding settings.	—
/usage	View project, model, recent, and all-time usage, or reset global tracking.	—
/mcp	Manage external MCP servers and inspect their tools.	✓
/help	Show commands and resolved keybindings.	✓
/background	Show active and past terminals and delegated work.	✓
/copy [slack|discord]	Copy the last completed assistant response as Markdown or a chat dialect.	✓
/diff [conversation|git|clear]	View recorded conversation patches (default) or the current Git/Jujutsu working-copy diff. clear resets only tracking.	View only
/new [title]	Start a new conversation, optionally with a title.	✓
/tree	Browse the durable conversation tree.	—
/files	Toggle the workspace file tree.	✓
/worktree [worktree] [base]	Enter or create a Git worktree or Jujutsu workspace.	—
/fork	Select an earlier message and continue on a new branch.	—
/resume [conversation-id]	Open the conversation picker or resume an exact ID.	✓
/continue	Resume the latest non-empty conversation in this workspace.	—
/rename [name]	Rename the current conversation.	—
/archive	Archive the current conversation and exit.	—
/delete	Permanently delete the current conversation and exit.	—
/retry	Continue the model from reconstructed safe history without rerunning completed tools.	—
/compact [instructions]	Summarize older branch context, optionally preserving specified details.	—
/context save	Save the exact latest model request as JSON under the configured data directory.	—
/cleanup	Apply the configured conversation-retention policy now.	—
/reload	Reload configuration and refresh model catalogs.	—
/quit	Exit Cagent.	✓

In /tree and /fork, press Shift+F to hard-fork the selected point into a separate conversation. This picker-local shortcut is fixed rather than a configurable global keybinding.

/bg is an alias for /background. Mode commands are generated from enabled built-in and custom modes; for example, /plan Review this design switches to plan mode and submits only Review this design. The complete command remains available in prompt history.

/copy uses ordinary Markdown when no dialect is supplied. /copy slack and /copy discord convert the last completed assistant response for the selected chat service before placing it on the system clipboard.

Configurable keybindings

Every action below has a stable configuration ID under [keys]. Chords are contextual: arrow keys navigate menus when one is open, but move through prompt history or the composer where appropriate.

Action	Default chord	Behavior
submit	Enter	Submit the composer or choose the selected item.
insert_newline	Shift+Enter, Alt+Enter	Insert a composer newline.
model_picker	Alt+P	Open the model picker.
toggle_fast	Alt+S	Immediately toggle the global Fast service-tier preference.
tree	Alt+T	Open the conversation tree.
fork	Alt+F	Open the fork picker.
rename	Alt+N	Open the conversation rename editor.
retry_turn	Alt+R	Continue the model from reconstructed safe history.
external_editor	Ctrl+G	Edit the current draft in $VISUAL or $EDITOR.
line_start	Ctrl+A	Move to the start of the current composer line.
line_end	Ctrl+E	Move to the end of the current composer line.
delete_word	Ctrl+W	Delete the previous word or attachment chip.
undo	Ctrl+U	Undo the last composer edit.
cancel	Ctrl+C	Clear a non-empty draft. When empty, press once to arm exit and again within two seconds to exit.
exit	Ctrl+D	Exit when the composer is empty.
close_surface	Esc	Close the current surface, leave a contextual selection, or interrupt active work.
previous_mode	Shift+Left	Switch to the previous enabled cycleable mode.
next_mode	Shift+Right, Shift+Tab	Switch to the next enabled cycleable mode.
navigate_left	Left	Move left, open the previous tab, or move to the previous question.
navigate_right	Right	Move right, open the next tab, or move to the next question.
navigate_up	Up	Navigate upward, recall history, or select queued messages.
navigate_down	Down	Navigate downward or move through history and queued messages.
background	Alt+Down	Open background work from an empty composer.
complete	Tab	Complete the current item; otherwise send an idle non-empty draft or queue it for the end of an active turn.
toggle_chip	Alt+E	Expand or collapse the selected attachment chip.
delete_queued	d	Delete the selected queued message.
promote_queued	s	Promote the selected queued message to the next safe boundary.
scroll_to_message	s	In conversation history, scroll the transcript to the selected message.

Some keys are intentionally contextual. In particular, d and s type normally unless queued message or history selection is active.

Once the welcome card has scrolled out of view, closing a panel, shrinking the composer, or resizing the terminal does not bring it back at the live tail. Short transcripts stay against the composer with extra space above them. Scroll upward or press Home to see the welcome card again; End returns to the latest content.

At the live tail, Cagent loads enough older history to fill the screen even when tool activity is collapsed. It does not wait for an upward scroll to fill an otherwise empty area. The welcome card is only shown at the actual beginning of the conversation, not the start of a loaded page.

Right-click inside an expanded view (Bash output, sub-agent logs, files, and other expanded content) to close it and return to the previous view or transcript. Right-clicking the sidebar or status row does not close the view.

Override one or more chords with arrays. An empty array unbinds an action:

[keys]
insert_newline = ["shift+enter", "ctrl+enter"]
model_picker = ["alt+p"]
toggle_chip = []

Invalid entries produce a warning. Exact conflicts between actions restore the affected actions to their complete built-in defaults. See Configuration for the accepted shape.

Read-only observers

If another process owns a conversation, Cagent opens it as a live read-only observer. You can scroll the transcript, inspect supported surfaces, and run commands marked Read-only above, but you cannot submit messages, change branch state, modify conversation settings, or answer the owner’s interactions.

Press / to activate the observer command input. Close the owning process and choose the takeover action when you need to continue the conversation from the observer.

Related

• Composer explains how commands, queues, questions, and attachments behave.
• Configuration contains the keybinding configuration schema.
• Conversations explains ownership and takeover.
• CLI arguments lists non-interactive commands and launch options.