Slash Commands

Slash commands are typed inside an active conversation (CLI, web UI, or any messaging channel) to control the session, inspect state, or change settings without leaving the chat. They are different from the CLI commands you run in your shell — those manage the agent process from outside; slash commands act on the conversation you are in.

OpenParallax ships with 19 slash commands, organized below by what they do.

Where they work

Most slash commands work in every channel (CLI TUI, web UI, Telegram, Discord, Signal, iMessage). A few are CLI- and web-only because they touch local files (logs, config) or need a richer display surface than a chat message.

Session

Commands that act on the current conversation.

Command	Description
/help	Show all available slash commands
/new	Start a new normal session
/otr	Start a new OTR (Off-The-Record) session — read-only, never persisted
/quit	Close the current session and start a new one. This does NOT exit the agent or close the TUI — to exit the CLI, press Ctrl+C.
/clear	Clear the chat view (does not delete messages)
/sessions	List recent sessions with their IDs and titles
/switch <id-prefix>	Switch to another session by ID prefix
/delete	Delete the current session and start a new one
/title <new title>	Rename the current session
/history	Show the most recent messages in the current session
/export	Export the current session as markdown

Status

Commands that report state.

Command	Description
/status	Show system health: agent name, model, session count, Shield budget, sandbox state
/usage	Show today's LLM token usage broken down by role (chat, shield, embedding)
/doctor	Run the 15-point health check and report results inline
/audit	Verify the audit trail's hash chain integrity. Usage: /audit verify

Configuration

Commands that change agent behavior. CLI and web UI only — these are not exposed in messaging channels for security reasons (a compromised channel adapter shouldn't be able to swap your model or rewrite config from a chat message).

Command	Description
/config	Show the current config. /config set <key> <value> updates a single key (non-security keys only). Persists to config.yaml through the canonical writer.
/model	Show the current model role mapping. /model set <role> <model> switches the model used for a role (chat, shield, embedding, sub_agent, image, video). Persists to config.yaml so the change survives a restart.
/restart	Restart the engine in place. The process manager respawns the engine without losing your workspace state.
/logs	Manage engine logs. /logs flush [days] removes entries older than N days (default 30)

Quick reference card

The fast version, for the back of your hand:

Want to...	Type
See every command	/help
Start fresh, keep history	/new
Start fresh, forget what you say next	/otr
Close this session, open a new one	/quit
List your sessions	/sessions
Jump to another session	/switch <id-prefix>
Delete this session	/delete
Rename this session	/title My Refactor Notes
Save this session as markdown	/export
Check Shield's daily budget	/status
Check today's token spend	/usage
Run a health check	/doctor
Restart the engine	/restart

Exiting the agent

There is no slash command to exit the agent — that's intentional. Exiting is a process-level action that should not be triggered from a chat message, since the message could come from a compromised channel.

What Ctrl+C and closing windows actually do depends on how you started the agent:

You ran...	What's running in your terminal	Ctrl+C in TUI	Close terminal	Close browser tab
openparallax start (default, foreground)	Engine + process manager	Stops the engine (process manager catches the signal)	Stops the engine (SIGHUP propagates)	n/a — engine still runs without the web UI client
openparallax start --tui	Engine + process manager + TUI	TUI exits → process manager shuts the engine down	Same	n/a
openparallax start -d (daemon)	Nothing — engine is detached	n/a — no TUI in this terminal	Engine continues (detached)	Engine continues
openparallax start -d then openparallax attach tui	Only the attach process	Only the attach process exits; engine keeps running	Same	n/a

The web UI is always a passive client. Closing the browser tab never stops the engine — the WebSocket disconnects, your session stays alive, and you can reconnect by opening the web UI again.

To fully stop the engine

Whatever mode you're in, this always works:

openparallax stop

It sends SIGTERM to the engine process (whose PID is recorded in your workspace) and waits up to 5 seconds for clean shutdown.

Quick rules of thumb

• Want to keep the agent running for messaging channels while you walk away? Use openparallax start -d to launch it as a background daemon, then attach a TUI later if you want.
• Want a quick interactive session that auto-cleans-up when you're done? Use openparallax start --tui. Closing the TUI shuts everything down.
• Already have an agent running and just want to talk to it from a fresh terminal? Use openparallax attach tui. Ctrl+C only detaches you; the engine survives.

See also

• CLI Commands — openparallax … commands you run in your shell
• Sessions & OTR — how sessions persist (or don't, in OTR mode)
• Configuration — what /config set can and cannot change