System Commands
Special instructions prefixed with / that let you directly control conversation state without waiting for the AI to interpret your intent.
Experimental: System commands do not yet fully cover all scenarios and edge cases; using them may lead to errors or unexpected behavior. Please rely on actual behavior as the source of truth.
Five commands are currently supported:
/compact— Compress the current conversation, generate a summary and save memories/new— Start a new conversation, saving memories in the background/clear— Completely clear everything, without saving anything/history— View conversation history with detailed token usage breakdown/compact_str— View the current compressed summary (read-only)
If you're not yet familiar with concepts like "compaction" or "long-term memory", we recommend reading the Introduction first.
Command Comparison
| Command | Requires Wait | Compressed Summary | Long-term Memory | Message History | Context Usage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
/compact |
Yes | Generates new | Saved in background | Marked as compacted | - |
/new |
No | Cleared | Saved in background | Marked as compacted | - |
/clear |
No | Cleared | Not saved | Fully cleared | - |
/history |
No | - | - | Read-only view | Token details + Usage |
/compact_str |
No | - | - | - | View summary content |
/compact — Compress the Current Conversation
Manually trigger conversation compaction, condensing all current messages into a summary (requires waiting), while saving to long-term memory in the background.
/compact
Example response:
**Compact Complete!**
- Messages compacted: 12
**Compressed Summary:**
User requested help building a user authentication system, login endpoint implementation completed...
- Summary task started in background
Unlike auto-compaction,
/compactcompresses all current messages, not just the portion exceeding the threshold.
/new — Clear Context and Save Memories
Immediately clear the current context and start a fresh conversation; history is saved to long-term memory in the background.
/new
Example response:
**New Conversation Started!**
- Summary task started in background
- Ready for new conversation
/clear — Clear Context (Without Saving Memories)
Immediately clear the current context, including message history and compressed summaries. Nothing is saved to long-term memory.
/clear
Example response:
**History Cleared!**
- Compressed summary reset
- Memory is now empty
/clearis irreversible! Unlike/new, cleared content will not be saved.
/history — View Current Conversation History
Display a list of all uncompressed messages in the current conversation, along with detailed context usage information.
/history
Example response:
**Conversation History**
- Total messages: 3
- Estimated tokens: 1256
- Max input length: 128000
- Context usage: 0.98%
- Compressed summary tokens: 128
[1] **user** (text_tokens=42)
content: [text(tokens=42)]
preview: Write me a Python function...
[2] **assistant** (text_tokens=256)
content: [text(tokens=256)]
preview: Sure, let me write a function for you...
[3] **user** (text_tokens=28)
content: [text(tokens=28)]
preview: Can you add error handling?
Tip: Use
/historyfrequently to monitor your context usage. WhenContext usageapproaches 100%, it indicates the conversation is about to trigger auto-compaction. You can proactively use/compactor/newto manage context before this happens.
/compact_str — View Compressed Summary
Display the current compressed summary content.
/compact_str
Example response (when summary exists):
**Compressed Summary**
User requested help building a user authentication system, login endpoint implementation completed...
Example response (when no summary):
**No Compressed Summary**
- No summary has been generated yet
- Use /compact or wait for auto-compaction
Related Pages
- Introduction — What this project can do
- Console — Manage Agent state in the console
- Configuration & Working Directory — Working directory & config
- CLI — Command-line tool reference