Slash commands

Type / in the composer and the palette lists everything available in that session. Commands are matched against the real list, so a message that merely begins with a path — /etc/hosts is wrong — is still sent as a message.

A command that opens a dialog does not appear in the transcript. Its menu is the feedback; a chat bubble saying /models would be noise.

Where they come from

Source	Provided by
builtin	The portal
extension	An installed pi package
prompt	A prompt template
skill	A skill

Builtins

pi's builtin commands are implemented by whichever mode is running — the TUI draws its own — so the portal supplies them. The names and descriptions are read from the SDK's own BUILTIN_SLASH_COMMANDS, so they track pi's releases rather than drifting from a copy.

Only the ones the portal can actually service are offered. /quit, /hotkeys, /trust and the auth commands are terminal concerns; listing them would be a menu of things that quietly do nothing.

Command	Does
/compact	Summarise the conversation to free context
/session	Model, effort, context, tokens, cost, tool calls
/export	Write the session out — HTML, or .jsonl if you name one
/reload	Reload extensions, skills, prompts and settings
/model	Open the model picker
/settings	Open settings
/new	Start a session in this workspace
/name	Rename the session

The first four act on the session server-side and report through the event stream. The rest open portal UI and never reach pi.

/compact is not awaited — it is a model call, and holding the HTTP request open for it would time out. It reports when it finishes.

Extension commands

Anything an installed package registers appears automatically. Install pi-llama-cpp and /models shows up, opening the same menu the TUI draws:

/models  [extension]  Browse Llama.cpp models

Interactive commands work because the portal binds a UI context when it creates the session. Without one, pi hands the extension a default immediately and a command that asks a question appears to do nothing. Dialogs are rendered as a modal — select, confirm, input and editor are all supported.

Dialog events are deliberately never persisted. A stored one would be replayed to every future reader, so reloading the page reopened a menu whose extension had long since stopped waiting.

Adding more

Install a pi package from Settings → Extensions. Its commands appear the next time the palette refreshes, which happens when a run ends — no reload needed.