Slash commands

A line that starts with / is a slash command. The channel handles it and the model never sees it. The specification (names, aliases, arguments, help keys) is tau_core.commands; tau chat and tau tui implement the same twelve commands with the same wording, so the two never drift.

• Canonical names are English and are the only ones shown in hints and menus.
• Turkish aliases are accepted forever and never shown.
• Matching is case-insensitive (str.casefold): /Resume 2 and /ARAÇLAR work.
• The argument is everything after the first space, stripped.
• An unknown command prints Unknown command: /x. Commands: /help, /tools, ….

The commands

Command	Aliases	Argument	Effect
/help	/yardım, /yardim, /?	–	list the commands with one-line help
/tools	/araçlar, /araclar	–	registered tools with their tier and description
/sessions	/oturumlar	–	the 10 most recent earlier sessions with messages, numbered, newest first, never the current one
/resume	/devam	[n] or [id]	resume the most recent earlier session; the n-th of the last /sessions listing (without a listing, of the one it would print now); or the session with that id
/new	/yeni	–	start a fresh session; the current one stays on record
/session	/oturum	–	current session id, title, message count and store
/compact	/özet, /ozet	[focus]	summarize this session with its own model and continue in a new session seeded with the summary; the old session is kept and the two are linked
/clear	/temizle, /cls	–	clear the screen (terminal) or the transcript (TUI); the session and the agent go on
/status	/durum	–	profile, session, model, context, tools, UI language, versions, hub
/model	/rol	[role]	list the roles of tau.toml with the current one marked, or switch this session to a role
/lang	/dil	en or tr	switch the UI language for this run
/quit	/çık, /cik, /exit	–	leave

/exit is an alias of /quit; hints always show /quit.

Output of each command

Examples are in the en chrome; tr has the same lines translated.

/help

Commands:
  /help             list the commands
  /tools            registered tools with their tier and description
  /sessions         list the 10 most recent earlier sessions
  /resume [n|id]    resume the most recent earlier session, the n-th of the last listing, or an id
  /new              start a fresh session
  /session          current session id, title, message count and store
  /compact [focus]  summarize this session into a new one and continue there (the old one is kept)
  /clear            clear the screen; the session continues
  /status           profile, session, model, context, tools, language, versions and hub
  /model [role]     show the model roles, or switch this session to one
  /lang en|tr       switch the UI language for this run
  /quit             leave

/tools

Tools (2):
  current_time  tier 0 · read — Returns the current date and time in the Europe/Istanbul time zone.
  demo_physical_action  tier 2 · physical, needs approval — Demo tool that simulates a physical action (tier 2, asks for approval on every call).

Tier labels: read, digital write, logged, physical, needs approval.

/sessions and /resume

Recent sessions:
 1. 20260929-173826-f949  29.09.2026 17:38  terminal  Merhaba tau (2 messages)
 2. 20260929-120000-abcd  29.09.2026 12:00  tui       Salon lambası açık mı? (14 messages)

/resume → Resuming: <title> · <id> (<n> messages loaded). Errors: No earlier session to resume., Session not found: <id>., There is no session <n> in the list (1-<count>)., You are already in this session: <id>., and Could not open the session: <error> (a session recorded under a different [agent] context mode is the usual cause; see Sessions and compaction).

/new and /session

/new → New session: <id>.

Session: 20260929-173826-f949
Title: Merhaba tau
Messages: 2
Store: file (~/.local/share/tau/sessions)

/compact [focus]

Compacting 14 messages…
Compacted 14 messages into a summary. New session 20260929-181200-7c1e; the previous session 20260929-120000-abcd is kept.
<the summary, dimmed>

focus is appended to the summarizer's instructions as Focus on: …. Failures (Compaction failed: <error>) leave the current session running; nothing is written. In the TUI the summary runs in a worker: the chrome is busy, read-only commands still answer, Esc cancels (Compaction cancelled; the session continues.).

/clear

Terminal: an ANSI clear, the ready banner again, then Screen cleared; the session continues (<n> messages kept). TUI: the transcript, welcome card and info cards are emptied. Nothing on disk changes; /resume or --resume show the history again.

/status

Profile: home
Session: 20260929-173826-f949 · Merhaba tau · 2 messages stored · role brain
Model: brain → anthropic (fallback; bedrock has no credentials) · claude-sonnet-5
Context: sliding, window 60 · 2 messages in memory
Tools: 2 registered · 1 need approval (tier 2)
UI language: en
Versions: tau-core 0.2.0 · tau-tui 0.2.0
Hub: hub is not running (nothing answers on http://127.0.0.1:7877/health)

The model line names the provider and model id and says when the fallback is in use; it never prints a key. The hub line is the tau doctor probe (one second, information only). In the TUI /status is an info card.

/model [role]

Model role: brain (anthropic)
Roles in tau.toml:
  brain  bedrock (fallback anthropic) · current
  fast   bedrock (fallback anthropic)
  local  ollama

/model fast rebuilds the agent on the same session with that role: the new agent is built first, so a failed build (unknown role, missing credentials, unavailable provider) changes nothing and prints why. The role is written to the session's metadata, so /resume and --resume come back on it. tau chat --role pins a role for the run and wins over the stored one.

/lang en|tr

UI language: tr. / Arayüz dili: tr. Without an argument: Usage: /lang en|tr (current: en). The persona's reply language is unaffected.

Terminal versus TUI

	tau chat	tau tui
While a turn runs	commands cannot be typed; the REPL does one thing at a time	/new, /resume, /compact, /clear, /model <role> wait for the turn (a toast says so); /status and /model answer any time
Menu	none; /help lists	typing / in an empty composer opens a fuzzy menu (↑↓ pick, Tab complete, Enter run, Esc close)
Session picker	/sessions + /resume n	the same, plus ctrl+r / F2 and the sidebar at ≥ 140 columns
/clear	clears the screen	clears the transcript

In code

from tau_core import SLASH_COMMANDS, command_hint, resolve_command, t

resolve_command("/Devam 2")   # ("resume", "2"); None for "/x" or plain text
command_hint()                # "/help, /tools, /sessions, /resume, /new, ..."
t("session.not_found", "tr", session="x")   # "Oturum bulunamadı: x."

Every string a person reads comes from tau_core.i18n, keyed and per language; plugins add their own keys with register_messages.