Keyboard shortcuts

Press ← or → to navigate between chapters

Press S or / to search in the book

Press ? to show this help

Press Esc to hide this help

audience: [contributor, agent] source_files:

  • crates/chatty-gpui/src/chatty/views/chat_input/slash.rs
  • crates/chatty-gpui/src/chatty/controllers/app_controller/slash_commands.rs
  • crates/chatty-tui/src/engine/commands.rs related:
  • ./dev/reference/slash-commands.md
  • ./dev/start/first-change.md

Add a slash command

When to read this: Expose a new /command in the chat input. Desktop (GPUI) and terminal (TUI) register commands in different files — there is no shared command table.

Full lookup table: slash commands reference.

Two command shapes

ShapeExampleGPUI wiringTUI wiring
Immediate (no args)/compactPicker execute_immediately: true → ChatInputEvent::SlashCommandSelected → handle_slash_commandCommand variant, no Option<String>
Arg-based/agent <prompt>Picker inserts /agent (does not execute) → user sends → try_handle_arg_slash_commandCommand::Agent(Option<String>)

Skills from the project and global skill directories (.agents/skills/, .claude/skills/; see SkillService) appear in both pickers with a skill badge, rescanned each time the picker opens. Do not register a skill as a built-in command.

GPUI (desktop)

  1. Add a SlashCommand to SLASH_COMMANDS in crates/chatty-gpui/src/chatty/views/chat_input/slash.rs (command, description, insert_text, execute_immediately).
  2. Immediate commands: add a match arm in ChattyApp::handle_slash_command (crates/chatty-gpui/src/chatty/controllers/app_controller/slash_commands.rs).
  3. Arg-based commands: handle the prefix in ChattyApp::try_handle_arg_slash_command in the same file. Return true so the message is not forwarded to the LLM.
  4. ChattyApp already routes ChatInputEvent::SlashCommandSelected and intercepts Send for arg-based commands — no extra subscribe.

TUI (terminal)

  1. Add a Command variant and a parse_command match arm in crates/chatty-tui/src/engine/commands.rs.
  2. Handle the variant in the engine (same file / ChatEngine).
  3. The TUI slash menu builds from the same Command parse list plus skills (crates/chatty-tui/src/ui/input.rs). If the new command should appear in the / picker, add it there too.
  4. Add a parse test in crates/chatty-tui/src/engine/helpers.rs (parses_new_slash_commands).

TUI-only today: /model, /tools, /modules, /update, /quit, /exit. GPUI has no /quit (window chrome handles that).

Parity checklist

  • Same command string and argument syntax in both UIs, or document the exception in slash-commands.md (scripts/gen-docs-reference.sh)
  • Immediate vs arg-based behavior matches
  • Unknown /foo is ignored (TUI) or logged (GPUI) — never sent as a user message if you claimed it as a command
  • make docs-gen after changing the reference table