Slash commands in Codex CLI

Slash commands give you fast, keyboard-first control over Codex. Type / in the composer to open the slash popup, choose a command, and Codex will perform actions such as switching models, adjusting permissions, or summarizing long conversations without leaving the terminal.

This guide shows you how to:

• Find the right built-in slash command for a task
• Steer an active session with commands like /model, /fast, /personality, /permissions, /agent, and /status

Built-in slash commands

Codex ships with the following commands. Open the slash popup and start typing the command name to filter the list.

When a task is already running, you can type a slash command and press Tab to queue it for the next turn. Codex parses queued slash commands when they run, so command menus and errors appear after the current turn finishes. Slash completion still works before you queue the command.

/quit and /exit both exit the CLI. Use them only after you have saved or committed any important work.

The /approvals command still works as an alias, but it no longer appears in the slash popup list.

Control your session with slash commands

The following workflows keep your session on track without restarting Codex.

Set the active model with /model

1. Start Codex and open the composer.
2. Type /model and press Enter.
3. Choose a model such as gpt-4.1-mini or gpt-4.1 from the popup.

Expected: Codex confirms the new model in the transcript. Run /status to verify the change.

Toggle Fast mode with /fast

1. Type /fast on, /fast off, or /fast status.
2. If you want the setting to persist, confirm the update when Codex offers to save it.

Expected: Codex reports whether Fast mode is on or off for the current thread. In the TUI footer, you can also show a Fast mode status-line item with /statusline.

Set a communication style with /personality

Use /personality to change how Codex communicates without rewriting your prompt.

1. In an active conversation, type /personality and press Enter.
2. Choose a style from the popup.

Expected: Codex confirms the new style in the transcript and uses it for later responses in the thread.

Codex supports friendly, pragmatic, and none personalities. Use none to disable personality instructions.

If the active model doesn’t support personality-specific instructions, Codex hides this command.

Switch to plan mode with /plan

1. Type /plan and press Enter to switch the active conversation into plan mode.
2. Optional: provide inline prompt text (for example, /plan Propose a migration plan for this service).
3. You can paste content or attach images while using inline /plan arguments.

Expected: Codex enters plan mode and uses your optional inline prompt as the first planning request.

While a task is already running, /plan is temporarily unavailable.

Set an experimental goal with /goal

/goal is experimental and only available when features.goals is enabled. To enable it, open /experimental or add goals = true under [features] in config.toml.

1. Type /goal <objective> to set the goal, for example /goal Finish the migration and keep tests green.
2. Type /goal to view the current goal.
3. Use /goal pause, /goal resume, or /goal clear to pause, resume, or remove it.

Expected: Codex keeps the goal attached to the active thread while work continues.

Toggle experimental features with /experimental

1. Type /experimental and press Enter.
2. Toggle the features you want (for example, Apps or Smart Approvals), then restart Codex if the prompt asks you to.

Expected: Codex saves your feature choices to config and applies them on restart.

Clear the terminal and start a new chat with /clear

1. Type /clear and press Enter.

Expected: Codex clears the terminal, resets the visible transcript, and starts a fresh chat in the same CLI session.

Unlike Ctrl+L, /clear starts a new conversation.

Ctrl+L only clears the terminal view and keeps the current chat. Codex disables both actions while a task is in progress.

Update permissions with /permissions

1. Type /permissions and press Enter.
2. Select the approval preset that matches your comfort level, for example Auto for hands-off runs or Read Only to review edits.

Expected: Codex announces the updated policy. Future actions respect the updated approval mode until you change it again.

Copy the latest response with /copy

1. Type /copy and press Enter.

Expected: Codex copies the latest completed Codex output to your clipboard.

If a turn is still running, /copy uses the latest completed output instead of the in-progress response. The command is unavailable before the first completed Codex output and immediately after a rollback.

You can also press Ctrl+O from the main TUI to copy the latest completed response without opening the slash command menu.

Grant sandbox read access with /sandbox-add-read-dir

This command is available only when running the CLI natively on Windows.

1. Type /sandbox-add-read-dir C:\absolute\directory\path and press Enter.
2. Confirm the path is an existing absolute directory.

Expected: Codex refreshes the Windows sandbox policy and grants read access to that directory for later commands that run in the sandbox.

Inspect the session with /status

1. In any conversation, type /status.
2. Review the output for the active model, approval policy, writable roots, and current token usage.

Expected: You see a summary like what codex status prints in the shell, confirming Codex is operating where you expect.

Inspect config layers with /debug-config

1. Type /debug-config.
2. Review the output for config layer order (lowest precedence first), on/off state, and policy sources.

Expected: Codex prints layer diagnostics plus policy details such as allowed_approval_policies, allowed_sandbox_modes, mcp_servers, rules, enforce_residency, and experimental_network when configured.

Use this output to debug why an effective setting differs from config.toml.

Configure footer items with /statusline

1. Type /statusline.
2. Use the picker to toggle and reorder items, then confirm.

Expected: The footer status line updates immediately and persists to tui.status_line in config.toml.

Available status-line items include model, model+reasoning, context stats, rate limits, git branch, token counters, session id, current directory/project root, and Codex version.

Configure terminal title items with /title

1. Type /title.
2. Use the picker to toggle and reorder items, then confirm.

Expected: The terminal window or tab title updates immediately and persists to tui.terminal_title in config.toml.

Available title items include app name, project, spinner, status, thread, git branch, model, and task progress.

Remap TUI shortcuts with /keymap

Use /keymap to inspect, update, and persist keyboard shortcut bindings for the TUI.

1. Type /keymap.
2. Pick the shortcut context and action you want to change.
3. Enter the new binding or remove the existing one.

Expected: Codex updates the active keymap and writes the custom binding to tui.keymap in config.toml.

Key bindings use names such as ctrl-a, shift-enter, and page-down. Context-specific bindings override tui.keymap.global; an empty binding list unbinds the action.

Check background terminals with /ps

1. Type /ps.
2. Review the list of background terminals and their status.

Expected: Codex shows each background terminal’s command plus up to three recent, non-empty output lines so you can gauge progress at a glance.

Background terminals appear when unified_exec is in use; otherwise, the list may be empty.

Stop background terminals with /stop

1. Type /stop.
2. Confirm if Codex asks before stopping the listed terminals.

Expected: Codex stops all background terminals for the current session. /clean is still available as an alias for /stop.

Keep transcripts lean with /compact

1. After a long exchange, type /compact.
2. Confirm when Codex offers to summarize the conversation so far.

Expected: Codex replaces earlier turns with a concise summary, freeing context while keeping critical details.

Review changes with /diff

1. Type /diff to inspect the Git diff.
2. Scroll through the output inside the CLI to review edits and added files.

Expected: Codex shows changes you’ve staged, changes you haven’t staged yet, and files Git hasn’t started tracking, so you can decide what to keep.

Highlight files with /mention

1. Type /mention followed by a path, for example /mention src/lib/api.ts.
2. Select the matching result from the popup.

Expected: Codex adds the file to the conversation, ensuring follow-up turns reference it directly.

Start a new conversation with /new

1. Type /new and press Enter.

Expected: Codex starts a fresh conversation in the same CLI session, so you can switch tasks without leaving your terminal.

Unlike /clear, /new doesn’t clear the current terminal view first.

Resume a saved conversation with /resume

1. Type /resume and press Enter.
2. Choose the session you want from the saved-session picker.

Expected: Codex reloads the selected conversation’s transcript so you can pick up where you left off, keeping the original history intact.

Fork the current conversation with /fork

1. Type /fork and press Enter.

Expected: Codex clones the current conversation into a new thread with a fresh ID, leaving the original transcript untouched so you can explore an alternative approach in parallel.

If you need to fork a saved session instead of the current one, run codex fork in your terminal to open the session picker.

Start a side conversation with /side

Use /side to start an ephemeral fork from the current conversation without switching away from the main task.

1. Type /side to open a side conversation.
2. Optionally add inline text, for example /side Check whether this plan has an obvious risk.
3. Return to the parent thread after the focused detour finishes.

Expected: Codex opens a side conversation whose transcript is separate from the parent thread. While you are in side mode, the TUI continues to show parent-thread status so you can see whether the main task is still running.

/side is unavailable inside another side conversation and during review mode.

Generate AGENTS.md with /init

1. Run /init in the directory where you want Codex to look for persistent instructions.
2. Review the generated AGENTS.md, then edit it to match your repository conventions.

Expected: Codex creates an AGENTS.md scaffold you can refine and commit for future sessions.

Ask for a working tree review with /review

1. Type /review.
2. Follow up with /diff if you want to inspect the exact file changes.

Expected: Codex summarizes issues it finds in your working tree, focusing on behavior changes and missing tests. It uses the current session model unless you set review_model in config.toml.

List MCP tools with /mcp

1. Type /mcp.
2. Review the list to confirm which MCP servers and tools are available.

Expected: You see the configured Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools Codex can call in this session.

Use /mcp verbose to include detailed server diagnostics. If you pass anything other than verbose, Codex shows the command usage.

Browse apps with /apps

1. Type /apps.
2. Pick an app from the list.

Expected: Codex inserts the app mention into the composer as $app-slug, so you can immediately ask Codex to use it.

Browse plugins with /plugins

1. Type /plugins.
2. Choose a marketplace tab, then pick a plugin to inspect its capabilities or available actions.

Expected: Codex opens the plugin browser so you can review installed plugins, discoverable plugins that your configuration allows, and installed plugin state. Press Space on an installed plugin to toggle its enabled state.

Switch agent threads with /agent

1. Type /agent and press Enter.
2. Select the thread you want from the picker.

Expected: Codex switches the active thread so you can inspect or continue that agent’s work.

Send feedback with /feedback

1. Type /feedback and press Enter.
2. Follow the prompts to include logs or diagnostics.

Expected: Codex collects the requested diagnostics and submits them to the maintainers.

Sign out with /logout

1. Type /logout and press Enter.

Expected: Codex clears local credentials for the current user session.

Exit the CLI with /quit or /exit

1. Type /quit (or /exit) and press Enter.

Expected: Codex exits immediately. Save or commit any important work first.