Interactive Commands
All commands are typed at the TUI prompt, prefixed with /. Unknown slash commands are submitted to the agent as regular text (useful for paths starting with /).
Session Management
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/new | Start a new session (autosaves current if non-empty) |
/continue | Resume the most recent session (like cast -c, but mid-session) |
/sessions | Session picker with type-to-filter search (by message text, project path, or id); switch or delete |
/clear | Clear conversation context (and save the cleared state) |
/compact | Force context compaction now (auto-triggers near the limit) |
/copy | Copy last assistant response to clipboard |
/current | Show all status bar data (even disabled segments) |
/quit, /exit | Save and exit |
Model and Provider
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/model | Open model picker (shows current model) |
/model <name> | Switch to a specific model (validated) |
/subagent-model | Open model picker for sub-agents |
/subagent-model <name> | Switch sub-agent model |
/reasoning | Change reasoning level (opens picker if model supports it) |
/provider | Open provider picker (switch, add, or delete providers) |
/provider add | Add a new provider (name → URL → key wizard) |
/provider delete | Delete a provider |
/provider <name> | Switch to a named provider |
Persona
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/persona | Open persona picker |
/persona <name> | Switch to a specific persona |
See Personas for the full list.
Skills and MCP
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/skills | Toggle skills on/off (multi-select). Also: list, enable/disable, uninstall, help |
/skill:<name> [args] | Force-load and run a skill by name |
/plugin | Toggle installed plugins. Palette also has install / list / enable / uninstall / marketplace / help |
/mcp | Toggle MCP servers on/off. Also: list, enable/disable, uninstall, help |
/reload | Re-scan skills, rules, MCP servers, and personas for cwd |
Bare /skills / /mcp / /plugin = multi-select toggle. list is read-only. uninstall always confirms (picker or typed). See Skills, MCP, Plugins.
Hot-reload vs /reload
You never need to quit cast or start a new session for these changes. The current chat continues.
| Change | Apply how |
|---|---|
/skills / /mcp / /plugin toggle, enable / disable | Automatic (hot-reload) |
/plugin install / uninstall, /skills uninstall, /mcp uninstall | Automatic |
/plugin marketplace remove (drops installed packs) | Automatic (skills reload) |
New/edited files on disk: skills, mcp.json, rules, personas, context files (including npx skills add) | /reload in the same session |
/reload only re-scans cwd resources — it does not reset the conversation.
Rules
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/rules | List loaded rules with their apply mode, globs, and scope |
/rule:<name> | Invoke a rule by name (loads its full content into context) |
See Rules for rule types and creation.
Plan Mode
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/plan | Enter plan mode (explore and plan only, no code changes) |
/build | Exit plan mode, restore full toolset |
/plan-model [name|off] | Show/change the model used while plan mode is active |
See Plan Mode for the full workflow.
Steering
These commands work while the agent is running:
| Command | Short | Description |
|---|---|---|
/steer <message> | /s | Inject a message into the running turn |
/queue <message> | /q | Queue a message for after the current turn |
/queue-reset | /qr | Clear the message queue |
/abort, /stop | Stop current agent run |
/steer interrupts the current turn with new context — the message is injected immediately into the conversation, and the agent sees it on the next tool-call iteration. Useful for correcting course mid-execution.
/queue saves a message to run after the agent finishes its current turn. The message becomes a new turn automatically.
If nothing is running, both /steer and /queue submit the message as a normal prompt.
/abort stops the current run and clears both the steering and follow-up queues — anything queued before the abort is discarded.
Both steering and follow-up messages reset the doom loop counter — repeating a failing command after user guidance is treated as a new attempt, not a loop.
Context and Usage
Token usage and context size are shown automatically in the TUI status bar (prompt tokens in, completion tokens out, context percentage, tokens/second, and sub-agent tokens).
Use /statusbar to toggle individual segments on/off and reorder them — useful on narrow terminals where the full bar overflows. Segments can be moved between the left and right sides of the bar with ←/→, and reordered within each side with j/k. Default: persona, mode, model (left) and elapsed (right); enable others via /statusbar.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/usage | Show cumulative session token/cost usage (prompt, completion, cache hits, sub-agent tokens) |
Configuration
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/permissions | Open permission mode picker |
/permissions default | Switch to gated mode (confirm dangerous commands) |
/permissions bypass | Switch to bypass mode (no confirmation) |
/web | Toggle web tools (web_search, web_fetch) on/off |
/web-search-provider | Switch the web_search backend between DuckDuckGo (free, rate-limited), Tavily (API key, 1000 free/month), and Brave Search (API key) |
/statusbar | Toggle and reorder status bar segments (multi-select picker) |
/theme | Open theme picker |
/theme <id> | Switch to a specific theme |
Utility
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/repo | Show cwd, git branch, dirty state, remote, and HEAD |
/keys | List all keybindings |
/help | Show the command list |
/ssh | Manage SSH hosts — list, add, remove (persists to ~/.cast/ssh.json) |
Keybindings
| Action | Keys |
|---|---|
| Cursor up/down/left/right | ↑ / ↓ / ← / → |
| Word left/right | Alt+← / Alt+→ (or Ctrl+← / Ctrl+→) |
| Line start/end | Home / End (or Ctrl+A / Ctrl+E) |
| Delete char | Backspace / Delete |
| Delete word | Ctrl+W / Alt+Backspace |
| Delete to line start | Ctrl+U |
| Delete to line end | Ctrl+K |
| Submit | Enter |
| Stop turn / clear input | Esc |
| Exit (2× to confirm) | Ctrl+C |
| Attach image | Ctrl+G |
| Autocomplete | Tab |
Esc stops the current turn while generating; clears the input otherwise.
Ctrl+C — press twice within 2s to exit. Does not stop a turn — use Esc for that.
During a Running Agent
While the agent is executing, only these commands are accepted:
/steer//s— inject context/queue//q— queue follow-up/queue-reset//qr— clear queue/abort//stop— stop the run
All other input is rejected with a notice. Use Esc to stop the current turn (clears input when idle).