Terminal Interaction Commands¶

echo-agent cli defaults to the native-scrollback inline renderer; echo-agent cli --tui selects the full-screen Textual renderer. Both share the commands and WebSocket behavior below. Command names are case-insensitive.

Command Summary¶

Command	Type	Syntax	Description
`/help`	Local	`/help`	Display available commands
`/clear`	Local	`/clear`	Clear the display, not history or audit data
`/copy`	Local	`/copy [all]`	Copy the last response or whole conversation
`/details`	Local	`/details [section state]`	Control process detail
`/save`	Local	`/save [--format md\\|txt\\|json] [path]`	Export conversation or audit data
`/theme`	Local	`/theme [light\\|dark]`	Report or switch the palette
`/reconnect`	Local	`/reconnect`	Re-establish connection to the gateway
`/status`	Local	`/status [event_id]`	Query the durable server-side turn state
`/quit`	Local	`/quit`	Exit the client
`/approve`	Server	`/approve <id> [session\\|always]`	Approve a pending tool execution
`/deny`	Server	`/deny <id> [reason]`	Deny a pending tool execution
`/approvals`	Server	`/approvals`	List all pending approval requests
`/clarify`	Server	`/clarify <id> <answer>`	Answer an agent clarification request

Local Commands¶

/help¶

Display every local and server-side command. The inline prompt also completes command names after typing /.

/help

/clear¶

Clear the current display and renderer-only indexes.

/clear

Tip

This does not affect conversation history — the agent still remembers prior messages. Use it to reduce visual clutter.

/copy¶

Copy the last assistant response or the entire conversation.

/copy        # most recent response
/copy all    # full conversation

The inline renderer tries the platform clipboard first (pbcopy, wl-copy, xclip, or clip) and can fall back to capped OSC 52 on a TTY. Failure is reported explicitly instead of claiming success.

/details¶

Report or change how much process information is shown.

/details
/details thinking expanded
/details tools collapsed

The defaults keep the agent's concrete work observable without expanding raw payloads:

── Process detail ──────────────────────────
Thinking:   collapsed
Tools:      collapsed
Activity:   hidden
────────────────────────────────────────────

A tool action is printed when execution starts and gets a compact result on completion. Parallel results repeat a short operand so their correlation stays clear. Select tools lean for a quieter transcript that suppresses successful read-only calls; failures always remain visible.

The inline prompt keeps a responsive session bar underneath the input. Wide terminals show connection/session, model, context occupancy, whole-turn elapsed time, cumulative cost, and memory count. Medium widths retain model and context percentage plus memory count; very narrow terminals keep only connection and timing so the bar never wraps into the input. The default model and context limit are seeded from configuration on first paint, then replaced by server telemetry after actual routing. The spinner owns “what is happening now”; the spinner, prompt, and bar are updated by one terminal renderer, while the bar owns time and controls, avoiding duplicate adjacent status sentences. Terminal outcomes distinguish completed, failed, interrupted, and disconnected turns. Approval and clarification waits remain part of whole-turn elapsed time; /clear also clears the settled summary, and /theme updates both transcript and bar colors.

/save¶

Export the conversation to a file. Defaults to echo-<timestamp>.md under the configured transcript directory (<workspace>/transcripts for the CLI).

/save                           # default path
/save ~/notes/session.md        # explicit path
/save --format json             # JSON export (includes metadata)

Flag	Description
`--format md`	Markdown (default)
`--format json`	Full JSON with metadata, tokens, tool calls
`--format txt`	Plain text, no formatting

JSON is an audit export: it includes cognitive/tool frames even when hidden by /details, plus authoritative turn-status observations. It survives a local /clear. Credential-shaped fields, bearer tokens, secret URL parameters, and command-line secret flags are redacted before entering the audit buffer.

/theme¶

Report or switch the light/dark palette.

/theme              # report current theme
/theme dark
/theme light

Set ECHO_TUI_THEME=light|dark for a persistent shell preference.

/reconnect¶

Re-establish the WebSocket connection to the gateway. Useful after network interruptions or gateway restarts.

/reconnect

The TUI makes a fresh connection using the same session key. On success it reconciles the latest durable turn and replays a missed final reply when necessary.

/status¶

Query the gateway's durable lifecycle record rather than inferring completion from whether the terminal is still animating.

/status                 # latest primary turn in this session
/status 6f8c2a1d        # a specific inbound event id

States distinguish accepted/running work, approval or clarification waits, clean completion, incomplete (including output truncation), failure, and user interruption. The TUI also performs this reconciliation after reconnecting.

/quit¶

Exit the client. Ctrl+D exits immediately. Ctrl+C first denies a pending approval or interrupts the active primary turn; while idle it requires a second press within two seconds to exit.

/quit

Keyboard exit: Ctrl+D.

Server-Side Commands¶

These commands are sent to the agent runtime via the gateway. They require an active connection.

/approve¶

Approve a tool execution that is waiting for user confirmation. Tools in ask approval mode pause before executing and wait for explicit user approval.

/approve abc123
/approve abc123 session

Warning

Approving a tool execution is irreversible. Review the tool name, arguments, and risk level shown in the approval prompt before confirming.

/deny¶

Deny a pending tool execution, optionally providing a reason the agent can use to adjust its approach.

/deny abc123 "use read instead"     # deny with guidance

When a reason is provided, the agent receives it as context and may choose an alternative approach.

/approvals¶

List all currently pending approval requests with their IDs, tool names, and timestamps.

/approvals

Example output:

Pending approvals (2):
  [abc123] shell("rm -rf /tmp/build")      2m ago
  [def456] filesystem(write, "config.yml") 30s ago

/clarify¶

Answer a clarification request emitted by the agent.

/clarify clarify-123 use-the-safe-option

Both renderers present an interactive choice UI, so users normally select a number or enter free text instead of constructing this command manually.

Key Bindings¶

Key	Action
`Enter`	Send message
`Esc`, then `Enter`	Insert a newline (inline renderer)
`Ctrl+C`	Deny pending approval, stop active turn, or guarded exit
`Ctrl+D`	Exit immediately
`Up` / `Down`	Navigate input history (inline renderer)

Workflow Tips¶

Approval workflow

When running with tools.approval_mode: ask for sensitive tools, keep /approvals handy to see what's queued. You can batch-deny with reasons to guide the agent toward safer alternatives.

Long sessions

Use /save --format json periodically to checkpoint your conversation. The JSON format preserves full metadata and can be reloaded for analysis.

Multiline input

In the inline renderer, press Esc followed by Enter to insert a newline; plain Enter submits the buffer.

No /undo or /retry

The catalog has thirteen commands and none re-runs a turn. Local commands are /help, /clear, /copy, /details, /save, /theme, /reconnect, /status and /quit; server commands are /approve, /deny, /approvals and /clarify.

To redo a turn, send a corrected message — the previous exchange stays in history, so the agent sees both. /clear only wipes the screen; the session and its history are untouched.