Modes and Commands
The TUI has pager-local slash commands, plus a smaller set provided by xai-grok-shell. User-invocable skills also appear as slash commands.
In the TUI, Shift+Tab cycles session modes. For the full key reference, see Keyboard Shortcuts.
Modes
Plan
Plan mode is planning first: only the session plan file can be edited until you approve. That file-edit gate is independent of the permission mode (ask, auto, or always-approve). Enter with /plan [description] or Shift+Tab, and reopen a plan with /view-plan. See Plan Mode.
Auto
Auto uses a classifier to auto-approve safe tools; dangerous ones may still prompt. Toggle with /auto or Shift+Tab when the feature is enabled. Full mode table: Permissions.
Always-approve
Always-approve skips permission prompts for tool calls (deny rules and hooks still apply). Toggle with /always-approve or Shift+Tab, or start with grok --always-approve. Modes, allow/deny rules, and how they relate to the sandbox are under Permissions.
Core TUI commands
The command palette groups session, context, model, and tool actions.
Use /context to check current context usage.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/quit (alias /exit) |
Quit the application |
/help |
Browse commands and keyboard shortcuts |
/home |
Return to the welcome screen |
/new (alias /clear) |
Start a new session |
/resume |
Resume a previous session |
/sessions |
Switch, rename, or close active sessions |
/fork |
Branch the current session into a peer agent |
/rename <title> (alias /title) |
Rename the current session |
/share |
Share the current session via URL |
/session-info |
Show session info |
/context |
View context usage |
/compact [context] |
Compact conversation history |
/rewind |
Rewind to a previous turn |
/export |
Export the conversation to a file or clipboard |
/copy [N] |
Copy the last (or Nth-latest) response to the clipboard |
/find |
Search the conversation scrollback |
/transcript |
View the full transcript in your pager ($PAGER) |
/model <name> (alias /m) |
Switch the active model |
/effort |
Set reasoning effort for the current model |
/always-approve |
Toggle always-approve mode |
/auto |
Toggle auto mode (classifier; when feature enabled) |
/plan [description] |
Enter plan mode |
/view-plan |
View the current plan |
/btw <question> |
Ask a side question without interrupting |
/loop [interval] <prompt> |
Run a prompt on a recurring interval — see Background Tasks |
/imagine <prompt> |
Generate an image from a text description |
/imagine-video <prompt> |
Generate a video from a text description |
/tasks |
List background tasks, subagents, and scheduled tasks |
/create-workflow [description] |
Author and save a new workflow |
/workflow <name> [args] |
Launch a saved workflow, or pause / resume / stop / save a run |
/workflows |
Open the live workflow run dashboard (fullscreen) |
/deep-research <query> |
Run a background research workflow |
/queue |
List the prompts queued behind the running turn |
/dashboard |
Open the Agent Dashboard |
/settings (alias /config) |
Open the settings modal |
/theme [name] (alias /t) |
Switch the color theme |
/compact-mode |
Toggle denser UI layout |
/multiline (alias /ml) |
Toggle multiline input |
/vim-mode |
Toggle vim-style scrollback keybindings |
/timestamps <mode> |
Set which messages show the clock time: off, minimal, or on |
/density <level> |
Set how much of each tool call the transcript shows: Detailed, Diff focus, Balanced, Grouped, or Compact |
/terminal-setup |
Check terminal and clipboard setup |
/config-agents (alias /agents) |
Manage agent definitions |
/personas |
Manage personas |
/remember <note> |
Save a memory note |
/import-claude |
Open the Claude settings import modal |
/feedback [text] |
Send feedback about the current session |
/release-notes (alias /changelog) |
View release notes for the current version |
/usage |
View credit usage or manage billing |
/privacy |
Show or toggle privacy and data-retention status |
/login, /logout |
Sign in, or sign out of the current account |
/hooks |
Open the unified extensions modal at the Hooks tab |
/plugins |
Open the unified extensions modal at the Plugins tab |
/marketplace |
Open the unified extensions modal at the Marketplace tab |
/skills |
Open the unified extensions modal at the Skills tab |
/mcps |
Open the unified extensions modal at the MCP tab |
/hooks, /plugins, /marketplace, /skills, and /mcps all open the same extensions modal — they just pre-select a tab. A few commands appear only when their feature is available (for example /imagine and /loop).
Shell-provided commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/flush |
Flush conversation memory to disk now |
/memory (alias /mem) |
Browse, view, and manage your memories |
/dream |
Run memory consolidation |
These appear when cross-session memory is enabled.
Skills as commands
Any user-invocable skill can also appear as a slash command, for example /<skill-name>.
If names collide, use the qualified form, such as /local:commit.
Workflows
Workflows orchestrate a bounded set of subagents in the background: fan out work, verify, then return a result. They are on by default.
Create one with /create-workflow and describe what it should do. Grok asks about fan-out, verification, and scope, then authors, smoke-checks, and saves the file as .grok/workflows/<name>.rhai in the project, or ~/.grok/workflows/<name>.rhai for every project.
/create-workflow Review the current branch for bugs, then verify each finding
Launch a saved workflow with /workflow <name> (optional JSON args) or /<name>. /workflows is the live run dashboard in the fullscreen TUI; it lists active and retained runs, not saved files.
/workflow review-changes {"target":"origin/main...HEAD"}
/workflow pause review-changes
/workflow resume review-changes
/workflow stop review-changes-2
/deep-research <query> starts a built-in research workflow. Disable the feature with [workflows] enabled = false in ~/.grok/config.toml, or GROK_WORKFLOWS=0.