Slash commands: parity with OpenHands CLI and a built-in /help

Problem

agent-canvas ships only 3 built-in slash commands -- /new, /btw, and /model -- and all three are further gated by backend type in ways that leave local-backend users with no built-in slash commands at all:

Command	Cloud	Local
/new	Yes	No
/btw	Yes	Yes
/model	No	Yes

The OpenHands CLI (TUI) has 9 built-in commands that are all always available regardless of backend kind:

Command	Description
/help	Display all available commands in the chat area
/new	Start a new conversation, reusing the current sandbox
/history	Toggle the conversation history side panel
/settings	Open the settings modal
/confirm	Configure confirmation policy (always-ask / yolo / llm-approve)
/condense	Condense (summarise) the conversation history
/skills	Display loaded skills, hooks, and MCPs in the chat area
/feedback	Open the anonymous feedback form
/exit	Exit (not applicable to browser UI -- skip)

Additionally, there is no /help equivalent in agent-canvas at all: users who type / can browse through available slash commands but if there are many that list can be unhelpful.

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Proposed Changes

1. Add new slash commands

Four commands from the CLI TUI are immediately implementable in agent-canvas without backend changes:

• /condense -- Triggers conversation history condensation. In the CLI this calls runner.condense_async(). In agent-canvas this would need to wire through to the agent-server's POST /api/condense (or equivalent) if that endpoint exists; otherwise a no-op with a toast explaining it is not yet supported.

• /skills -- Renders the currently loaded skills, hooks, and MCPs inline in the chat. The skill list is already fetched by useConversationSkills(). This is purely a display concern.

• /help -- Renders the full list of available slash commands (both built-in and skill-derived) in the chat area, giving users discoverability. This also serves as the single source of truth for what commands exist.

• /feedback -- Opens the existing anonymous feedback form (forms.gle/chHc5VdS3wty5DwW6) in a new browser tab. No backend involvement required.

2. Support /new in local conversations

The gating that hides /new on local backends (in src/hooks/chat/use-slash-command.ts line 59) was added because cloud creates new conversations via an async WORKING task that requires polling. Local backends create synchronously, so the same /new flow used for cloud could work for local too -- the mutation in use-new-conversation-command.ts already handles both paths:

// Cloud returns a WORKING task (no app_conversation_id yet);
// navigate to /conversations/task-{id} so useTaskPolling drives it
// to READY. Local creates synchronously -- app_conversation_id is
// already set, so we navigate straight to it.

The menu filter just needs the isCloud guard removed from /new.

3. A better way to discover all slash commands

Even after adding the above, users have no way to know commands exist unless they type / and read the dropdown. A /help command solves this by listing every command (built-in + skill-derived) in the chat itself. The help text should include:

• All built-in commands with descriptions
• All skill-derived commands (e.g. /init, /releasenotes)
• A note that typing / shows the autocomplete menu

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Relevant Files

File	Relevance
src/utils/constants.ts	BUILT_IN_COMMANDS, BTW_COMMAND, MODEL_COMMAND definitions
src/hooks/chat/use-slash-command.ts	Menu filtering -- isCloud gates /new and /model
src/hooks/chat/use-btw-interceptor.ts	/btw interceptor (no backend gating)
src/hooks/chat/use-model-interceptor.ts	/model interceptor (local-only)
src/hooks/mutation/use-new-conversation-command.ts	/new mutation (handles both cloud and local)
src/components/features/chat/chat-interface.tsx	/new execution handler
src/components/features/chat/interactive-chat-box.tsx	Chains interceptors

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References

• OpenHands-CLI commands definition: openhands_cli/tui/core/commands.py
• OpenHands-CLI command handlers: openhands_cli/tui/widgets/input_area.py
• OpenHands frontend (no backend gating): frontend/src/hooks/chat/use-slash-command.ts
• agent-canvas (backend gating added): src/hooks/chat/use-slash-command.ts