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Slash commands give you quick, keyboard-driven access to Herm’s full feature surface without leaving the composer. Typing / in the input area opens a live popover that filters commands as you type, shows descriptions and argument hints, and supports tab-completion for subcommands. Press Return on any highlighted entry — or finish typing the full command and press Return — to execute it.

How the popover works

Start typing / followed by the command name. The popover narrows the list in real time across both command names and their aliases. For commands that accept subcommands (for example /voice on), continue typing after a space and the popover switches to subcommand completions automatically.
/theme          → opens the theme picker
/reload-mcp now → restarts MCP servers immediately
/voice on       → enables voice recording
The popover merges local commands (handled directly by the Herm client) with gateway commands fetched from GET /api/commands — including skills, plugins, and MCP prompts registered with your Hermes gateway. The tables on this page cover the built-in local commands. Gateway commands appear in the same popover once the connection is established.

Command categories

Commands are grouped into four categories:

Client

Actions handled entirely inside the Herm TUI: themes, skins, UI toggles, clipboard, voice, and diagnostics.

Session

Commands that act on the active Hermes Agent session: steering, queueing, reloading, goal control, and browser management.

Info

Read-only status panels: usage stats, profile details, session history, and version/path information.

Exit

Commands that close or restart Herm.

Client commands

These commands are intercepted by the Herm client and never forwarded to the gateway.
CommandAliasesArgsDescription
/clearClear all chat messages from the current view
/newresetStart a fresh session
/themeOpen the color theme picker
/keysOpen the keybinding editor
/helpShow keyboard shortcut reference
/logsShow the gateway stderr log
/title[text]Set a title for the current session
/rollbackBrowse and restore session checkpoints
/skin[name]Switch to a named skin (theme + eikon preset)
/chafa<path>Render an image in the terminal via chafa
/splashShow the Herm launch splash screen
/stash[pop|list]Park the current prompt draft; restore it later
/voice[on|off|status|tts]Toggle or query voice recording

Session commands

These commands act on the live Hermes Agent session.
CommandAliasesArgsDescription
/steer[text]Inject a note into the current turn without interrupting it
/reloadHot-reload ~/.hermes/.env to pick up new API keys
/reload-mcp[now|always]Restart MCP servers and rediscover their tools
/reload-skillsreload_skillsRe-scan ~/.hermes/skills/ for added or removed skills
/queueq[text]Queue a prompt to be sent on the next idle turn
/redoRe-send the last undone message
/browser[connect|disconnect|status] [url]Connect or disconnect a Chrome DevTools Protocol browser
/goal[text|done|pause|resume|clear|status]Set or control the current session goal
The /goal command accepts several subcommands:
SubcommandEffect
[text]Set the session goal to the provided text
doneMark the current goal as complete
pausePause goal tracking
resumeResume a paused goal
clearClear the goal entirely
statusPrint the current goal and its state
The /browser command manages a CDP browser connection:
SubcommandEffect
connect [url]Connect to a running Chrome/Chromium instance at the given CDP URL
disconnectDisconnect the active browser session
statusShow whether a browser is connected and its URL

Info commands

These commands open read-only panels; they do not modify session state.
CommandAliasesArgsDescription
/historyBrowse the server-side session transcript
/statusShow Herm version, active model, and key file paths
/usageDisplay token counts, context fill percentage, and cost
/profileShow details about the currently active Hermes profile

Exit commands

CommandAliasesArgsDescription
/quitexitExit Herm

Gateway and skill commands

In addition to the built-in commands listed above, the popover also surfaces commands registered on your Hermes gateway. These include:
  • Skills — custom scripts in ~/.hermes/skills/ that expose slash commands.
  • Plugins — gateway-side plugins that register named commands.
  • MCP prompts — prompt templates served by connected MCP servers and surfaced as /mcp-prompt-name entries.
Gateway commands are labeled with their source (skill, plugin, or mcp) in the popover. They are forwarded to POST /api/slash rather than handled locally. Use /reload-skills or /reload-mcp to refresh the list after adding new skills or MCP servers.
If the gateway is unreachable at startup, the popover falls back to showing only local commands. Gateway commands appear automatically once the connection is restored — no restart required.