Chat Commands

Eliza supports several layers of in-session commands: slash commands for the chat interface, runtime commands controlled by configuration, custom command handlers via the hooks system, and plugin-provided commands.

Slash Commands

These commands are available in the chat input. Press Tab to autocomplete a command name.

When using /model without an argument, a centered overlay appears showing all available models with the current selection highlighted. When a provider/id is provided (e.g. /model anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6), the model switches immediately without opening the selector. The model selector also shows credential status for each provider when available.

Runtime Command Configuration

Runtime commands are capabilities that operate through the elizaOS agent runtime. They are controlled by the commands section in eliza.json and can be enabled or disabled independently.

{
  "commands": {
    "native": "auto",
    "nativeSkills": "auto",
    "text": true,
    "bash": false,
    "bashForegroundMs": 2000,
    "config": false,
    "debug": false,
    "restart": false,
    "useAccessGroups": true
  }
}

Command Settings

Custom Command Handlers via Hooks

The hooks system allows you to register custom handlers for command events. Hooks listen for events with a type of "command" and an action matching the command name.

Event Key Pattern

Hook event keys follow the format type:action. For commands:

• "command:new" -- matches only the /new command
• "command:reset" -- matches only the /reset command
• "command" -- matches all command events (general handler)

When a command event fires, the dispatcher calls specific handlers first (command:new), then general handlers (command).

Registering a Hook Handler

Hooks can be registered through config or programmatically:

{
  "hooks": {
    "internal": {
      "enabled": true,
      "handlers": [
        {
          "event": "command:new",
          "module": "./hooks/my-new-handler.js",
          "export": "default"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Each handler receives a HookEvent object:

interface HookEvent {
  type: "command" | "session" | "agent" | "gateway";
  action: string;        // e.g. "new", "reset", "startup"
  sessionKey: string;    // session where the event occurred
  timestamp: Date;
  messages: string[];    // push response messages here
  context: Record<string, unknown>;
}

Handlers can push strings into event.messages to send replies back to the user.

Supported Event Types

Beyond commands, the hooks system supports these event types:

Plugin-Provided Commands

Plugins can extend the command system by registering actions through the elizaOS runtime. When a plugin is loaded, its exported actions array is registered with the runtime via registerAction().

Common plugin-provided capabilities include:

• Shell plugin (@elizaos/plugin-shell) -- provides shell command execution actions
• Commands plugin (@elizaos/plugin-commands) -- provides slash command handling
• Custom actions -- any plugin can define actions that respond to specific patterns or intents

Plugins declare their capabilities through the standard elizaOS plugin interface:

export const myPlugin = {
  name: "my-plugin",
  description: "Custom commands",
  actions: [/* action definitions */],
  services: [/* service definitions */],
  providers: [/* provider definitions */],
};

Web Dashboard Commands

The web Control UI (opened via eliza dashboard) provides its own command interface through the API server. Commands sent through the web chat are processed by the same elizaOS runtime, so all runtime commands, hook handlers, and plugin-provided actions are available.

The API server exposes endpoints that the web UI uses to send messages and receive responses. In production, both the UI and API are served on port 2138 (ELIZA_PORT). In dev mode, the API runs on a separate port 31337 (ELIZA_API_PORT) while the UI stays on 2138. The agent restart endpoint (POST /api/agent/restart) is also available when commands.restart is enabled.

Command Security

Security Levels

Commands are grouped by risk level:

Access Groups

When commands.useAccessGroups is true (the default), commands respect access-group allowlists. This means only users in the appropriate access group can execute specific commands. This is particularly important when the agent is connected to external messaging platforms (Discord, Telegram, Slack, etc.) where untrusted users may send messages.

Bash Command Behavior

When commands.bash is enabled:

• Users can prefix a message with ! or use the /bash alias to execute shell commands
• The bashForegroundMs setting controls how long a command runs in the foreground before being backgrounded (default: 2000ms, max: 30000ms)
• Setting bashForegroundMs to 0 backgrounds commands immediately
• Shell output is returned to the chat as a message