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Non-blocking Slash Commands During Streaming

docs/design/nonblocking-slash-commands.md

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Non-blocking Slash Commands During Streaming

Problem

The interactive input router currently queues every slash command except /btw while a model response is streaming. This makes local UI controls wait for the active conversation turn even when their result does not depend on that turn.

Design

SlashCommand gains an opt-in canRunDuringStreaming capability. The default remains false. While the main model is responding, the input router resolves the submitted command through the existing slash-command tree. An opted-in command is sent directly to the slash-command processor; all other slash commands keep using the existing serialized message queue.

The direct path does not go through submitQuery. That function owns the model turn lifecycle and deliberately rejects concurrent top-level turns. Keeping local commands outside it avoids sharing abort controllers, submission flags, or model-stream counters with the active response.

The slash-command processor and command results already update Ink through React state. The initial commands therefore do not write directly to terminal stdout while Ink is rendering.

Initial Command Set

  • /status, /about, and /status paths: read local runtime information and append an Ink history item.
  • /settings: opens the settings dialog; saved changes apply through the existing settings hooks without replacing the active conversation turn.
  • /help: opens the static help dialog.

The following categories remain serialized:

  • Commands that submit or transform a model turn, such as skills, /summary, /compress, /model <model> <prompt>, and /goal.
  • Commands that replace, clear, rewind, resume, branch, or otherwise mutate conversation state.
  • Commands that schedule tools or perform long-running external work.
  • Commands that read state being mutated by the active turn, such as /context, /stats, /copy, /diff, and /recap.

/btw keeps its specialized concurrent model-request path. /quit keeps its existing immediate cancellation path. Ctrl+Q continues to force any submission to wait for idle, including an otherwise opted-in command.

Verification

Unit coverage verifies that opted-in commands bypass both submitQuery and the message queue during a response, while unmarked slash commands remain queued. Command tests pin the initial capability declarations. Interactive E2E checks should start a visibly streaming response, open each opted-in command, close any dialog, and confirm that the original response continues and completes.