Slash commands and mentions

Type / or @ in the message box and a list opens above it: / for Claude Code’s commands, @ for files, folders and other sessions. The text box keeps the focus, so you carry on typing to narrow the list.

Slash commands

/ at the very start of a message lists the commands the session accepts, under the heading Commands: Claude Code’s built-in ones, your own, the project’s, plugins’ and MCP servers’. Only the start counts, because that’s the only place Claude Code runs a command.

Each entry shows the command’s name, what it takes, such as an argument hint, and a description.
Typing narrows the list, ignoring case. Names that start with what you typed come first, then aliases (/reset finds /clear), then names that contain it and, from three letters, descriptions.
Picking one replaces the word with /name and closes the list. Claude Code runs the command when you send the message, as it does in a terminal.
Commands that only work in a terminal, such as doctor, aren’t offered.
The list updates when Claude Code finds new commands mid-session, such as skills in a subfolder. A new tab says Claude Code hasn’t listed its commands yet. until Claude Code has. A word that matches nothing says No matching commands.

What the commands do is Claude Code’s: see Claude Code’s commands and skills. A message that starts with / and has quick suffixes on it handles them differently from a plain message, which that page explains.

Files and folders

@ at the start of a word lists the tab’s working folder, under Files and folders.

In a git repository the list follows .gitignore. Elsewhere Claudette walks the folder, skipping .git, node_modules, bin, obj and similar, and stops at 20,000 entries.
Typing narrows it, ignoring case. The best matches are a name that starts with what you typed, then a path that does (src/de finds src/deep/), then a path segment, then a name or path that contains it, then its letters in order, preferring the starts of words (tvm finds TabViewModel.cs). With nothing typed, the top of the folder is listed, folders first.
Picking a file inserts @path/to/file , relative to the working folder. Picking a folder inserts @folder/ and lists what’s inside. A path with spaces is quoted: @"docs/my notes.md".
A word that matches nothing says No matching files, and an empty folder No files in this folder.

When you send the message, Claude Code reads each mentioned file and gives Claude its content, with no permission prompt. A folder becomes a listing, and an image file becomes an image. Absolute paths outside the folder work too. A path that doesn’t exist stays as text. See Claude Code’s common workflows.

Typing a path

Type a folder after @, up to a slash, and the list shows what’s in it: folders first, then files, narrowed to the names that start with what you type after the slash.

Anywhere on this computer. A path that starts with a drive or a share on Windows (@C:\Work\, @D:/, @\\server\share\), with / on macOS and Linux, with ~/ for your home folder, or with ../ lists that folder and nothing else, under the folder’s own path, such as D:/Work/Game/. Picking a folder carries on into it. Picking a file inserts its full path, with forward slashes: @C:/Users/sam/notes.md. A folder that isn’t there says No such folder, and an empty one Nothing in this folder.
In the project. A folder in the working folder (@Source/, or @./ for the top) lists its own entries ahead of the usual matches, with what the list otherwise leaves out: the files git ignores (outside git, the folders it skips), dimmed, as the Project Files explorer shows them.
A folder is read once as you reach it, and kept for a few seconds, so typing in it is instant. A slow or network drive says Listing D:/Work/… while it’s read, rather than holding up the message box.

The tab’s extra folders

The files in the tab’s extra folders are in the list too, matched with the working folder’s, each with its folder’s name before its path (shared/lib/). With nothing typed, each extra folder is listed after the top of the working folder, as Extra folder. Picking one of their files or folders inserts its full path, since it isn’t in the working folder.

Sessions, tabs and agents

The same @ list starts with the sessions Claude can message, up to eight, and its heading reads Sessions and files. Each is marked by what it is:

Sub-thread, one of this thread’s sub-threads.
Tab, another tab of Claudette’s.
Session · C:\work\api, another Claude Code session on this machine, such as a terminal’s, with its folder.
Subagent · Explore, one of this tab’s subagents, with its type.

Picking one inserts @name . When you send, Claudette tells Claude how to reach each one, and the card shows Told Claude how to reach Art page under your message. The details are in Reaching other sessions, and threads in What threads are.

Keys

Up and Down move through the list. Enter or Tab picks, and clicking an entry does too.
Esc closes the list without stopping Claude. It stays closed while the caret is in that command or mention.
Enter still sends when the list has nothing to pick, or when what you typed is already the highlighted entry, such as /compact in full.