GitHub Copilot CLI Adds Slash Commands for Control

GitHub published two Copilot Blog resources detailing slash commands in Copilot CLI: a June 15, 2026 "For Beginners" post by developer advocate Kayla Cinnamon, and a companion reference, "A cheat sheet to slash commands in GitHub Copilot CLI," by Jacklyn Carroll, first published in January 2026 and updated May 13, 2026. Both describe the same feature: typing / in Copilot CLI surfaces a scrollable list of built-in commands that act as an explicit control surface for the terminal AI agent, as an alternative to natural-language prompting.

Per GitHub's documentation, the command set spans several areas: model selection (/model, which displays each option's capabilities, availability, and a cost multiplier), context management (/context to check token usage, /compact to summarize and free up space, /clear to reset entirely), session continuity (/resume, to reopen a prior local or remote session), change inspection (/diff), directory scoping (/add-dir, /list-dirs, /cwd), and session/usage reporting (/session, /usage). Additional commands cover configuration (/theme, /reset-allowed-tools) and external integrations (/agent, /delegate, /mcp, /share).

This is a governance and ergonomics update rather than a model or architecture change. The practical benefit is predictability: slash commands always trigger the same action, unlike natural-language prompts that can be interpreted differently across runs. /add-dir and /list-dirs in particular let teams scope Copilot's file access explicitly and create an auditable record of what was granted, which matters for organizations running Copilot CLI against regulated or sensitive codebases. /session and /usage give teams a way to monitor Copilot CLI activity for auditing and cost tracking without leaving the terminal.

GitHub frames slash commands as an expanding surface - /delegate, /agent, and /mcp already point toward deeper CI/CD and multi-agent integration. Teams standardizing on Copilot CLI should watch whether GitHub adds finer-grained permission or audit-log commands, and whether the command set stays in sync across the CLI, Copilot Chat, and agent mode, where GitHub says slash commands are also available.