Skip to main content
Press c to open the chat screen.

​
Interface

The chat screen is a full terminal chat application:
  • Message history: scrollable conversation with the companion
  • Tool call rendering: tool invocations and results are displayed inline as collapsible blocks
  • Streaming: responses stream in real-time, token by token
  • Input: bottom-of-screen input with Enter to send

​
Slash Commands

Type / to access slash commands:
CommandDescription
/newStart a new conversation session
/sessionsBrowse and switch between saved sessions
/clearClear current conversation display
/compactManually compact the context window
/autocompactToggle automatic context compaction
/usageShow token usage for current session
/modelSwitch AI model
/themeSwitch TUI theme
/thinkingSet extended thinking depth (off/low/medium/high)
/thinkToggle thinking mode
/helpShow all slash commands

​
Tool Permissions

When the companion invokes a tool that requires approval (bash, file write, file edit), a permission prompt appears: 
┌─ Tool Approval Required ─────────────────────────────┐
│ bash: git log --oneline -10                          │
│                                                      │
│ [Allow Once]  [Allow Session]  [Deny]                │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
  • Allow Once: permits this single invocation
  • Allow Session: permits this tool for the rest of the session
  • Deny: rejects and tells the companion it was denied
At trust level 4 (Sovereign), no approval prompts appear.

​
Context Compaction

When the conversation fills the model’s context window, Grind automatically summarizes older messages into a compact summary. You’ll see a notice when compaction occurs. Manual compaction is available via /compact.

​
Image Attachments

Attach images to messages by pasting them or using the image attach shortcut. The companion can analyze images using vision-capable models (Claude, GPT-4o, Gemini).

​
Sessions

Conversations are persisted to the vault (conversations and messages tables). Use /sessions to browse past conversations and /new to start fresh while keeping history accessible.