Slash commands
Type "/" in the chat box to steer a single reply — keep the character out of your head, set the length, lock the point of view, or change the pacing — without ever opening settings.
Slash commands are quick, one-turn directives you drop into the chat box to shape the next reply only. They're for the moment a reply gets one thing wrong — too long, the character spoke for you, the scene rushed ahead — and you want to nudge just this one turn without changing any of your saved settings.
Think of them as a steering wheel, not a thermostat. You turn, the car responds, and the wheel springs back to centre. Nothing is remembered; the reply after this one behaves exactly as it did before.
Why we built this: most steering isn't a preference, it's a correction — this reply ran long, this turn spoke for me. Making those persistent means remembering to undo them. So we made the control temporary on purpose. Read the design notes →
How to use them
- In the chat input, type
/. A menu pops up above the box. - Pick a command. Some commands (length, narration, pacing) show value chips — tap the one you want.
- The command turns into a small chip at the top of the input. Type your actual message after it as normal.
- Send. The directive applies to that one reply and then disappears.
The command text never becomes part of your message — the character sees your words, plus a private instruction for that turn. To remove a command, put your cursor at the very start of the input and press Backspace, or delete its chip.
One turn, then gone. Slash commands are not a setting. They affect the very next reply and nothing after it. If you want a change to stick for the whole conversation, use the persistent options in the side panel instead.
The commands
| Command | What it does to the next reply |
|---|---|
| Don't speak for me | The character won't write, quote, or imply dialogue for you. Your words stay yours. |
| Don't act for me | The character won't decide your actions, movements, thoughts, feelings, or consent. It reacts only to what you actually wrote. |
| Only character POV | The reply stays entirely on the character's side and leaves your part of the scene open and unresolved. |
| Response length | Override reply length for this turn — Short, Medium, or Long. |
| Narration style | Force First person ("I") or Third person ("he/she/they") for this turn, overriding your saved Narration Style. |
| Pacing | Control how fast the scene moves — Slow (stay in the moment), Balanced, or Fast (push to the next beat). |
The first three are the "stay out of my lane" commands — they're the fix for an AI that keeps puppeting your character. The last three are dials you'd otherwise have to open settings to change.
Stacking commands
You can apply up to three commands to a single message. A common combination for immersive roleplay:
Then type your message. The reply will be a longer, character-only turn that leaves your dialogue and actions entirely to you.
A few rules keep stacking sane:
- Three is the cap. Once you've added three, the menu stops offering more.
- No duplicates. Adding the same command again just replaces its value —
/Response length: Shortfollowed by/Response length: Longresolves to Long, not both. - Order doesn't matter. The directives are merged for the turn regardless of the order you added them.
Typing instead of tapping
If you'd rather not reach for the menu, type the command in plain language and it's recognized automatically. Both English and Chinese phrasings work, and value commands take a : (or full-width ：):
| You can type | Resolves to |
|---|---|
/don't speak for me · /不要替我说话 | Don't speak for me |
/don't act for me · /不要替我行动 | Don't act for me |
/only character pov · /只写角色 | Only character POV |
/length: short · /回复长度: 简短 | Response length → Short |
/pov: first person · /视角: 第一人称 | Narration style → First person |
/pacing: fast · /节奏: 快 | Pacing → Fast |
Anything after the recognized commands becomes your message. If what you type doesn't match a command, it's treated as ordinary text — a stray / won't break your message.
When to reach for each
- The character keeps speaking or acting for you →
Don't speak for meand/orDon't act for me. This is the single most common reason people pick up slash commands. - A reply ran long when you wanted a beat, or came back too thin →
Response length: Short/Longfor just that turn. - You're co-writing and the POV slipped →
Narration styleto snap one reply back to first or third person. - The story is sprinting past a moment you wanted to sit in →
Pacing: Slow. OrPacing: Fastwhen a scene is dragging. - You want the spotlight on the character, not a summary of your own move →
Only character POV.
How it works under the hood
When you send a message with slash commands, Reverie attaches the directives as a private, single-turn instruction placed right before the model generates — close enough to win over your always-on settings without overwriting them. The character is told to follow the directive and never to mention it, so the steering stays invisible in the reply.
Because the instruction is scoped to one turn, length and narration commands temporarily override your saved preferences and then yield back to them automatically. Your chat settings are never modified.
Tips
- They're free. A slash command doesn't cost extra credits — it's part of the same reply.
- They apply to the message you send. Slash commands attach to a new turn from the chat box; they don't retroactively change a reply through regenerate or message editing. If a reply missed, send your next turn with the command to steer the redo.
- Use them as nudges, not handcuffs. One or two well-chosen commands fix most problems. Stacking all three of the "lane" commands every turn is rarely necessary — a good character profile already does most of the work.
- For permanent changes, use settings. If you always want third-person, long replies, set that once in the side panel and skip the per-turn command.