/ in the composer and a menu lists every command, with the arguments it expects. Keep typing to filter. Tab completes the highlighted command and Enter runs it. A command that takes an argument, such as /connect, is put in the composer and waits for you to type the argument.
Commands come in two kinds. Some expand into a prompt: /triage checkout becomes a full triage request with your argument filled in, and the message you sent still reads /triage checkout so you can see what shaped it. Others do something in the app: /mode yolo changes the posture and sends nothing.
Built-in commands
A few examples as you would type them:
Custom commands
A custom command is a Markdown file. The file name is the command name, and the body is the prompt Kepler receives. Put$ARGUMENTS where your input should go.
Two places to keep them:
A file looks like this:
capacity-brief.md and /capacity-brief checkout appears in the menu. description is what the menu shows, and argument-hint is the placeholder next to it. Both are optional. If there is no description, the first line of the body is used.
Positional arguments work too: $1, $2 and so on pick out the first, second and later words, and quoted arguments count as one word. {{args}} is accepted as an alias for $ARGUMENTS. A command with no placeholder gets your arguments appended to the end.
The quickest way to make one is to ask:
Plugin commands
Commands that come with a plugin carry the plugin’s name in front, such as/ops-kit:capacity-brief. They work like your own.
Automations in the menu
An automation with a chat trigger is listed in the/ menu under Automations. Sending it runs the automation with the rest of the line, instead of sending a prompt to the model, and its answer lands in the session you sent it from.
Skills in the menu
Skills also appear in the/ menu, marked Skill. A skill is not a request, it is an approach: picking one tells Kepler how to handle the message you write yourself. A skill takes no arguments, can sit anywhere in the line, and several can ride one message.
~/.kepler/skills/<name>/SKILL.md for every workspace, or <workspace>/.kepler/skills/<name>/SKILL.md for one. Drop a folder there, or manage them under Settings > Customize. Skill folders made for other agents, such as Claude Code, work as they are. See Extend Kepler for writing one.
Keyboard shortcuts
macOS shortcuts useCmd. On Windows and Linux use Ctrl in its place, except where the table says otherwise.
Window and panels
Tabs and panes
On Windows and Linux, use
Ctrl for Cmd and Alt for Option. See Tabs and split panes.
Composer
Approvals
Terminal panel
Plain
Ctrl+C in the terminal goes to the running program, as it does in any shell.
Where to go next
Extend Kepler
Skills, specialist agents and MCP servers.
Postures
What /mode changes and what each posture asks you about.
The workspace
The panels these shortcuts open.
Workflows
Prompt recipes built on /triage, /rca and /runbook.