Commands

Exarchos provides 17 slash commands. As a Claude Code plugin, they are namespaced under /exarchos:.

Workflow start commands

These commands initialize a new structured workflow and set the workflow type.

/exarchos:ideate

Design exploration. Brainstorm approaches, select one, save a design document.

/exarchos:ideate "Add webhook support for order events"

Entry point for feature workflows. Walks through understanding, exploration, and design presentation phases. After the design document is saved, auto-chains to /exarchos:plan. No user confirmation required between ideate and plan.

/exarchos:debug

Bug investigation. Triage, investigate root cause, fix, validate.

/exarchos:debug "Cart total wrong after removing items"
/exarchos:debug --hotfix "Production login returning 500 errors"
/exarchos:debug --escalate "Requires auth system redesign"

Flag	Effect
(none)	Thorough track -- full root cause analysis, no time limit
--hotfix	Fast path -- 15-minute time-boxed investigation
--escalate	Hand off to /exarchos:ideate with preserved context
--switch-thorough	Switch from hotfix to thorough track mid-workflow

/exarchos:refactor

Code improvement. Assess scope, write brief, implement, validate.

/exarchos:refactor "Restructure auth module into separate concerns"
/exarchos:refactor --polish "Extract validation logic into utilities"

Flag	Effect
(none)	Overhaul track -- full delegation workflow with worktree isolation
--polish	Direct implementation, 5 files or fewer, single concern
--explore	Assess scope before selecting a track
--switch-overhaul	Switch from polish to overhaul mid-workflow

/exarchos:oneshot

Lightweight in-session workflow for trivial changes. Plans, implements, and either direct-commits or opens a PR — all within a single TDD loop with no subagent dispatch. Introduced in v2.6.0.

/exarchos:oneshot "Fix typo in README install section"
/exarchos:oneshot --pr "Add missing null-check to formatDate"

Flag	Effect
(none)	Policy on-request (default) — direct-commit unless request_synthesize is called mid-stream
--pr	Policy always — always transition through synthesize to create a PR
--no-pr	Policy never — always direct-commit, ignore synthesize.requested events

The fork after implementing is a pure event-sourced choice state. Call exarchos_orchestrate { action: "request_synthesize" } at any time during plan or implementing to opt into the PR path. Terminal finalize_oneshot resolves the decision. See Oneshot Workflow for the full flow.

Lifecycle commands

These commands move work through the structured workflow pipeline.

/exarchos:plan

Create a TDD implementation plan from a design document. Decomposes features into parallelizable tasks with Red-Green-Refactor phases. After saving the plan, runs plan-review (delta analysis against the design). Auto-loops back to planning if gaps are found. User confirmation is required at the plan-review checkpoint before delegation.

/exarchos:plan docs/designs/2025-01-15-webhooks.md

/exarchos:delegate

Dispatch tasks to agent teammates in isolated git worktrees.

/exarchos:delegate                    # Initial task delegation from plan
/exarchos:delegate --fixes            # Address review failures
/exarchos:delegate --pr-fixes [URL]   # Address PR feedback

Checks task status before dispatching. Skips completed tasks. After all tasks finish, auto-chains to /exarchos:review (normal and --fixes mode) or /exarchos:synthesize (--pr-fixes mode).

/exarchos:review

Two-stage review dispatched to subagents. Stage 1 checks spec compliance. Stage 2 checks code quality. Reviews operate on the branch stack diff to minimize context.

• PASS -- auto-chains to /exarchos:synthesize
• NEEDS_FIXES -- auto-chains to /exarchos:delegate --fixes
• BLOCKED -- auto-chains back to /exarchos:ideate for redesign

/exarchos:synthesize

Create a pull request from the feature branch. Runs pre-synthesis checks (tests, typecheck, stack health). Creates stacked PRs with auto-merge enabled. This is a human checkpoint: user confirms merge, requests feedback fixes, or pauses.

/exarchos:synthesize my-feature

/exarchos:shepherd

Push PRs through CI and reviews to merge readiness. Operates as an iteration loop within the synthesize phase: assess stack, fix issues, resubmit, repeat. Maximum 5 iterations before escalating to the user.

/exarchos:shepherd my-feature

/exarchos:cleanup

Resolve a merged workflow to completed state. Verifies PR merge status, removes worktrees, prunes branches, transitions workflow to completed.

/exarchos:cleanup my-feature

/exarchos:tdd

Plan implementation using strict Red-Green-Refactor protocol. Each step is labeled with its TDD phase and includes test verification. Uses the implementation-planning skill.

/exarchos:tdd "Add rate limiting to API endpoints"

Context management commands

These commands handle session persistence and context optimization.

/exarchos:checkpoint

Save workflow state for session handoff. Captures current phase, task progress, artifacts, and worktree locations. Use when context is getting heavy, before long operations, or at natural workflow boundaries.

/exarchos:checkpoint

/exarchos:rehydrate

Restore workflow state after context compaction or a session break. Discovers active workflows via the MCP pipeline view, fetches state and phase playbook, and renders a compact behavioral context block. Typically produces 2-3k tokens of output.

/exarchos:rehydrate

/exarchos:reload

Re-inject behavioral guidance after context degradation. Lighter than rehydrate. Triggers the PreCompact hook to save state, then /clear restarts the session with the SessionStart hook injecting pre-computed context.

/exarchos:reload

/exarchos:autocompact

Toggle autocompact on/off or set a threshold percentage. Manages the CLAUDE_AUTOCOMPACT_PCT_OVERRIDE setting.

/exarchos:autocompact status    # Show current state
/exarchos:autocompact on        # Enable at 95%
/exarchos:autocompact off       # Disable
/exarchos:autocompact 80        # Set to 80%

Maintenance commands

/exarchos:prune

Bulk-cancel stale non-terminal workflows from the pipeline view. Interactive dry-run → confirm → apply UX. Introduced in v2.6.0.

/exarchos:prune                        # dry-run, default 7-day threshold
/exarchos:prune --threshold 1440       # 1-day threshold (minutes)
/exarchos:prune --force                # bypass safeguards (still audited)

Invokes exarchos_orchestrate { action: "prune_stale_workflows" }. Safeguards skip workflows with open PRs or recent commits unless --force is passed. Each pruned workflow emits a workflow.pruned event carrying stalenessMinutes, triggeredBy, and optional skippedSafeguards for audit. See prune_stale_workflows for the underlying action.

Attribution

/exarchos:tag

Retroactively attribute the current session to a feature, project, or concern. Emits a session.tagged event to a shared tags stream. Useful for ad-hoc work outside structured workflows.

/exarchos:tag "auth-migration"