Commands Reference

Session Commands

Command	Description
/gsd	Step mode — execute one unit at a time, pause between each
/gsd next	Explicit step mode (same as /gsd)
/gsd auto	Autonomous mode — research, plan, execute, commit, repeat
/gsd quick	Execute a quick task with GSD guarantees (atomic commits, state tracking) without full planning overhead
/gsd stop	Stop auto mode gracefully
/gsd steer	Hard-steer plan documents during execution
/gsd discuss	Discuss architecture and decisions (works alongside auto mode)
/gsd status	Progress dashboard
/gsd queue	Queue and reorder future milestones (safe during auto mode)
/gsd capture	Fire-and-forget thought capture (works during auto mode)
/gsd triage	Manually trigger triage of pending captures
/gsd forensics	Post-mortem investigation of auto-mode failures — structured root-cause analysis with log inspection
/gsd cleanup	Clean up GSD state files and stale worktrees
/gsd visualize	Open workflow visualizer (progress, deps, metrics, timeline)
/gsd knowledge	Add persistent project knowledge (rule, pattern, or lesson)
/gsd help	Categorized command reference with descriptions for all GSD subcommands

Configuration & Diagnostics

Command	Description
/gsd prefs	Model selection, timeouts, budget ceiling
/gsd mode	Switch workflow mode (solo/team) with coordinated defaults for milestone IDs, git commit behavior, and documentation
/gsd doctor	Runtime health checks (7 checks) with auto-fix for common state corruption issues
/gsd skill-health	Skill lifecycle dashboard — usage stats, success rates, token trends, staleness warnings
/gsd skill-health <name>	Detailed view for a single skill
/gsd skill-health --declining	Show only skills flagged for declining performance
/gsd skill-health --stale N	Show skills unused for N+ days
/gsd hooks	Show configured post-unit and pre-dispatch hooks
/gsd run-hook	Manually trigger a specific hook
/gsd migrate	Migrate a v1 .planning directory to .gsd format

Parallel Orchestration

Command	Description
/gsd parallel start	Analyze eligibility, confirm, and start workers
/gsd parallel status	Show all workers with state, progress, and cost
/gsd parallel stop [MID]	Stop all workers or a specific milestone's worker
/gsd parallel pause [MID]	Pause all workers or a specific one
/gsd parallel resume [MID]	Resume paused workers
/gsd parallel merge [MID]	Merge completed milestones back to main

See Parallel Orchestration for full documentation.

Git Commands

Command	Description
/worktree (/wt)	Git worktree lifecycle — create, switch, merge, remove

Session Management

Command	Description
/clear	Start a new session (alias for /new)
/exit	Graceful shutdown — saves session state before exiting
/kill	Kill GSD process immediately
/model	Switch the active model
/login	Log in to an LLM provider
/thinking	Toggle thinking level during sessions
/voice	Toggle real-time speech-to-text (macOS, Linux)

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Alt+G	Toggle dashboard overlay
Ctrl+Alt+V	Toggle voice transcription
Ctrl+Alt+B	Show background shell processes
Ctrl+V / Alt+V	Paste image from clipboard (screenshot → vision input)
Escape	Pause auto mode (preserves conversation)

Note: In terminals without Kitty keyboard protocol support (macOS Terminal.app, JetBrains IDEs), slash-command fallbacks are shown instead of Ctrl+Alt shortcuts.

Tip: If Ctrl+V is intercepted by your terminal (e.g. Warp), use Alt+V instead for clipboard image paste.

CLI Flags

Flag	Description
gsd	Start a new interactive session
gsd --continue (-c)	Resume the most recent session for the current directory
gsd --model <id>	Override the default model for this session
gsd --print "msg" (-p)	Single-shot prompt mode (no TUI)
gsd --mode <text|json|rpc|mcp>	Output mode for non-interactive use
gsd --list-models [search]	List available models and exit
gsd sessions	Interactive session picker — list all saved sessions for the current directory and choose one to resume
gsd --debug	Enable structured JSONL diagnostic logging for troubleshooting dispatch and state issues
gsd config	Re-run the setup wizard (LLM provider + tool keys)
gsd update	Update GSD to the latest version
gsd headless new-milestone	Create a new milestone from a context file (headless — no TUI required)

Headless Mode

gsd headless runs /gsd commands without a TUI — designed for CI, cron jobs, and scripted automation. It spawns a child process in RPC mode, auto-responds to interactive prompts, detects completion, and exits with meaningful exit codes.

# Run auto mode (default)
gsd headless

# Run a single unit
gsd headless next

# Machine-readable output
gsd headless --json status

# With timeout for CI
gsd headless --timeout 600000 auto

# Force a specific phase
gsd headless dispatch plan

# Create a new milestone from a context file and start auto mode
gsd headless new-milestone --context brief.md --auto

# Create a milestone from inline text
gsd headless new-milestone --context-text "Build a REST API with auth"

# Pipe context from stdin
echo "Build a CLI tool" | gsd headless new-milestone --context -

Flag	Description
--timeout N	Overall timeout in milliseconds (default: 300000 / 5 min)
--json	Stream all events as JSONL to stdout
--model ID	Override the model for the headless session
--context <file>	Context file for new-milestone (use - for stdin)
--context-text <text>	Inline context text for new-milestone
--auto	Chain into auto-mode after milestone creation

Exit codes: 0 = complete, 1 = error or timeout, 2 = blocked.

Any /gsd subcommand works as a positional argument — gsd headless status, gsd headless doctor, gsd headless dispatch execute, etc.

MCP Server Mode

gsd --mode mcp runs GSD as a Model Context Protocol server over stdin/stdout. This exposes all GSD tools (read, write, edit, bash, etc.) to external AI clients — Claude Desktop, VS Code Copilot, and any MCP-compatible host.

# Start GSD as an MCP server
gsd --mode mcp

The server registers all tools from the agent session and maps MCP tools/list and tools/call requests to GSD tool definitions. It runs until the transport closes.