/ Commands and Skills

Use Claude Code and Codex slash commands, custom commands, and skills in Nimbalyst, and learn how actions, commands, and skills differ.

Nimbalyst supports Claude Code and Codex out-of-the-box slash commands, custom commands, and skills.

Actions vs Commands vs Skills

Actions are reusable prompt presets defined in a single nimbalyst-local/ai-actions.md file and surfaced as a dropdown in the composer. Pick one and the prompt drops into your draft. Best for "I copy-paste this prompt all the time." Typical examples include reviewing changed files, planning an implementation, drafting release notes, and inspecting the current editor. See AI Actions.

Commands are simple markdown files that provide a prompt template. They live in .claude/commands/ as markdown files. When you type /command-name, the contents of that file are sent as a prompt to the agent.

Skills are richer integrations that can include instructions, workflows, and tool usage patterns. Nimbalyst ships with built-in skills (like /commit), plugins can provide skills, and you can create your own. Skills can define how the agent should behave for specific workflows — for example, a skill that tells the agent how to manage your tracker state when working on blog posts.

Using Slash Commands and Skills

Type / in the AI chat to see all available commands and skills. The typeahead shows all skills — user-created, plugin, and extension skills — so you can quickly find what you need.

Plugin skills are namespaced consistently with commands so the inserted command matches what the agent SDK routes. For example:

• /excalidraw:excalidraw

• /planning:design

• /feedback:bug-report

Skills and commands written for one agent run in the other — workflow discovery is unified across Claude Code and Codex.

Ready-made skills you can drop into a project are listed on the Nimbalyst skills page, and the commands and skills feature page covers how they surface in the composer.

@ Mentions

Type @ in the AI chat to reference files and folders. The picker opens immediately, with suggestions sorted by recency so the files you've most recently opened or edited are at the top. Keep typing to filter, or scroll to find older files. You can mention individual files or entire directories (shown with a folder icon).

Mentioning a file gives the agent direct context about which files you want it to work with, instead of relying on the agent to search for them.

In markdown documents, @ is also the fastest way to embed supported custom-editor files. If the inserted file link sits by itself on its own line, Nimbalyst upgrades it into a live inline embed in WYSIWYG view. This is useful for mockups, Excalidraw files, data models, CSV files, and other custom-editor content you want to keep inside a spec or plan.

@@ Session Mentions

Type @@ in the AI chat to reference another session. The picker shows your sessions in recency order so the conversation you were just in is one keystroke away.

Mentioning a session pulls its context into your current conversation. It's useful when you want the agent to build on prior work, reuse research from an earlier session, or understand decisions made elsewhere — without having to re-explain everything.

Built-in Example

/commit - Creates a git commit:

1. Runs git status and git diff

2. Reviews recent commits for style

3. Drafts a commit message with type prefix (feat:, fix:, etc.)

4. Stages and commits

/session-cleanup - Tidies your Sessions board:

1. Audits your sessions by phase and tags

2. Suggests phase corrections (for example, moving committed work out of planning)

3. Flags old completed sessions as archive candidates

4. Asks for your approval before changing anything

Create Your Own Commands

Custom commands live in .claude/commands/ as markdown files. Go to the .claude directory in your project, then the commands folder. Edit or add your own commands there.

You can also go to Settings (click the Gear on the bottom left), then Project Settings to add commands.

Create Your Own Skills

Skills are a powerful way to teach the agent how to handle recurring workflows. For example, you can create a skill that integrates with the tracker system — telling the agent to update tracker state whenever you're working on certain types of tasks. See project-wide-plan-task-management.md for an example.