fix(commands): harden model alias parsing

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@
 - Auto-reply: add per-channel/topic skill filters + system prompts for Discord/Slack/Telegram. Thanks @kitze for PR #286.
 - Auto-reply: refresh `/status` output with build info, compact context, and queue depth.
 - Commands: add `/stop` to the registry and route native aborts to the active chat session. Thanks @nachoiacovino for PR #295.
+- Commands: allow `/<alias>` shorthand for `/model` using `agent.models.*.alias`, without shadowing built-ins. Thanks @azade-c for PR #393.
 - Commands: unify native + text chat commands behind `commands.*` config (Discord/Slack/Telegram). Thanks @thewilloftheshadow for PR #275.
 - Auto-reply: treat steer during compaction as a follow-up, queued until compaction completes.
 - Auth: lock auth profile refreshes to avoid multi-instance OAuth logouts; keep credentials on refresh failure.

docs/tools/slash-commands.md

@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ Text + native (when enabled):
 - `/verbose on|off` (alias: `/v`)
 - `/reasoning on|off|stream` (alias: `/reason`; `stream` = Telegram draft only)
 - `/elevated on|off` (alias: `/elev`)
-- `/model <name>`
+- `/model <name>` (or `/<alias>` from `agent.models.*.alias`)
 - `/queue <mode>` (plus options like `debounce:2s cap:25 drop:summarize`)
 
 Text-only:

src/auto-reply/model.test.ts

@@ -32,14 +32,18 @@ describe("extractModelDirective", () => {
 
   describe("alias shortcuts", () => {
     it("recognizes /gpt as model directive when alias is configured", () => {
-      const result = extractModelDirective("/gpt", { aliases: ["gpt", "sonnet", "opus"] });
+      const result = extractModelDirective("/gpt", {
+        aliases: ["gpt", "sonnet", "opus"],
+      });
       expect(result.hasDirective).toBe(true);
       expect(result.rawModel).toBe("gpt");
       expect(result.cleaned).toBe("");
     });
 
     it("recognizes /sonnet as model directive", () => {
-      const result = extractModelDirective("/sonnet", { aliases: ["gpt", "sonnet", "opus"] });
+      const result = extractModelDirective("/sonnet", {
+        aliases: ["gpt", "sonnet", "opus"],
+      });
       expect(result.hasDirective).toBe(true);
       expect(result.rawModel).toBe("sonnet");
     });
@@ -60,18 +64,24 @@ describe("extractModelDirective", () => {
     });
 
     it("does not match alias without leading slash", () => {
-      const result = extractModelDirective("gpt is great", { aliases: ["gpt"] });
+      const result = extractModelDirective("gpt is great", {
+        aliases: ["gpt"],
+      });
       expect(result.hasDirective).toBe(false);
     });
 
     it("does not match unknown aliases", () => {
-      const result = extractModelDirective("/unknown", { aliases: ["gpt", "sonnet"] });
+      const result = extractModelDirective("/unknown", {
+        aliases: ["gpt", "sonnet"],
+      });
       expect(result.hasDirective).toBe(false);
       expect(result.cleaned).toBe("/unknown");
     });
 
     it("prefers /model over alias when both present", () => {
-      const result = extractModelDirective("/model haiku", { aliases: ["gpt"] });
+      const result = extractModelDirective("/model haiku", {
+        aliases: ["gpt"],
+      });
       expect(result.hasDirective).toBe(true);
       expect(result.rawModel).toBe("haiku");
     });

src/auto-reply/model.ts

@@ -17,7 +17,9 @@ export function extractModelDirective(
     /(?:^|\s)\/model(?=$|\s|:)\s*:?\s*([A-Za-z0-9_.:@-]+(?:\/[A-Za-z0-9_.:@-]+)?)?/i,
   );
 
-  const aliases = (options?.aliases ?? []).map((alias) => alias.trim()).filter(Boolean);
+  const aliases = (options?.aliases ?? [])
+    .map((alias) => alias.trim())
+    .filter(Boolean);
   const aliasMatch =
     modelMatch || aliases.length === 0
       ? null

src/auto-reply/reply.directive.test.ts

@@ -144,6 +144,36 @@ describe("directive parsing", () => {
     expect(res.cleaned).toBe("please now");
   });
 
+  it("keeps reserved command aliases from matching after trimming", async () => {
+    await withTempHome(async (home) => {
+      vi.mocked(runEmbeddedPiAgent).mockReset();
+
+      const res = await getReplyFromConfig(
+        {
+          Body: "/help",
+          From: "+1222",
+          To: "+1222",
+        },
+        {},
+        {
+          agent: {
+            model: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-5",
+            workspace: path.join(home, "clawd"),
+            models: {
+              "anthropic/claude-opus-4-5": { alias: " help " },
+            },
+          },
+          whatsapp: { allowFrom: ["*"] },
+          session: { store: path.join(home, "sessions.json") },
+        },
+      );
+
+      const text = Array.isArray(res) ? res[0]?.text : res?.text;
+      expect(text).toContain("Help");
+      expect(runEmbeddedPiAgent).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+  });
+
   it("errors on invalid queue options", async () => {
     await withTempHome(async (home) => {
       vi.mocked(runEmbeddedPiAgent).mockReset();

src/auto-reply/reply.ts

@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@ export async function getReplyFromConfig(
     ),
   );
   const configuredAliases = Object.values(cfg.agent?.models ?? {})
-    .map((entry) => entry.alias)
+    .map((entry) => entry.alias?.trim())
     .filter((alias): alias is string => Boolean(alias))
     .filter((alias) => !reservedCommands.has(alias.toLowerCase()));
   let parsedDirectives = parseInlineDirectives(rawBody, {