clawdbot/docs/tools/thinking.md

summary, read_when

summary	read_when
Directive syntax for /think + /verbose and how they affect model reasoning	Adjusting thinking or verbose directive parsing or defaults

Thinking Levels (/think directives)

What it does

• Inline directive in any inbound body: /t <level>, /think:<level>, or /thinking <level>.
• Levels (aliases): off | minimal | low | medium | high
  • minimal → “think”
  • low → “think hard”
  • medium → “think harder”
  • high → “ultrathink” (max budget)
  • highest, max map to high.

Resolution order

1. Inline directive on the message (applies only to that message).
2. Session override (set by sending a directive-only message).
3. Global default (agents.defaults.thinkingDefault in config).
4. Fallback: low for reasoning-capable models; off otherwise.

Setting a session default

• Send a message that is only the directive (whitespace allowed), e.g. /think:medium or /t high.
• That sticks for the current session (per-sender by default); cleared by /think:off or session idle reset.
• Confirmation reply is sent (Thinking level set to high. / Thinking disabled.). If the level is invalid (e.g. /thinking big), the command is rejected with a hint and the session state is left unchanged.
• Send /think (or /think:) with no argument to see the current thinking level.

Application by agent

• Embedded Pi: the resolved level is passed to the in-process Pi agent runtime.

Verbose directives (/verbose or /v)

• Levels: on|full or off (default).
• Directive-only message toggles session verbose and replies Verbose logging enabled. / Verbose logging disabled.; invalid levels return a hint without changing state.
• /verbose off stores an explicit session override; clear it via the Sessions UI by choosing inherit.
• Inline directive affects only that message; session/global defaults apply otherwise.
• Send /verbose (or /verbose:) with no argument to see the current verbose level.
• When verbose is on, agents that emit structured tool results (Pi, other JSON agents) send each tool result back as its own metadata-only message, prefixed with <emoji> <tool-name>: <arg> when available (path/command); the tool output itself is not forwarded. These tool summaries are sent as soon as each tool finishes (separate bubbles), not as streaming deltas. If you toggle /verbose on|off while a run is in-flight, subsequent tool bubbles honor the new setting.

Reasoning visibility (/reasoning)

• Levels: on|off|stream.
• Directive-only message toggles whether thinking blocks are shown in replies.
• When enabled, reasoning is sent as a separate message prefixed with Reasoning:.
• stream (Telegram only): streams reasoning into the Telegram draft bubble while the reply is generating, then sends the final answer without reasoning.
• Alias: /reason.
• Send /reasoning (or /reasoning:) with no argument to see the current reasoning level.

Related

• Elevated mode docs live in docs/elevated.md.

Heartbeats

• Heartbeat probe body is the configured heartbeat prompt (default: Read HEARTBEAT.md if exists. Consider outstanding tasks. Checkup sometimes on your human during (user local) day time.). Inline directives in a heartbeat message apply as usual (but avoid changing session defaults from heartbeats).

Web chat UI

• The web chat thinking selector mirrors the session's stored level from the inbound session store/config when the page loads.
• Picking another level applies only to the next message (thinkingOnce); after sending, the selector snaps back to the stored session level.
• To change the session default, send a /think:<level> directive (as before); the selector will reflect it after the next reload.