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Available Commands

The OpenHands CLI provides commands to help with settings and conversations. These commands work by typing / followed by the command. To see a list of all the available commands run /help when running the CLI.

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Settings and Configuration

You can update your model, API key, and other preferences using the /settings command. Just follow the prompts:
  • Basic settings: Choose a provider/model and enter your API key.
  • Advanced settings: Set custom models and toggle memory condensation.

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MCP Server Management

If you’re upgrading from a version before release 1.0.0, you’ll need to redo your MCP server configuration as the format has changed from TOML to JSON.
To configure Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, you need to manually create and configure the ~/.openhands/mcp.json file using this configuration format. Example: Adding Web Search Capability To add web search capability within your OpenHands CLI, we can use Tavily’s remote MCP server for AI-powered search and data extraction. To do so, you would create or edit ~/.openhands/mcp.json with the following, adding your Tavily API key in the appropriate place: 
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tavily-remote": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<your-api-key>"
      ]
    }
  }
}
The /mcp command in the CLI provides a read-only view of MCP server status:
  • View active servers: Shows which MCP servers are currently active in the conversation.
  • View pending changes: If the mcp.json file has been modified, shows which servers will be mounted when the conversation is restarted.

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Skills Configuration

Skills are specialized prompts that provide domain-specific knowledge to OpenHands. They are markdown files (.md) that can be always-active or keyword-triggered, and they inject additional context and rules into the agent’s behavior.
  • AGENT_ENABLE_PROMPT_EXTENSIONS - Enable/disable skills (default: true)
  • AGENT_DISABLED_MICROAGENTS - List of specific skills to disable

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Learn More

For comprehensive documentation on creating and using skills:

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Tips and Troubleshooting

  • Use /help at any time to see the list of available commands.
  • If you encounter permission issues, make sure your workspace directory is trusted and all required environment variables are set correctly.
  • If you want to start over, use /new to begin a fresh conversation without restarting the CLI.
  • If skills aren’t working, see the Keyword Skills Troubleshooting Guide