Coding assistants 4 min

Slash commands, agents, skills

Drive a pretend coding-CLI session.

Every modern coding CLI has the same three extensibility primitives, with slight name variations. Drive the imitation: press /, type, hit Enter. Watch streaming + approval prompts.

~/my-project — claude

Welcome to Claude Code (pretend edition).

Try: /help · fix the bug · list files

~/my-project ›

Try these

/agents — list specialized assistants
"fix the bug" — the assistant reads files, runs tests, finds the cause
"add a dark mode toggle" — note the Allow/Deny prompt before any write

Slash command

Do this action now.

Claude Code: /plan · Cursor: @ · aider: /add

Agent / mode

Switch to this persona.

Claude Code: agents · Cursor: modes · Codex: agents

Skill / rule

Use this recipe.

Claude Code: skills · Cursor: rules · aider: .aider.conf

Tool approval

Every CLI asks before touching your machine. The pattern is the same; the UI varies:

Claude Code: "Claude wants to do this — Allow / Deny"
Cursor: Agent mode shows a diff before applying
Codex CLI: "approval modes" — Suggest / Auto-Edit / Full-Auto
aider: shows diff + asks "Apply edit? (Y/n)"