feat(tui): add /effort command to set model thinking effort

.changeset/effort-command.md

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@moonshot-ai/kimi-code": minor
+---
+
+Add a `/effort` slash command (alias `/thinking`) to adjust the model's thinking effort at runtime. `/effort <level>` sets one of `off`, `low`, `medium`, `high`, `xhigh`, `max` directly; `/effort` with no argument opens a picker highlighting the current level. Invalid levels are rejected with the list of valid values.

apps/kimi-code/src/tui/commands/config.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 import type { PermissionMode, Session } from '@moonshot-ai/kimi-code-sdk';
 
 import { EditorSelectorComponent } from '../components/dialogs/editor-selector';
+import {
+  EffortSelectorComponent,
+  isThinkingEffortLevel,
+  THINKING_EFFORT_LEVELS,
+  type ThinkingEffortLevel,
+} from '../components/dialogs/effort-selector';
 import { ModelSelectorComponent } from '../components/dialogs/model-selector';
 import { PermissionSelectorComponent } from '../components/dialogs/permission-selector';
 import { SettingsSelectorComponent, type SettingsSelection } from '../components/dialogs/settings-selector';
@@ -195,10 +201,64 @@ export function handleModelCommand(host: SlashCommandHost, args: string): void {
   showModelPicker(host, alias);
 }
 
+export async function handleEffortCommand(host: SlashCommandHost, args: string): Promise<void> {
+  if (host.session === undefined) {
+    host.showError(NO_ACTIVE_SESSION_MESSAGE);
+    return;
+  }
+
+  const requested = args.trim().toLowerCase();
+  if (requested.length === 0) {
+    showEffortPicker(host);
+    return;
+  }
+  if (!isThinkingEffortLevel(requested)) {
+    host.showError(
+      `Unknown thinking effort: ${requested}. Valid levels: ${THINKING_EFFORT_LEVELS.join(', ')}.`,
+    );
+    return;
+  }
+  await applyEffortChoice(host, requested);
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Pickers & config apply
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+function showEffortPicker(host: SlashCommandHost): void {
+  host.mountEditorReplacement(
+    new EffortSelectorComponent({
+      currentValue: host.state.appState.thinkingLevel,
+      colors: host.state.theme.colors,
+      onSelect: (level) => {
+        host.restoreEditor();
+        void applyEffortChoice(host, level);
+      },
+      onCancel: () => {
+        host.restoreEditor();
+      },
+    }),
+  );
+}
+
+async function applyEffortChoice(host: SlashCommandHost, level: ThinkingEffortLevel): Promise<void> {
+  if (level === host.state.appState.thinkingLevel) {
+    host.showStatus(`Thinking effort unchanged: ${level}.`);
+    return;
+  }
+
+  try {
+    await host.requireSession().setThinking(level);
+  } catch (error) {
+    host.showError(`Failed to set thinking effort: ${formatErrorMessage(error)}`);
+    return;
+  }
+
+  host.setAppState({ thinkingLevel: level, thinking: level !== 'off' });
+  host.track('thinking_toggle', { enabled: level !== 'off' });
+  host.showStatus(`Thinking effort set to ${level}.`, host.state.theme.colors.success);
+}
+
 function showEditorPicker(host: SlashCommandHost): void {
   const currentValue = host.state.appState.editorCommand ?? '';
   host.mountEditorReplacement(

apps/kimi-code/src/tui/commands/dispatch.ts

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import {
   handleAutoCommand,
   handleCompactCommand,
   handleEditorCommand,
+  handleEffortCommand,
   handleModelCommand,
   handlePlanCommand,
   handleThemeCommand,
@@ -56,6 +57,7 @@ export {
   handleAutoCommand,
   handleCompactCommand,
   handleEditorCommand,
+  handleEffortCommand,
   handleModelCommand,
   handlePlanCommand,
   handleThemeCommand,
@@ -228,6 +230,9 @@ async function handleBuiltInSlashCommand(
     case 'model':
       handleModelCommand(host, args);
       return;
+    case 'effort':
+      await handleEffortCommand(host, args);
+      return;
     case 'permission':
       showPermissionPicker(host);
       return;

apps/kimi-code/src/tui/commands/registry.ts

@@ -42,6 +42,13 @@ export const BUILTIN_SLASH_COMMANDS = [
     description: 'Switch LLM model',
     priority: 100,
   },
+  {
+    name: 'effort',
+    aliases: ['thinking'],
+    description: 'Set model thinking effort (off/low/medium/high/xhigh/max)',
+    priority: 100,
+    availability: 'always',
+  },
   {
     name: 'help',
     aliases: ['h', '?'],

apps/kimi-code/src/tui/components/chrome/footer.ts

@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ export interface ToolbarTip {
 const TOOLBAR_TIPS: readonly ToolbarTip[] = [
   { text: 'shift+tab: plan mode' },
   { text: '/model: switch model' },
+  { text: '/effort: set thinking effort' },
   { text: 'ctrl+s: steer mid-turn', priority: 2 },
   { text: '/compact: compact context', priority: 2 },
   { text: 'ctrl+o: expand tool output' },

apps/kimi-code/src/tui/components/dialogs/effort-selector.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+import { ChoicePickerComponent, type ChoiceOption } from './choice-picker';
+
+import type { ColorPalette } from '#/tui/theme/colors';
+
+/** Thinking effort levels exposed to the user, in ascending order. */
+export const THINKING_EFFORT_LEVELS = [
+  'off',
+  'low',
+  'medium',
+  'high',
+  'xhigh',
+  'max',
+] as const;
+
+export type ThinkingEffortLevel = (typeof THINKING_EFFORT_LEVELS)[number];
+
+export function isThinkingEffortLevel(value: string): value is ThinkingEffortLevel {
+  return (THINKING_EFFORT_LEVELS as readonly string[]).includes(value);
+}
+
+const EFFORT_OPTIONS: readonly ChoiceOption[] = [
+  { value: 'off', label: 'Off', description: 'Disable extended thinking — respond directly.' },
+  { value: 'low', label: 'Low', description: 'Brief reasoning before responding.' },
+  { value: 'medium', label: 'Medium', description: 'Moderate reasoning for everyday tasks.' },
+  { value: 'high', label: 'High', description: 'Thorough reasoning. Recommended default.' },
+  {
+    value: 'xhigh',
+    label: 'Extra high',
+    description: 'Extended reasoning. Provider/model-specific; clamps to high when unsupported.',
+  },
+  {
+    value: 'max',
+    label: 'Max',
+    description: 'Maximum reasoning. Provider/model-specific; clamps to high when unsupported.',
+  },
+];
+
+export interface EffortSelectorOptions {
+  readonly currentValue: string;
+  readonly colors: ColorPalette;
+  readonly onSelect: (level: ThinkingEffortLevel) => void;
+  readonly onCancel: () => void;
+}
+
+export class EffortSelectorComponent extends ChoicePickerComponent {
+  constructor(opts: EffortSelectorOptions) {
+    super({
+      title: 'Set thinking effort',
+      options: [...EFFORT_OPTIONS],
+      currentValue: opts.currentValue,
+      colors: opts.colors,
+      onSelect: (value) => {
+        if (isThinkingEffortLevel(value)) opts.onSelect(value);
+      },
+      onCancel: opts.onCancel,
+    });
+  }
+}

apps/kimi-code/src/tui/kimi-tui.ts

@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ function createInitialAppState(input: KimiTUIStartupInput): AppState {
     permissionMode: startupPermission,
     planMode: input.cliOptions.plan,
     thinking: false,
+    thinkingLevel: 'off',
     contextUsage: 0,
     contextTokens: 0,
     maxContextTokens: 0,
@@ -951,7 +952,7 @@ export class KimiTUI {
       workDir: this.state.appState.workDir,
       model,
       thinking:
-        this.session === undefined ? undefined : this.state.appState.thinking ? 'on' : 'off',
+        this.session === undefined ? undefined : this.state.appState.thinkingLevel || 'off',
       permission: this.state.appState.permissionMode,
       planMode: this.state.appState.planMode ? true : undefined,
     });
@@ -971,6 +972,7 @@ export class KimiTUI {
       sessionId: session.id,
       model: status.model ?? '',
       thinking: status.thinkingLevel !== 'off',
+      thinkingLevel: status.thinkingLevel,
       permissionMode: status.permission,
       planMode: status.planMode,
       contextTokens: status.contextTokens,

apps/kimi-code/src/tui/types.ts

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ export interface AppState {
   permissionMode: PermissionMode;
   planMode: boolean;
   thinking: boolean;
+  thinkingLevel: string;
   contextUsage: number;
   contextTokens: number;
   maxContextTokens: number;

apps/kimi-code/test/tui/commands/registry.test.ts

@@ -38,6 +38,14 @@ describe('built-in slash command registry', () => {
     expect(findBuiltInSlashCommand('unknown')).toBeUndefined();
   });
 
+  it('exposes /effort with a thinking alias, always available', () => {
+    const effort = findBuiltInSlashCommand('effort');
+    expect(effort?.name).toBe('effort');
+    expect(effort?.aliases).toContain('thinking');
+    expect(findBuiltInSlashCommand('thinking')?.name).toBe('effort');
+    expect(resolveSlashCommandAvailability(effort!, '')).toBe('always');
+  });
+
   it('marks plan clear as idle-only while normal plan toggles are always available', () => {
     const plan = findBuiltInSlashCommand('plan');
     expect(plan).toBeDefined();
@@ -80,6 +88,7 @@ describe('built-in slash command registry', () => {
       expect.arrayContaining([
         'compact',
         'editor',
+        'effort',
         'exit',
         'export-debug-zip',
         'fork',

apps/kimi-code/test/tui/create-tui-state.test.ts

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ function fakeInitialAppState(): AppState {
     permissionMode: 'manual',
     planMode: false,
     thinking: false,
+    thinkingLevel: 'off',
     contextUsage: 0,
     contextTokens: 0,
     maxContextTokens: 0,

docs/en/reference/slash-commands.md

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ Some commands are only available in the idle state. Running them while the sessi
 | `/logout` | — | Clear the credentials of the currently selected account (Kimi Code OAuth credentials, or the corresponding open platform provider config). | No |
 | `/connect [--refresh] [--url=<catalog-url>]` | — | Configure a provider and model from a model catalog. The default catalog is bundled with the CLI; pass `--refresh` to fetch the latest catalog from models.dev, or `--url` to read it from a custom URL. See [Providers and models — `/connect` and the model catalog](../configuration/providers.md#connect-and-the-model-catalog). | No |
 | `/model` | — | Switch the LLM model used by the current session. | No |
+| `/effort [<level>]` | `/thinking` | Set the model thinking effort. Pass one of `off`, `low`, `medium`, `high`, `xhigh`, `max`; with no argument, open a picker highlighting the current level. | Yes |
 | `/settings` | `/config` | Open the settings panel inside the TUI. | Yes |
 | `/permission` | — | Choose a permission mode. | Yes |
 | `/editor` | — | Configure the external editor launched by `Ctrl-G`. | Yes |

docs/zh/reference/slash-commands.md

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 | `/logout` | — | 清除当前所选账号的凭据（Kimi Code OAuth 凭据，或对应开放平台的供应商配置）。 | 否 |
 | `/connect [--refresh] [--url=<catalog-url>]` | — | 从模型目录中选择并配置供应商与模型。CLI 已内置默认目录；传入 `--refresh` 可从 models.dev 拉取最新目录，传入 `--url` 可指向自定义目录地址。详见 [平台与模型 — `/connect` 与模型目录](../configuration/providers.md#connect-与模型目录)。 | 否 |
 | `/model` | — | 切换当前会话使用的 LLM 模型。 | 否 |
+| `/effort [<level>]` | `/thinking` | 设置模型的思考强度（thinking effort）。可传入 `off`、`low`、`medium`、`high`、`xhigh`、`max` 之一；不带参数时弹出选择器并高亮当前等级。 | 是 |
 | `/settings` | `/config` | 打开 TUI 内的设置面板。 | 是 |
 | `/permission` | — | 选择权限模式（permission mode）。 | 是 |
 | `/editor` | — | 配置 `Ctrl-G` 调起的外部编辑器。 | 是 |