OpenClaw 5.4 Adds /steer and /side Commands: Redirect Agent Mid-Task Without Losing Context

OpenClaw 5.4 introduces two new commands that solve a common pain point: /steer and /side. These let you redirect an agent's current task direction or ask an unrelated question without losing the existing context or starting a new session.

What They Do

• /steer — Redirects the agent's current task direction without starting a new session. If your agent is going down the wrong path on a research task, you can steer it without losing all the context it already gathered.
• /side — Starts a side conversation within the same session. Ask a quick unrelated question without derailing the main task. The agent maintains both threads independently.

Before these commands, options were limited: interrupt the agent (losing context) or wait until it finishes (potentially wasting tokens on the wrong direction). These commands preserve context and save tokens.

Auto-Reply Queue Changes

The auto-reply queue has also been updated. Reset-triggered /new and /reset are now treated as interrupt runs. When you hit /new, the agent stops existing work immediately instead of queuing your fresh start behind whatever it's currently doing. This makes daily usage less frustrating—the gap between 'cool demo' and 'usable daily tool' is made of exactly these kinds of fixes.

Who It's For

Developers using OpenClaw AI coding agents who need mid-task redirection without context loss. This is directly useful for research, debugging, or any multi-step task where the agent's initial direction needs course correction.