Commands & Invocable Workflows

Coding-agentAgentA worker you delegate to: brief it, and it takes steps on its own. A chatbot answers; an agent acts.An LLM that runs tools in a loop toward a goal — it acts, checks the result, decides the next step, and repeats until done.Full definitionClose products expose two things that look alike in the promptPromptThe brief. Closer to writing instructions for a new contractor than to programming.The text you give the model — question, instructions, context. Its quality shapes the quality of the output.Full definitionClose but have different contracts:

• Built-in commands control the session, model, permissions, context, or product UI.
• Custom invocable workflows package repeatable operator intent and often share machinery with skills.

Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Copilot CLI all provide interactive command surfaces. Their command names, argument conventions, availability, and persistence are product-specific. Do not build a cross-vendor process around the assumption that /name means the same thing everywhere.

Design the Workflow First

A durable custom workflow should define:

1. The operator intent and accepted inputs.
2. Preconditions and permission boundaries.
3. A bounded sequence with explicit decision points.
4. Verification that proves the requested outcome.
5. A result artifact or summary that another human or agent can inspect.

Package the workflow as a skill when it needs reference files, scripts, or model-driven discovery. Keep a command as a thin, manually invoked entrypoint when direct operator timing is the value.

Safety Boundary

Invocation does not expand authority. A command named deploy should not silently infer permission to publish, spend money, or mutate external systems. Preserve the product's approval controls and require explicit confirmation at irreversible boundaries.

The deeper lenses retain Claude Code command-file examples. Claude now recommends skills for multi-step commands, while Codex and Copilot have their own command and skill precedence. Translate the workflow contract, then implement the target product's current adapter.