[BUG] Slash commands (/compact) sent as plain text instead of executing — regression in v2.1.177 (worked in 2.1.173), affects local terminal AND Remote Control

Summary

After updating to 2.1.177 (native installer, macOS), typing /compact no longer executes — it is treated as a plain-text prompt and forwarded to the model instead of being intercepted by the CLI. This worked on 2.1.173 (the version installed the day before), so it is a regression introduced in 2.1.174–2.1.177.

Confirmed in both a plain local terminal session and a Remote Control (mobile) session.

Expected

/compact is intercepted by the CLI and triggers context compaction.

Actual

/compact is delivered to the model as ordinary text; the model "interprets" it as prose and no compaction occurs. The leading-/ slash parser appears not to fire.

Repro

1. Update to 2.1.177 (macOS native install).
2. In an interactive session, type /compact (also tried via Remote Control from the mobile app).
3. Observe: it is sent as a chat message, not executed.

Downgrading the symlink back to 2.1.173 is the suspected fix: ln -sf ~/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.173 ~/.local/bin/claude (untested as a fix yet; reporting first).

Additional signal (Remote Control path)

In the Remote Control session, each remote message is observed arriving wrapped as a leading <system-reminder>Message sent at <ISO-ts></system-reminder> tag before the user's text. If the slash-command parser keys on a leading /, this wrapper would defeat it — but note the symptom also reproduces in a plain local terminal, so the system-reminder wrapper may be only one facet.

Environment

• Claude Code 2.1.177 (regressed) vs 2.1.173 (last working)
• macOS 26.3.1 (Darwin 25.3.0), native installer (~/.local/share/claude/versions/)
• Reproduced via local terminal and Remote Control (mobile)

Related

• #68163 — /context silently sent as chat message on web (same class, filed today)
• #29156 — slash commands sent as prompts in Remote Control sessions