diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/composer/slash-refs.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/composer/slash-refs.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2b50d750875
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/composer/slash-refs.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+import { slashCommandMatches } from './slash-refs'
+
+const commands = (text: string, options?: Parameters<typeof slashCommandMatches>[1]) =>
+  slashCommandMatches(text, options).map(match => `${match.kind}:${match.command}`)
+
+describe('slashCommandMatches', () => {
+  it('recognizes a leading command and a skill named mid-prose', () => {
+    expect(commands('/some-skill clean this with /other-skill please')).toEqual([
+      'skill:/some-skill',
+      'skill:/other-skill'
+    ])
+  })
+
+  it('leaves a path alone — /usr/local/bin is not a command', () => {
+    expect(commands('see /usr/local/bin ')).toEqual([])
+  })
+
+  it('holds a trailing token as still-typed unless the text is inert', () => {
+    expect(commands('/some-skill')).toEqual([])
+    expect(commands('/some-skill', { trailingCommitted: true })).toEqual(['skill:/some-skill'])
+  })
+
+  it('leaves an arg-taking command as text — its tail may be prose', () => {
+    expect(commands('/goal ship the redesign')).toEqual([])
+  })
+
+  it('leaves a command with no desktop surface as text', () => {
+    expect(commands('/exit now')).toEqual([])
+  })
+
+  it('offers a built-in only as an invocation, never mid-message', () => {
+    // Mirrors what the popover offers: `/new` acts on the app, so it means
+    // nothing dropped into a sentence, while a skill reads as "handle this
+    // part with X".
+    expect(commands('/new ')).toEqual(['command:/new'])
+    expect(commands('start over with /new ')).toEqual([])
+    expect(commands('start over with /some-skill ')).toEqual(['skill:/some-skill'])
+  })
+
+  it('disqualifies a leading token when the text lands mid-word', () => {
+    expect(commands('/some-skill ', { boundaryBefore: false })).toEqual([])
+  })
+})
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/composer/slash-refs.ts b/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/composer/slash-refs.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..db0cf42adb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/composer/slash-refs.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+/**
+ * Slash-command recognition for text the composer did not watch being typed —
+ * a paste, a restored draft, an undo step, a rebuilt line.
+ *
+ * The typed path chips a command as it's picked or accepted, so the composer
+ * agrees with what the sent message renders (`SLASH_SKILL_RE` in
+ * directive-text). Text that arrives whole never passed through that path, so
+ * it needs the same commands recognized in place — on exactly the terms the
+ * typed path would have used, or hydration invents pills the popover would
+ * never have committed.
+ */
+import type { SlashChipKind } from '@/components/assistant-ui/directive-text'
+import {
+  desktopSlashCommandArgumentMode,
+  isDesktopSlashCommand,
+  resolveDesktopCommand
+} from '@/lib/desktop-slash-commands'
+
+// A command token starts a word and doesn't continue into a path: `/usr/local`
+// is a path, not a `/usr` command. Same shape the sent message uses to decide
+// what renders as a pill, so the composer and the transcript agree.
+const SLASH_COMMAND_RE = /(?<=^|\s)\/([a-zA-Z][\w-]*)(?![\w-]*\/)/g
+
+export interface SlashCommandMatch {
+  /** The command with its leading slash, e.g. `/clean`. */
+  command: string
+  end: number
+  kind: SlashChipKind
+  start: number
+}
+
+export interface SlashCommandScanOptions {
+  /**
+   * Whether the text is preceded by a token boundary. False when it's being
+   * inserted mid-word (a paste landing against existing characters), which
+   * disqualifies a token at index 0 — `foo/clean` is not a command. It also
+   * makes that token mid-message rather than an invocation.
+   */
+  boundaryBefore?: boolean
+  /**
+   * Whether a token ending the text counts as committed. True for inert text
+   * (a paste, dropped content): nothing is being typed, so `/clean` at the end
+   * is the whole command. False while editing live, where a trailing `/wor` is
+   * a half-typed query the popover owns and must leave editable.
+   */
+  trailingCommitted?: boolean
+}
+
+/**
+ * Only commands with NO argument stage chip: their committed pill is exactly
+ * the bare `/name`, so the boundary is unambiguous. Arg-taking commands
+ * (`/goal ship it`) stay text — their tail may be prose. Commands with no
+ * desktop surface at all (`/exit`, `/config`) stay text too.
+ */
+function chippableKind(command: string): SlashChipKind | null {
+  if (!isDesktopSlashCommand(command) || desktopSlashCommandArgumentMode(command) !== null) {
+    return null
+  }
+
+  return resolveDesktopCommand(command) ? 'command' : 'skill'
+}
+
+/** Every `/command` in `text` that should render as a pill, in source order. */
+export function slashCommandMatches(text: string, options: SlashCommandScanOptions = {}): SlashCommandMatch[] {
+  const { boundaryBefore = true, trailingCommitted = false } = options
+
+  if (!text.includes('/')) {
+    return []
+  }
+
+  const matches: SlashCommandMatch[] = []
+
+  for (const match of text.matchAll(SLASH_COMMAND_RE)) {
+    const start = match.index ?? 0
+    const command = match[0]
+    const end = start + command.length
+    const after = text[end]
+
+    // A committed pill always carries its auto-inserted trailing space, which
+    // is what separates it from a token still being typed.
+    if (after === undefined ? !trailingCommitted : !/\s/.test(after)) {
+      continue
+    }
+
+    // Only the FIRST token can be an invocation, and only when the text lands
+    // on a token boundary — `foo` + a pasted `/clean` is `foo/clean`.
+    const invocation = start === 0
+
+    if (invocation && !boundaryBefore) {
+      continue
+    }
+
+    const kind = chippableKind(command)
+
+    // Later tokens are references dropped into prose, where the popover offers
+    // SKILLS alone — a built-in like `/new` acts on the app and means nothing
+    // mid-sentence. Hydration has to agree, or pasted text grows pills typing
+    // never would.
+    if (kind && (invocation || kind === 'skill')) {
+      matches.push({ command, end, kind, start })
+    }
+  }
+
+  return matches
+}