diff --git a/bot/commands.py b/bot/commands.py
index 9441c33..e48e2d9 100644
--- a/bot/commands.py
+++ b/bot/commands.py
@@ -67,6 +67,12 @@ async def handle_command(user_id: str, text: str) -> Optional[str]:
     cmd, args = parsed
     logger.info("Command: %s args=%r user=...%s", cmd, args[:50], user_id[-8:])
 
+    # In ROUTER_MODE, only handle router-specific commands locally.
+    # Session commands (/status, /new, /close, etc.) fall through to node forwarding.
+    from config import ROUTER_MODE
+    if ROUTER_MODE and cmd not in ("/nodes", "/node", "/help", "/h", "/?"):
+        return None
+
     set_current_user(user_id)
 
     if cmd in ("/new", "/n"):
diff --git a/router/routing_agent.py b/router/routing_agent.py
index 8fa7314..6ea8241 100644
--- a/router/routing_agent.py
+++ b/router/routing_agent.py
@@ -77,7 +77,14 @@ async def route(user_id: str, chat_id: str, text: str) -> tuple[Optional[str], s
         return online_nodes[0].node_id, "Only one node available"
 
     if text.strip().startswith("/"):
-        return "meta", "Meta command"
+        cmd = text.strip().split()[0].lower()
+        if cmd in ("/nodes", "/node", "/help", "/h", "/?"):
+            return "meta", "Meta command"
+        # Session commands: forward to active node directly (no LLM call needed)
+        active = registry.get_active_node(user_id)
+        if active:
+            return active.node_id, "Forwarding command to active node"
+        return online_nodes[0].node_id, "Forwarding command to first available node"
 
     active_node = registry.get_active_node(user_id)
     active_node_id = active_node.node_id if active_node else None