diff --git a/examples/main/main.cpp b/examples/main/main.cpp
index 374ed47ad..b812e4c96 100644
--- a/examples/main/main.cpp
+++ b/examples/main/main.cpp
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@
 #pragma warning(disable: 4244 4267) // possible loss of data
 #endif
 
+static const std::string CMD_READFILE = "/readfile";
+static const std::string CMD_SAVE_SESS = "/savesess";
+static const std::string CMD_LOAD_SESS = "/loadsess";
+
 static llama_context           ** g_ctx;
 static llama_model             ** g_model;
 static common_sampler          ** g_smpl;
@@ -851,6 +855,43 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
                     LOG_DBG("buffer: '%s'\n", buffer.c_str());
 
+                    // check for special commands
+                    if (buffer.rfind(CMD_READFILE, 0) == 0) {
+                        const std::string filename = string_strip(buffer.substr(CMD_READFILE.length()));
+                        LOG_DBG("reading file: '%s'\n", filename.c_str());
+                        std::ifstream text_file(filename);
+                        if (!text_file) {
+                            LOG("failed to open file '%s'\n", filename.c_str());
+                            continue;
+                        }
+                        std::stringstream tmp;
+                        tmp << text_file.rdbuf();
+                        buffer = tmp.str();
+                        LOG("%s\n", buffer.c_str());
+                    } else if (buffer.rfind(CMD_SAVE_SESS, 0) == 0) {
+                        const std::string filename = string_strip(buffer.substr(CMD_SAVE_SESS.length()));
+                        LOG("save session file: '%s'\n", filename.c_str());
+                        size_t res = llama_state_save_file(ctx, filename.c_str(), embd_inp.data(), n_past);
+                        if (res == 0) {
+                            LOG("failed to save session file '%s'\n", filename.c_str());
+                        }
+                        continue;
+                    } else if (buffer.rfind(CMD_LOAD_SESS, 0) == 0) {
+                        const std::string filename = string_strip(buffer.substr(CMD_LOAD_SESS.length()));
+                        LOG("load session file: '%s'\n", filename.c_str());
+                        std::vector<llama_token> sess_tokens;
+                        sess_tokens.resize(n_ctx);
+                        size_t n_loaded_tokens;
+                        size_t res = llama_state_load_file(ctx, filename.c_str(), sess_tokens.data(), sess_tokens.size(), &n_loaded_tokens);
+                        if (res == 0) {
+                            LOG("failed to load session file '%s'\n", filename.c_str());
+                        } else {
+                            n_past = n_loaded_tokens;
+                            LOG("loaded %zu tokens from session file '%s'\n", n_loaded_tokens, filename.c_str());
+                        }
+                        continue;
+                    }
+
                     const size_t original_size = embd_inp.size();
 
                     if (params.escape) {