pi-claude-cli

Run Claude through the published claude -p runtime or the official Claude Agent SDK, with native entrypoints for Pi and Oh My Pi.

Select the pi-claude-cli provider in the host's model picker. CLI is the default driver; set PI_CLAUDE_DRIVER=sdk to select the SDK. Both drivers let the official Claude runtime use its own login. The extension doesn't read the host's Anthropic OAuth credentials or construct subscription-authenticated HTTP requests.

Install the release

pi install npm:@ramarivera/pi-claude-cli@0.4.2
omp plugin install @ramarivera/pi-claude-cli@0.4.2

Authenticate with claude auth login, restart your host, and select a pi-claude-cli/... model. The npm package name is scoped; the provider ID stays pi-claude-cli. See release instructions and supported versions.

Run from this checkout

Install dependencies with npm ci, authenticate the published Claude executable with claude auth login, then load the appropriate entrypoint:

pi -e ./index.ts
omp -e ./entrypoints/omp.ts

To select SDK in Nushell:

with-env { PI_CLAUDE_DRIVER: "sdk" } { pi -e ./index.ts }

The package manifest exposes pi.extensions and omp.extensions for each host's package discovery. The root entrypoint loads Pi; ./omp loads OMP. See supported versions.

Hermes model-provider

hermes/ contains a separate Hermes plugin registered as pi-claude-cli. It runs the compiled Node worker over versioned NDJSON and reuses this repository's core plus the selectable CLI/Agent SDK driver. Hermes still owns its native tools and approvals. The worker stays resident across tool-result calls.

For the published Python distribution, install into the interpreter that runs Hermes, then explicitly download and verify its worker before model calls:

python -m pip install hermes-claude-bridge==0.5.0
hermes-claude-bridge setup
hermes-claude-bridge status
hermes plugins enable pi-claude-cli

The first worker release supports Linux x64 and requires Node >=22.19. See the Python package guide for cache ownership, checksums and offline setup. No worker downloads or builds happen on import or inference. API-key authentication is recommended for third-party products; subscription use is subject to Anthropic's terms and isn't an endorsement or ban guarantee.

Alternatively, build and install the local artifact from Nushell:

$env.HERMES_BUILD_DIR = ($env.HOME | path join "dev" "agentic-scratchpads" "pi-claude-cli" "hermes-provider-build")
npm run typecheck:hermes
npm run build:hermes
let profile_home = ($env.HERMES_HOME? | default ($env.HOME | path join ".hermes"))
^python3 ($env.HERMES_BUILD_DIR | path join "install.py") --artifact $env.HERMES_BUILD_DIR --profile-home $profile_home
with-env { PI_CLAUDE_DRIVER: "sdk" } { hermes --provider pi-claude-cli -m opus }

Select pi-claude-cli in Hermes's model picker. The SDK route above uses its version-paired official runtime. The shared default CLI driver deliberately requires Claude Code 2.1.285; a newer global binary is rejected unless you select an existing supported executable. PI_CLAUDE_AUTH=api-key is an explicit billing choice and uses the existing ANTHROPIC_API_KEY configuration. The plugin doesn't read Hermes/Pi OAuth credentials or provide subscription usage. The installer refuses an existing provider directory and doesn't change active model or login settings. See Hermes installation, behavior and limits.

Tools and sessions

Each host supplies its effective tools and native JSON schemas. Claude calls them through the reserved host MCP namespace; Pi or OMP executes them, and the correlated results return to the parked Claude request. The runtime keeps a resident process/query across host tool rounds rather than killing Claude at an assistant-message boundary. For a completed batch, the host may execute proposed calls before every MCP handler arrives. The core holds those results until each actual handler matches the completed call's ID, name and arguments.

Native Claude tools are disabled by default. Explicitly configured Claude tools or user MCP servers execute under Claude ownership. They aren't renamed into host tools. OMP keeps its own hashline, apply-patch and replacement edit formats, distinct glob/search tools and timeout units.

The shared core reconciles streaming deltas and assistant snapshots, preserves thinking signatures and attributed progress, and reports result/error boundaries. Host history, tool schemas, cwd, branch and settings determine whether a resident session can continue. Divergent or imported history is rebuilt as labelled user-history replay; this isn't native restoration of private Claude session files. Failed turns don't automatically retry through the other driver.

Both drivers support queued steering at host tool boundaries: supplemental input is admitted by Claude before the original tool results are released. OMP additionally accepts corrections while text streams, transferring its claim only after native queue admission and continuing through the same Claude session without resending the correction. Pi retains its native boundary queue. Active input uses next delivery; it doesn't request arbitrary token-generation interruption. See the versioned steering research.

Configuration

Both entrypoints use the same environment settings. Restart/reload the extension after changing them.

Variable	Default	Meaning
PI_CLAUDE_DRIVER	cli	cli or sdk
PI_CLAUDE_AUTH	claude-login	Official login, or explicitly selected api-key billing
PI_CLAUDE_EXECUTABLE	Driver default	Published Claude executable path
PI_CLAUDE_EFFORT	Unset	Model-supported low, medium, high, xhigh or max
PI_CLAUDE_MAX_TURNS	Unset	Positive integer Claude turn bound
PI_CLAUDE_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS	Unset	Positive safe integer output cap per Claude response; combined with the host cap using the smaller value
PI_CLAUDE_MAX_BUDGET_USD	Unset	Positive Claude budget bound
PI_CLAUDE_TOOL_TIMEOUT_MS	180000	Deadline for dispatch after a completed tool proposal and for parked host results
PI_CLAUDE_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT_MS	5000	Driver shutdown deadline
PI_CLAUDE_INTERNAL_TOOLS	[]	JSON array of explicitly enabled Claude tool names
PI_CLAUDE_MCP_CONFIG	Unset	File containing explicitly configured user mcpServers
PI_CLAUDE_FORWARD_SUBAGENT_TEXT	0	Set 1 to forward attributed Claude subagent text

Login mode rejects inherited API-key, auth-token, endpoint and cloud-provider overrides rather than silently changing authentication or billing. CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR can select the official runtime's existing login configuration. API-key mode requires ANTHROPIC_API_KEY; ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL is optional in that mode. No token is copied into host auth storage.

User MCP configuration accepts explicit stdio (command, args, env) or HTTP/SSE (type, url, headers) servers. host is reserved. Host settings and implicit user MCP discovery are disabled by default.

Verification

npm run test:offline
npm run typecheck:pi
npm run typecheck:omp
npm run lint
npm run test:coverage
npm run verify:plan

Offline tests don't make authenticated model calls. npm run test:live reports four skipped combinations unless PI_CLAUDE_LIVE_E2E=1; enabled runs require the actual hosts, official Claude runtime and selected credentials. They consume real account resources. The live harness and its receipts are documented under live harness and receipts.

npm run test:steering runs offline checks and skips its six actual-host cases unless PI_CLAUDE_BOUNDARY_E2E=1. Set PI_CLAUDE_BOUNDARY_CASE=omp+cli (or another host/driver pair) to select one paid queued-steering case. These cases default to Sonnet 5.5. Set PI_CLAUDE_BOUNDARY_INSTALLED=1 with the inference opt-in to test the actual managed installed release.

Architecture

flowchart LR
  Pi[Pi entrypoint and adapter] --> Core[Host-neutral session and event core]
  OMP[OMP entrypoint and adapter] --> Core
  Core --> CLI[Resident claude -p driver]
  Core --> SDK[Official Agent SDK driver]
  CLI --> Claude[Published Claude runtime]
  SDK --> Claude

The core and drivers import neither host. OMP session state, progress presentation and native formats stay in the OMP adapter; the Pi entrypoint doesn't initialize OMP. OMP exposes attributed progress on pi-claude-cli:observation and bounded message/tool correlation diagnostics on pi-claude-cli:diagnostic; the diagnostic bus excludes text, tool arguments, schemas and credentials. Routine runtime metadata goes to OMP's native file logger rather than status rows below its prompt bar; genuine errors retain native reporting.

License

MIT