pi-streamline

Streamlined tool rendering for Pi: a single live status line while work runs, and one line per tool call in the transcript.

◐ Bash  npm test
✓ Read  src/parser.ts  42 lines · 120ms
✗ Grep  TODO  3 lines

Nothing is hidden permanently — press Pi's expand key (ctrl+o) or click a row for the full output, exactly as Pi renders it today. The tool's own arguments are never truncated: a long multi-line bash command spreads over as many rows as it needs. An expanded row gets Pi's own tool background so it reads as an open block, and clicking a row low in the viewport scrolls it to the top, since the transcript is bottom-anchored. Clicking needs Pi's fullscreen TUI mode (/config → TUI mode → fullscreen); Pi's regular mode never asks the terminal for mouse input. Tool execution, results, and the session file are untouched.

Requirements

Pi 0.87.1 or newer. No runtime dependencies; @earendil-works/pi-* are peer dependencies supplied by Pi.

Install

From npm:

pi install npm:pi-streamline

From GitHub:

pi install git:github.com/fallanic/pi-streamline

For development, install this folder instead — Pi loads the files directly, so edits show up on the next run:

git clone https://github.com/fallanic/pi-streamline.git
cd pi-streamline && npm install    # dev dependencies, for the tests only
pi install . -l -a

Try it for a single run without touching any settings:

pi -ne -e ./extensions/streamline/index.ts

Uninstall

pi remove npm:pi-streamline                              # installed from npm
pi remove git:github.com/fallanic/pi-streamline           # installed from GitHub
pi remove ./ -l -a                                    # installed from this folder

A local install is recorded in .pi/settings.json as the relative path .., and paths resolve from the settings file that declares them — so remove it from the project root, with -l, using the same argument you installed with. -a is needed until the project is trusted.

pi list shows what is installed. Nothing else to undo: the only file the extension writes is ~/.pi/agent/streamline.json, and deleting it restores the defaults.

Settings

/streamline opens a menu that applies immediately and persists to ~/.pi/agent/streamline.json:

Setting	Default	Effect
compactTools	on	One-line tool rows. Turn off to restore Pi's default tool view.
outputPreviewLines	0	Lines of output inside a collapsed row: 0 (hidden), 3, or 8
statusLine	on	Replace Pi's default "Working..." message with explicit tool states (running/done/failed + duration)
subagentHint	on	Append ↳ /subagents-fleet while a pi-subagents subagent runs (only works with pi-subagents)

Subagent rows are rendered by pi-subagents itself, which this extension deliberately leaves alone. To get the opencode two-line live form there, set in your pi-subagents config:

{ "inlineToolDisplay": "rich", "mainWindowRenderer": { "horizontalSpacing": 0, "compactResultMaxLines": 4 } }

How it works

Pi's ToolExecutionComponent paints every tool call inside a padded Box filled with toolPendingBg / toolSuccessBg / toolErrorBg, then dumps the result body underneath. This extension replaces three methods on that class's prototype:

• getRenderShell returns "self", so content renders without the background band
• getCallRenderer / getResultRenderer return a one-line row for the eight built-in tools

That is private API, so every seam is feature-detected. If Pi renames or removes any of them, the extension detects the miss, notifies once, and runs with stock Pi rendering instead of failing. The uninstaller restores the original descriptor, and only while the patch is still the outermost one, so it never clobbers another extension's patch.

Tools not in the built-in list — subagent and every other extension tool — keep Pi's own renderers. No tool execution, result, or model context is ever modified, and nothing is sent anywhere.

Development

npm test        # node --test, no build step

Trying a branch

Pi installs an extension from a path, so a branch is tested by pointing it at a checkout of that branch — nothing to un-install, nothing to reconfigure:

git clone https://github.com/fallanic/pi-streamline.git /tmp/streamline-test
git -C /tmp/streamline-test checkout <branch>
pi install /tmp/streamline-test -l -a

Launch Pi, then pi install a second time on your normal install to switch back. To unload the test copy entirely: pi remove /tmp/streamline-test -l -a.

For a single run without installing anything:

git -C /tmp/streamline-test checkout <branch> && npm --prefix /tmp/streamline-test install
pi -ne -e /tmp/streamline-test/extensions/streamline/index.ts

/reload picks up changes to the status line, settings, and row rendering. Restart Pi after removing or renaming a patch: a reload cannot un-apply a patch that no longer exists in the code. If a row ever looks stale or doubled, restart first.

See PLAN.md for the design and milestone history.