Pi Packages

pi can help you create pi packages. Ask it to bundle your extensions, skills, prompt templates, or themes.

Pi Packages

Pi packages bundle extensions, skills, prompt templates, and themes so you can share them through npm or git. A package can declare resources in package.json under the pi key, or use conventional directories.

Table of Contents

• Install and Manage
• Package Sources
• Creating a Pi Package
• Package Structure
• Dependencies
• Package Filtering
• Enable and Disable Resources
• Scope and Deduplication

Install and Manage

Security: Pi packages run with full system access. Extensions execute arbitrary code, and skills can instruct the model to perform any action including running executables. Review source code before installing third-party packages.

pi install npm:@foo/[email protected]
pi install git:github.com/user/repo@v1
pi install https://github.com/user/repo  # raw URLs work too
pi install /absolute/path/to/package
pi install ./relative/path/to/package

pi remove npm:@foo/bar
pi list                     # show installed packages from settings
pi update                   # update pi only
pi update --all             # update pi, update packages, and reconcile pinned git refs
pi update --extensions      # update packages and reconcile pinned git refs only
pi update --self            # update pi only
pi update --self --force    # reinstall pi even if current
pi update npm:@foo/bar      # update one package
pi update --extension npm:@foo/bar

These commands manage pi packages and pi update can update the pi CLI installation. To uninstall pi itself, see Quickstart.

By default, install and remove write to user settings (~/.pi/agent/settings.json). Use -l to write to project settings (.pi/settings.json) instead. Project settings can be shared with your team, and pi installs any missing packages automatically on startup after the project is trusted.

To try a package without installing it, use --extension or -e. This installs to a temporary directory for the current run only:

pi -e npm:@foo/bar
pi -e git:github.com/user/repo

Package Sources

Pi accepts three source types in settings and pi install.

npm

npm:@scope/[email protected]
npm:pkg

• Versioned specs are pinned and skipped by package updates (pi update --extensions, pi update --all).
• User installs go under ~/.pi/agent/npm/.
• Project installs go under .pi/npm/.
• Set npmCommand in settings.json to pin npm package lookup and install operations to a specific wrapper command such as mise or asdf.

Example:

{
  "npmCommand": ["mise", "exec", "node@20", "--", "npm"]
}

git

git:github.com/user/repo@v1
git:[email protected]:user/repo@v1
https://github.com/user/repo@v1
ssh://[email protected]/user/repo@v1

• Without git: prefix, only protocol URLs are accepted (https://, http://, ssh://, git://).
• With git: prefix, shorthand formats are accepted, including github.com/user/repo and [email protected]:user/repo.
• HTTPS and SSH URLs are both supported.
• SSH URLs use your configured SSH keys automatically (respects ~/.ssh/config).
• For non-interactive runs (for example CI), you can set GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 to disable credential prompts and set GIT_SSH_COMMAND (for example ssh -o BatchMode=yes -o ConnectTimeout=5) to fail fast.
• Refs are pinned tags or commits. pi update --extensions and pi update --all do not move them to newer refs, but they do reconcile an existing clone to the configured ref.
• Use pi install git:host/user/repo@new-ref to update settings and move an existing package to a new pinned ref.
• Cloned to ~/.pi/agent/git/<host>/<path> (global) or .pi/git/<host>/<path> (project).
• When reconciliation changes the checkout, pi resets and cleans the clone, then runs npm install if package.json exists.

SSH examples:

# git@host:path shorthand (requires git: prefix)
pi install git:[email protected]:user/repo

# ssh:// protocol format
pi install ssh://[email protected]/user/repo

# With version ref
pi install git:[email protected]:user/[email protected]

Local Paths

/absolute/path/to/package
./relative/path/to/package

Local paths point to files or directories on disk and are added to settings without copying. Relative paths are resolved against the settings file they appear in. If the path is a file, it loads as a single extension. If it is a directory, pi loads resources using package rules.

Creating a Pi Package

Add a pi manifest to package.json or use conventional directories. Include the pi-package keyword for discoverability.

{
  "name": "my-package",
  "keywords": ["pi-package"],
  "pi": {
    "extensions": ["./extensions"],
    "skills": ["./skills"],
    "prompts": ["./prompts"],
    "themes": ["./themes"]
  }
}

Paths are relative to the package root. Arrays support glob patterns and !exclusions.

Gallery Metadata

The package gallery displays packages tagged with pi-package. Add video or image fields to show a preview:

{
  "name": "my-package",
  "keywords": ["pi-package"],
  "pi": {
    "extensions": ["./extensions"],
    "video": "https://example.com/demo.mp4",
    "image": "https://example.com/screenshot.png"
  }
}

• video: MP4 only. On desktop, autoplays on hover. Clicking opens a fullscreen player.
• image: PNG, JPEG, GIF, or WebP. Displayed as a static preview.

If both are set, video takes precedence.

Package Structure

Convention Directories

If no pi manifest is present, pi auto-discovers resources from these directories:

• extensions/ loads .ts and .js files
• skills/ recursively finds SKILL.md folders and loads top-level .md files as skills
• prompts/ loads .md files
• themes/ loads .json files

Dependencies

Third party runtime dependencies belong in dependencies in package.json. Dependencies that do not register extensions, skills, prompt templates, or themes also belong in dependencies. When pi installs a package from npm or git, it runs npm install, so those dependencies are installed automatically.

Pi bundles core packages for extensions and skills. If you import any of these, list them in peerDependencies with a "*" range and do not bundle them: @earendil-works/pi-ai, @earendil-works/pi-agent-core, @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent, @earendil-works/pi-tui, typebox.

Other pi packages must be bundled in your tarball. Add them to dependencies and bundledDependencies, then reference their resources through node_modules/ paths. Pi loads packages with separate module roots, so separate installs do not collide or share modules.

Example:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "shitty-extensions": "^1.0.1"
  },
  "bundledDependencies": ["shitty-extensions"],
  "pi": {
    "extensions": ["extensions", "node_modules/shitty-extensions/extensions"],
    "skills": ["skills", "node_modules/shitty-extensions/skills"]
  }
}

Package Filtering

Filter what a package loads using the object form in settings:

{
  "packages": [
    "npm:simple-pkg",
    {
      "source": "npm:my-package",
      "extensions": ["extensions/*.ts", "!extensions/legacy.ts"],
      "skills": [],
      "prompts": ["prompts/review.md"],
      "themes": ["+themes/legacy.json"]
    }
  ]
}

+path and -path are exact paths relative to the package root.

• Omit a key to load all of that type.
• Use [] to load none of that type.
• !pattern excludes matches.
• +path force-includes an exact path.
• -path force-excludes an exact path.
• Filters layer on top of the manifest. They narrow down what is already allowed.

Enable and Disable Resources

Use pi config to enable or disable extensions, skills, prompt templates, and themes from installed packages and local directories. Works for both global (~/.pi/agent) and project (.pi/) scopes.

Scope and Deduplication

Packages can appear in both global and project settings. If the same package appears in both, the project entry wins. Identity is determined by:

• npm: package name
• git: repository URL without ref
• local: resolved absolute path