Pi (Pi Agent Harness) is a leading agent runtime in the 2026 AI agent engineering landscape (67.1k★).
When to use this skill
- Self-extensible interactive coding agent CLI (@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent)
- pi-agent-core: reusable agent runtime with tool calling and state management
- pi-ai: unified multi-provider LLM API (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, ...)
- pi-tui: terminal UI library with differential rendering
- Extensions, themes, and custom tools — the agent can extend itself
- Session trees with branching state
- Sibling project pi-chat for Slack/chat automation
- Ecosystem overlap: None; oh-my-gods agent-workflow covers day-to-day loops on other runtimes; pi-agent covers building on/with the pi harness itself
Installation
npm install -g @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent
Usage
npm install -g @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent
pi # interactive coding agent
# library use:
# import { ... } from '@earendil-works/pi-ai' (unified LLM API)
# import { ... } from '@earendil-works/pi-agent-core' (agent runtime)
Instructions
Step 1: Initialize the environment
Verify you have TypeScript installed and set up properly. Use the correct package manager (pip, npm, pnpm, uv) as specified in the installation section.
Step 2: Establish the agent flow
Architecture pattern: Minimal agent loop over pi-agent-core; deliberately no built-in RAG or permission system; everything beyond the loop is an extension; monorepo of composable npm packages
Step 3: Implement tool integrations and policies
Integrate necessary tools, environment keys, and safety gates according to your architectural needs. Position in the ecosystem: The minimal hackable coding-agent harness — the anti-framework; OpenClaw's agent lineage derives from it; alternatives: Claude Code (product), opencode (product); pi is the one you read and modify
Examples
Example 1: Minimal Agent Run
npm install -g @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent
pi # interactive coding agent
# library use:
# import { ... } from '@earendil-works/pi-ai' (unified LLM API)
# import { ... } from '@earendil-works/pi-agent-core' (agent runtime)
Best practices
- Follow the primary installation commands for Pi (Pi Agent Harness) to ensure dependencies are resolved correctly.
- Configure model providers and API keys securely before starting the runtime.
- Use appropriate sandboxing or permission isolation if executing AI-generated code.