solo

Solo

Solo is a desktop application for managing coding agents and project-scoped coordination state. If the user asks Solo to do something, use the Solo MCP server and its enabled feature tools. Do not defer to, check, or invoke a Solo CLI.

Pi behavior

If running under Pi, detected by PI_CODING_AGENT=true, use the pi-soloterm extension tools for Solo MCP server features:

• solo_status — verify SoloTerm/MCP availability, identity, and feature support.
• solo_task — spawn Solo-managed coding agents/processes and send them prompts.
• solo_scratchpad — list, read, or write Solo scratchpads.
• solo_todo — manage Solo todos when available, with Pi session fallback.

When a user asks to use Solo MCP in Pi, call solo_status first. If it reports ready/available, proceed with the relevant solo_* tool. Do not say Pi lacks MCP support when these tools are available; pi-soloterm is the bridge.

If a required solo_* tool is missing, tell the user to install/enable pi-soloterm. If solo_status reports Solo MCP unavailable, tell the user to run Solo and enable Settings → MCP.

Non-Pi behavior

If not running under Pi, use the current harness's equivalent MCP tools. If exact tool names are unclear, inspect the MCP tool catalog rather than guessing.

What Solo can do

The core MCP tools cover high-level project and process management:

• Select or inspect the effective Solo project, status, and stats.
• Discover local services, ports, processes, and terminal output.
• Start, stop, restart, rename, close, or send input to Solo-managed processes.
• Spawn terminals or coding agents, bind sessions, and check identity.
• Use project-scoped coordination locks and setup/support helpers.

Solo may also expose optional feature tools through the same MCP server:

• Scratchpads: list, read, write, rename, tag, append, clear, delete, archive, transfer, save, and load project scratchpads.
• Todos: create, list, read, update, tag, transfer, block/unblock, complete, lock/unlock, delete, and comment on project todos.
• Timers: create one-shot timers, create idle-triggered timers, cancel, pause, resume, and list timers.
• Key-value storage: read and write project-scoped JSON key-value data.

These feature tools are controlled by Solo settings. Scratchpads, todos, and timers usually inherit MCP server enablement unless explicitly configured; key-value tools may need to be enabled separately.

Usage guidance

• Prefer Solo tools when the task is about Solo-managed agents, scratchpads, todos, timers, project coordination, or Solo process/output state.
• When spawning a new agent, monitor it for questions and permission requests.
• Approve requests only when they are safe and necessary.
• For parallel work, use one solo_task call with tasks: [...] when the Pi bridge is available.