pi-output-limits

Global, configurable caps on tool output size for the pi coding agent.

Pi's built-in tools truncate their own output at hardcoded limits (2000 lines / 50KB, whichever comes first). This extension re-truncates every tool's output — built-in and extension-registered — down to your own limits, before the result reaches the model's context. It works via the tool_result event, so there is no monkey-patching and no re-implementation of any tool.

Installing it changes nothing by default: the default limits are pi's own, so behavior is identical until you configure different values (and no system-prompt note is added while in no-op mode).

Features

• One config block caps all tools (read, bash, grep, find, ls, subagent results, web fetches, ...)
• Per-tool overrides (e.g. stricter limits for bash)
• bash keeps the tail of output (where errors usually are), matching pi's native behavior; everything else keeps the head
• When truncation removes content that pi itself did not save, the full output is written to a temp file and the footer points at it — the model can always recover the rest; read results are the exception: they get a Use offset=… pointer back to the source file instead of a redundant temp copy
• For bash, result details are patched so the TUI shows the real truncation numbers, exactly like native truncation
• A one-line note is appended to the system prompt so the model knows the real caps — but only when limits are actually lowered (built-in tool descriptions still quote pi's higher limits — patching those would require re-registering every tool for cosmetic gain)
• Limits set above pi's built-ins can't raise built-in tool caps, so those trigger a warning to you at session start instead of costing system-prompt tokens

Install

pi install npm:pi-output-limits

To track a specific branch or commit instead, install from git (frozen at the ref; won't auto-update with pi update):

pi install git:github.com/kmike/pi-output-limits@main

Or load once for a session from a local checkout:

pi -e /path/to/pi-output-limits/src/index.ts

Configuration

Add an outputLimits block to ~/.pi/agent/settings.json (global) or .pi/settings.json in a trusted project (project values win):

{
  "outputLimits": {
    "maxLines": 500,
    "maxBytes": 16384,
    "tools": {
      "bash": { "maxLines": 300, "maxBytes": 8192 }
    },
    "tailTools": ["bash"]
  }
}

Setting	Default	Meaning
maxLines	2000 (pi's built-in)	Max lines per tool result
maxBytes	51200 (pi's built-in 50KB)	Max bytes per tool result (whichever limit is hit first wins)
tools	{}	Per-tool overrides of maxLines / maxBytes (any tool name; unknown/third-party names are fine)
tailTools	["bash"]	Tools whose results keep the end of the output instead of the beginning; additive on top of the default bash

All values must be positive integers. Editing the settings is a plain JSON edit of the file named above — no extension-specific commands or environment variables are involved.

When changes take effect: the config is read at session start, so start a new pi session (or run /reload) after editing the settings.

How it works

tool executes (built-in truncation at 50KB/2000 may or may not fire)
  └─► tool_result event
        └─► pi-output-limits re-truncates to your limits,
            strips the built-in footer, saves full output to a temp
            file if needed (read: footer points back at the source
            file with the next offset instead), appends a footer
            with real counts + recovery path,
            patches details.truncation for the TUI
              └─► result goes to the model's context

Limits at or above pi's built-ins

• Exactly pi's limits (the default): complete no-op. When a built-in tool truncates, its native footer and TUI warning pass through untouched.
• Higher than pi's limits: built-in tools still discard anything beyond 2000 lines / 50KB before this extension sees the result, so their native truncation stands (footer preserved) — the extension warns you at session start that such values are ineffective for built-in tools. Higher values remain fully effective for third-party/extension-registered tools, which have no built-in caps (and are not warned about).

Development

npm install
npm test          # vitest
npm run typecheck # tsc --noEmit

Tests exercise the extension through a minimal fake of pi's extension API, using the real truncateHead/truncateTail from @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent. CI runs typecheck + tests on Node 22 and 24 (pi requires Node >= 22.19).

Limitations

• Limits can't be raised for built-in tools: read, bash, etc. discard output beyond 2000 lines / 50KB before this extension sees it, so its caps are effectively ceilings (higher values still work for third-party tools, which have no built-in caps).
• Non-text content blocks (images and other media) pass through untouched.

License

MIT