pi-herdr

A pi coding-agent extension that turns pi into an orchestrator over a fleet of visible AI agent panes running in herdr. Spawn another pi, claude, codex, or opencode in its own terminal pane, send it a prompt, wait for it to finish, and harvest its response — all from your pi session. Each spawned agent is an independent CLI process you can watch, attach to, and intervene in while pi coordinates them.

Complementary to pi-subagents: pi-subagents runs children in-process (fast, shared context). pi-herdr runs agents in separate herdr panes (visible, heterogeneous, resumable, directly attachable). They work well together.

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Platform support

Tested on Windows and macOS. The code is platform-aware (separate Windows/POSIX launch presets; herdr spawned directly as a native binary) and is expected to work on Linux too, though that has not been verified. herdr's own availability on each platform follows herdr.dev. If you try Linux, please open an issue with the result.

macOS — launch herdr from your terminal, not brew services. A launchd-managed herdr server inherits macOS's minimal PATH (no node), and spawned pi agents die silently. See Requirements → herdr.

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What is herdr?

herdr is a terminal workspace manager for AI coding agents. It runs multiple terminal panes/tabs/workspaces, each of which can host an agent CLI (pi, claude, codex, …), and it tracks each pane's agent state (idle / working / blocked). herdr exposes a local JSON-over-socket API and a herdr CLI; this extension speaks that CLI so the pi LLM can spawn and drive panes.

pi-herdr does not bundle herdr — herdr is a separate product you install and run yourself (see below).

Requirements

You need all of these before pi-herdr can do anything useful.

1. pi (the host agent)

npm install -g @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent
pi --version          # verify

pi needs at least one model + API key configured (run pi and use /login, or see pi --help). Spawned agents inherit this config, so they can respond too.

2. herdr (the workspace manager)

Install herdr from https://herdr.dev (follow the instructions there for your platform). Then verify it's on your PATH and start a session:

herdr --version       # verify, e.g. "herdr 0.7.2-preview"
herdr status          # shows server + socket; "server: not running" until you launch it
herdr                 # launch the herdr workspace (starts its local server)

The herdr server must be running for pi-herdr's tools to work — they talk to that server. If herdr is missing or not running, every tool returns a clean HERDR_UNAVAILABLE error instead of hanging.

⚠️ macOS — do not manage herdr with brew services. brew services runs the herdr server under launchd, which gives it macOS's minimal PATH (/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin) with no node. Spawned pi is a #!/usr/bin/env node script, so it can't find node and the pane dies silently (~2s, no output). (claude/codex survive because they're standalone binaries.)

Launch herdr from your terminal instead, so the server inherits your shell PATH:

brew services stop --all 2>/dev/null; brew services stop herdr   # if you enabled it
herdr                            # from your project dir; starts a server w/ your full PATH
herdr status                     # confirm "server: running"

herdr attaches to a persistent session, so you must stop the launchd server first — otherwise herdr just reattaches to the minimal-PATH one.

If you must keep herdr in brew services, spawn agents with an absolute path and inject PATH via the env field of herdr_start_agent / herdr_delegate.

3. This extension

pi install npm:@andrewjacop/pi-herdr

That's it — every pi session (including agents you later spawn) will now load it. Restart pi (or /reload) if a session was already running.

Quick test without installing: pi -e ./src/index.ts (from a clone of this repo).

Install

From npm (recommended)

pi install npm:@andrewjacop/pi-herdr

From source / local dev

git clone https://github.com/AndrewJacop/pi-herdr.git
cd pi-herdr
npm install
pi install ./          # register the local checkout globally

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Quick start

With herdr running (you've launched herdr and herdr status shows the server up), open another terminal and start pi in a project:

cd my-project
pi

Then just ask pi in natural language:

Use herdr_delegate to spawn a fresh pi agent and ask it to summarize README.md in 3 bullets.

You'll see a new pane appear in herdr, the spawned agent work, and pi return its answer. While orchestrating, pi's footer shows the fleet, e.g. herdr: 3 agents (1 working).

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Examples

Example 1 — One-shot delegation (simplest)

Hand a self-contained task to a fresh agent and get the answer back in one call.

Prompt: Use herdr_delegate to spawn a fresh pi and ask it: "what are 3 ways to reverse a list in Python?" Return its answer.

What happens: herdr_delegate spawns a new pi pane, sends the prompt, waits for the agent to finish, reads its reply, and returns it. The spawned pane is left alive for follow-ups (pass closeOnSuccess: true to close it).

Example 2 — Drive a pane step by step (watch a long task)

When you want to watch an agent work and control it directly:

1. Use herdr_start_agent to launch a pi agent named "helper" in this project.
2. Use herdr_send_prompt to send "refactor utils.ts and run the tests" to "helper", with submit=true.
3. Use herdr_wait_agent to wait for "helper" to reach idle (timeoutMs 300000).
4. Use herdr_read_agent to read the last 80 lines from "helper" and summarize what it changed.

What happens: You can switch to the helper pane in herdr at any time to watch or even type into it. pi waits independently via the state machine.

Example 3 — Parallel fan-out (do N things at once)

herdr_delegate calls run concurrently, so you can fan work out:

Prompt: In parallel, use herdr_delegate three times to spawn three pi agents — one to write tests for auth.ts, one for payment.ts, one for user.ts. Wait for all three, then give me a combined summary and any failures.

What happens: Three panes spawn at once, each works its task concurrently, pi collects all three results. (Pair with git worktrees — coming in a later tier — to give each its own checkout.)

Example 4 — Heterogeneous review (a different agent reviews pi's work)

Prompt: Use herdr_start_agent to launch a claude agent, then herdr_send_prompt it "review the diff in git diff main" and wait for its verdict. (agent: "claude")

What happens: A claude pane boots, receives the diff, and returns a review. Because each agent is a real CLI in its own pane, you can mix models/vendors freely.

⚠️ Interrupting a stuck pane: to send Ctrl-C to a runaway agent, use the built-in herdr CLI directly for now: herdr pane send-keys <pane> C-c (a dedicated herdr_send_keys tool is planned for the next tier).

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Tools

All Tier 1 (orchestration) tools are included. Every tool that targets an existing pane accepts target as a pane id (w1:p3), agent name, or label.

Tool	What it does
herdr_start_agent	Launch an agent (pi/claude/codex/omp/custom) in a herdr pane; returns pane id + state.
herdr_send_prompt	Send a prompt to a pane; submits with Enter by default.
herdr_read_agent	Read recent/visible output text from a pane.
herdr_wait_agent	Block until a pane reaches idle/working/blocked/done.
herdr_list_agents	List all running agents with their status.
herdr_get_agent	Get one agent's details.
herdr_stop_agent ⚠️	Destructive. Close an agent's pane (terminates it).
herdr_rename_agent	Rename (or clear the name of) a pane.
herdr_focus_agent	Focus a pane in the herdr UI.
herdr_explain_agent	Natural-language explanation of what a pane is/does.
herdr_delegate	Composite one-shot: spawn → send → wait → harvest response.

herdr_start_agent and herdr_delegate take an AgentSpec:

Field	Default	Notes
agent	"pi"	One of pi, claude, codex, omp (opencode), custom.
argv	—	Explicit launch argv; overrides the preset (required for custom).
cwd	—	Working directory for the spawned agent.
name	agent-<timestamp>	Unique pane name.

How completion is detected (and why it's reliable)

herdr auto-detects a pi pane's state from its TUI. It reliably catches idle → working but sometimes misses working → idle, which can leave a finished pane stuck on working and hang a wait. pi-herdr solves this with self-report:

When pi runs inside a herdr pane, this extension pushes its real state to herdr on lifecycle hooks — agent_start → working, agent_settled → idle. herdr renders that idle-after-working as done on builds that derive it; herdr_delegate / herdr_wait_agent race the idle and done transition waits (plus a polling fallback — see below). A global install (pi install npm:@andrewjacop/pi-herdr) loads the extension into every pi — including spawned ones — so all pi agents report reliably.

Completion is read from herdr's state events — never inferred from the rendered Working… spinner (tool-call output replaces that spinner mid-work, which would otherwise cause false "idle" reports). As of 0.2.0, herdr_delegate / herdr_wait_agent also poll agent get as a fallback, racing it against the wait agent-status event: if the event is flaky or never fires (e.g. herdr 0.7.3's failed to decode pane get error, or a done/idle state herdr no longer derives), the poll still detects the settled state promptly — instead of hanging on the event or timing out the budget. For an agent that can't self-report (e.g. claude/codex), the poll catches the settled state too.

Tip: You can always unstick a pane manually: herdr pane report-agent <pane> --source manual --agent pi --state idle.

Configuration (environment variables)

Variable	Default	Purpose
HERDR_BIN	herdr (resolved via PATH/PATHEXT)	Override the herdr binary path.
HERDR_PRESET_<NAME>	built-in map	Add/override a preset as a JSON argv array, e.g. HERDR_PRESET_GEMINI='["cmd","/c","gemini"]'.
PI_HERDR_NO_SELF_REPORT	unset	Set to 1 to disable self-report in this pi.

Built-in presets: pi, claude, codex, omp (opencode). On Windows they're launched as cmd /c <cli>; elsewhere as the bare command.

Platform notes

• Windows: the agent CLIs (pi, claude, …) are npm .cmd shims and are launched through a cmd /c wrapper automatically. herdr is a native executable and is spawned directly (no shell), so argv is passed literally.
• macOS: agents are spawned the same way (shell:false, literal argv). The only macOS gotcha is environmental: a herdr server started by brew services / launchd (or a GUI launch) inherits macOS's minimal PATH, so node-based agents like pi can't find node. Launch herdr from your terminal instead (see Requirements). If you can't, pass an absolute agent path and inject PATH via the tool's env.
• A known Git-Bash quirk mangles a literal cmd /c argument into cmd C:/. This only affects typing the command in a POSIX shell; pi-herdr spawns via Node with shell: false, so it is unaffected. (Don't drive herdr from bash in scripts.)

Development

npm install
npm test                 # offline smoke (no herdr required)
npm run typecheck        # tsc --noEmit
npm run test:live        # requires a running herdr session
npm run test:multi       # 3 parallel agents, multi-step, artifact-verified
npm run test:stress      # 5 parallel agents, heavy multi-tool, artifact-verified

The extension is TypeScript loaded via jiti — no build step. Edit src/ and /reload (or restart pi).

Project layout

src/
  index.ts               # entry; registers tools + footer status + self-report
  herdr.ts               # the one spawn module (envelope parse, timeouts, errors)
  launcher.ts            # AgentPreset -> platform argv
  config.ts              # binary + preset resolution (env + PATH)
  env.ts                 # shared types + unwrap/normalize/extractText helpers
  selfreport.ts          # push this pi's state to herdr (reliable completion)
  tools/orchestration.ts # Tier 1 tools + herdr_delegate
tests/
  smoke.mjs              # offline (50 checks)
  live.mjs, pong.mjs, delegate.mjs, selfreport.mjs, multi.mjs, stress.mjs

Contributing

Contributions are welcome — especially macOS/Linux testing! Please open an issue first to discuss substantial changes. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Limitations / roadmap

• v0.2 (this release): Tier 1 orchestration (herdr_delegate + the 10 atomic tools), macOS support, polling-fallback completion detection.
• Tested on Windows and macOS (see Platform support).
• Planned: Tier 3 sync (wait_output, send_keys, run_command, notify), Tier 2 layout (panes/tabs/workspaces), Tier 4 git worktrees, Tier 5 sessions/snapshot.
• Self-report is pi-only; heterogeneous (claude/codex) completion relies on herdr's auto-detect (also caught by the agent get polling fallback).

License

MIT © Andrew