@estebanforge/pi-show-me-the-meat

A reading-diff tool for Pi. Give it a git diff and it returns only the lines that carry the change: the meat, not the churn. Inspired by meat.

How it works

1. The meat tool reads a git diff (any language), strips the diffstat, and removes import / module / include statements mechanically (Go, Python, JS/TS, Rust, C/C++, Java) before the model ever sees it.
2. It spawns an isolated sub-agent (a fresh, in-memory agent session) that reads the numbered diff and calls a submit tool with a remove / replace / fold edit plan.
3. A deterministic compiler projects that plan faithfully. Every line the model does not name is emitted verbatim.

The model only picks what to change. It never authors output text:

• KEEP (implicit) — every line not named is emitted as-is.
• REMOVE — drop a range entirely (shown as a ⋯⋯ N lines elided ⋯⋯ marker).
• FOLD — collapse ≥2 same-polarity lines into one machine-generated marker + indent + "..." row (repetitive suites, test tables, enum arms).
• REPLACE — elide within a single line (error/log/format strings). The compiler validates new is a deletion-only projection of old (each gap marked ... or …), so nothing can be invented.

The guarantee

Every kept line in the output is a real line from the original diff, emitted verbatim and in order. A fold row and an inline elision are compiler-generated placeholders — clearly marked (+ ..., or ... inside a line) — and a replacement can only delete characters, never add or reorder. The model authors no text. Imports are removed mechanically, not by the model.

Why it is built this way

• Clean context. The full diff and the whole abridging conversation live in the sub-agent's ephemeral session, which is disposed when done. The main conversation only receives the small reading diff.
• Any provider. The sub-agent reuses your configured Pi model, so it runs on Claude, GPT, Gemini, GLM, Ollama, anything. No second process, no second API key, no lock-in.
• Faithful output. A minimal compiler (the meat principle distilled to KEEP / REMOVE / FOLD / REPLACE) guarantees the reading diff is a projection of the real diff. No invention, no paraphrase.
• Large diffs. Diffs that exceed a single sub-agent run are split at file, then hunk, boundaries, abridged chunk by chunk, and concatenated. Re-running meat on the same diff hits a content-addressed cache and returns instantly.

What this extension deliberately omits from meat: move detection (and move-symmetry enforcement), sub-hunk synthesis for one giant hunk, and the more exotic import cases (imports embedded inside multiline strings, Python try:/if: import-guard suites, blank-row group framing). These are documented gaps, not silent failures.

Install

pi install npm:@estebanforge/pi-show-me-the-meat

Usage

Ask Pi: "give me the meat of my staged changes", or "abridge this diff", or "just the important parts of commit abc123".

The tool runs git in one of five modes:

Narrow scope with path (a file or directory). The tool runs git from that path, so path can point into a nested repo.

Example

For a diff that shuffles imports, adds a retry branch, and repeats three struct-literal assignments, meat returns:

diff --git a/uploader.go b/uploader.go
--- a/uploader.go
+++ b/uploader.go
@@ -20,6 +24,11 @@ func (u *Uploader) Put(ctx context.Context, r io.Reader) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("put: %w", err)
+		var terr *TransientError
+		if errors.As(err, &terr) {
+			return u.retry(ctx, r)
+		}
@@ -40,3 +49,7 @@ var defaults = Config{
+		Timeout:   5 * time.Second,
+		...
+		Retries:   3,

with summary retry Put on transient errors using exponential backoff and manifest kept 9/24 changed lines. The import shuffle is gone (removed mechanically); the repeated config assignments folded into one + ... row.

Limits

• Single huge hunk. A diff is split at file then hunk boundaries. A single hunk that alone exceeds the per-run budget (~2000 lines / 80 KB) is emitted whole rather than synthesized into sub-hunks. Narrow it with path or a smaller range.
• One model pass per chunk. Each chunk is an independent sub-agent run (there is no cross-chunk merge pass), the same strategy meat uses.
• Merge diffs. A merge commit is rendered as a first-parent diff (git show -m --first-parent), which the compiler handles. True combined diffs (diff --cc / @@@) are still rejected.
• Hostile input. The tool exists to read changes authored by others, and remove is a legitimate operation, so a crafted diff can instruct the abridger to hide its own payload. "Verbatim" means every kept line is faithful; it does not mean the result is complete or tamper-evident. Treat untrusted diffs accordingly.

TUI rendering

The call shows mode, ref, and path. The result shows the kept/total ratio, gap count, fold count, and a cached indicator at a glance.

Credits

The edit-plan model (REMOVE / REPLACE / FOLD), the elision-projection validator, the mandatory import classifier, and the chunking strategy are inspired by meat by boldsoftware, licensed under Apache 2.0. This package contains no meat code; the rubric is written in its own words and the compiler is a minimal, independent TypeScript implementation of the core idea.

License

MIT