@henryqw/pi-herdr-btw

Ask a focused side question in Herdr, then return its transcript and next instruction to Main.

Why

• Created for: Pi users who need a short detour without changing Main's conversation path.
• Advantage: /btw merge returns the useful text and next prompt without manual copying.
• Inspired by: Claude Code and its /btw side-question mode. This package adds transcript merge back into Main.

Install

pi install npm:@henryqw/pi-task-models
pi install npm:@henryqw/pi-herdr-btw

Requires Herdr 0.7.4+ and a Herdr-managed pane. Run /task-models and configure the fast profile before opening a side thread.

With

Package	Why
@henryqw/pi-memory	Improves. Marks side-thread children, suppressing parent-only memory injection and dream advice.
@henryqw/pi-task-models	Required. Provides shared model profiles for side-thread routes.

Use

Run /btw Why is this test failing? and submit the draft in the side pane. After the answer, run /btw merge Apply the smallest safe fix there.

Main receives the side transcript, regains focus, and continues with the merge prompt.

Use /btw to open a side thread, set its defaults, or recover a pending merge.

/btw                              open an empty side pane
/btw <question...>                open side pane with draft question
/btw ask <question...>            escape reserved first words
/btw config [...]                 show or change launch defaults
/btw merge <prompt...>            merge side thread into Main and continue
/btw help                         show grammar

Launch

• ask, config, merge, and help route only when they are exact first words. Other input is a question.
• A provided question is an editable draft by default.
• /btw snapshots Main's compaction-aware context and inherits its working directory.
• The consumer-owned pi-herdr-btw/btw task defaults to fast.
• Before pane launch, it selects the first authenticated viable effective profile route.

~/.pi/agent/config/pi-task-models/config.json is shared and owned by @henryqw/pi-task-models. A task entry is an explicit user override, and routes resolve before pane launch. BTW warns once per session if this file is missing.

Merge delivery

• In the side pane, /btw merge <prompt> stores the user/assistant transcript and next prompt as pending delivery.
• Herdr then refocuses Main and closes the side pane.
• Pending delivery survives side-pane shutdown. It waits for Main to settle and for current model authentication.
• Main appends the transcript without starting a turn, then submits the prompt.
• Bare /btw merge opens the prompt editor.
• Pending delivery remains available until consumed or 24-hour stale cleanup.

Limits and privacy

• The side pane gets static parent context and shares Main's working directory. Enabled tools can change parent-visible files.
• Large parent contexts can exceed child context limits.
• Launch data stays in a private temporary directory.

Config

Package-owned: ~/.pi/agent/config/pi-herdr-btw/config.json

{
  "autoSubmit": false,
  "tools": "inherit",
  "split": "right"
}

Field	Required	Possible values	Default
autoSubmit	No	true, false — submit the draft question automatically instead of leaving it editable in the side pane	false
tools	No	inherit (parent's active tools), all, read-only (built-in read-only tools), none	inherit
split	No	right, down — side-pane placement	right

• All fields are optional.
• Unknown keys and non-object files are rejected.
• /btw config show prints effective values.
• /btw config reset saves the defaults.
• The config file is optional. Missing config uses defaults.
• Malformed config fails visibly and remains unchanged.