rpiv-btw

Ask a side question without polluting the main conversation. rpiv-btw adds /btw <question> to Pi Agent - a lightweight side agent picks up a read-only clone of your current conversation and answers in a panel at the bottom of the terminal. The side agent remembers its own /btw thread for follow-ups, while your main chat keeps going - its transcript is never polluted.

Install

pi install npm:@juicesharp/rpiv-btw

Restart your Pi Agent session, then type /btw followed by your question:

/btw why did we switch from sockets to SSE last week?

Usage

What you see

A panel opens at the bottom of the terminal with:

• your question on a banner,
• a … while the model is thinking,
• the answer when it arrives.

Prior /btw questions from the same session appear above the banner, so follow-ups have context.

Keys

Key	Action
↑ / ↓	Scroll the panel (when its content overflows)
x	Clear this session's /btw history (hidden until you have a prior entry)
Esc	Close the panel; cancel the request if it's still running

What the model sees

The side agent is a fresh, tool-less instance of the same primary model, handed a read-only clone of your current conversation. When you press enter, /btw sends it:

1. A snapshot of your main conversation so far - so it knows what you've been working on. The side agent only reads the clone, so nothing it does pollutes your main transcript.
2. Your previous /btw questions and answers in this session - so follow-ups make sense.
3. The question you just typed.

What it does not do

• Your main conversation is never polluted. The side answer lives only in the panel and in memory - it's not written to the agent's transcript or to disk.
• /btw has no tools. The model answers in plain text.
• History is lost when you exit Pi Agent. Your main session is unaffected.

Commands

Command	Description
/btw <question>	Ask a side question without polluting the main conversation

Architecture

rpiv-btw/
├── index.ts        - extension entry; registers command + hooks
├── btw.ts          - state, message threading, model call
├── btw-ui.ts       - bottom panel renderer
└── prompts/
    └── btw-system.txt - system prompt for the side call

Pi Agent discovers the extension via "pi": { "extensions": ["./index.ts"] } in package.json.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
/btw requires interactive mode	Running in pi --print … or RPC mode	/btw needs a terminal - run Pi interactively
/btw requires an active model	No primary model configured	Set one with /login or edit ~/.pi/agent/models.json
Panel opens but answer never arrives	Model call failed or network dropped	Press Esc to cancel; check your provider credentials
History missing after restart	Expected - no disk persistence	/btw history is per-Pi-process by design

License

MIT