🚀 pi-starship — Native Starship-style Statusline for Pi

A native Pi footer configured with Starship-style TOML. It parses and renders formats itself—no starship executable or shell prompt required.

Different package: the unscoped npm package pi-starship delegates to the Starship binary. This package is @narumitw/pi-starship and renders Pi-specific modules natively.

✨ Features

• Uses a readable built-in Tokyo Night configuration until the user explicitly saves settings.
• Starship-style root/module formats, conditional groups, $all, styles, and palettes.
• Pi modules for model, thinking, activity, context, tokens, prompt cache, cost, turn, and extension statuses.
• Cached Git branch, commit, operation state, line metrics, detailed status, and linked-worktree identity.
• Opt-in package, language, development-shell, deployment, cloud, and execution-context modules.
• Width-aware $fill alignment for native multiline left/right layouts.
• Footer rendering is pure: no subprocess, network, filesystem, timer, or environment work runs from render().
• Multiline output wraps to the terminal width instead of truncating.
• Goal-oriented /starship menu with configuration health, preview, confirmation, and recovery.

📦 Install

pi install npm:@narumitw/pi-starship

Try it from a checkout:

pi -e ./extensions/pi-starship

Do not enable this together with @narumitw/pi-statusline: both own Pi's footer. pi-starship warns when it detects the conflict.

⚙️ Configuration

The only configuration source is:

<getAgentDir()>/pi-starship.toml

When this file is absent, the extension uses its readable Tokyo Night default without creating the file or parent directory. The first successful settings save creates it atomically. Existing malformed documents are never overwritten.

The extension does not read project overrides, pi-statusline.json, PI_STATUSLINE_PRESET, or ~/.config/starship.toml, and does not migrate statusline settings.

Open the interactive menu in TUI mode:

/starship

Choose Customize footer to edit the TOML. Closing the editor validates the draft and opens a width-aware preview; saving happens only after a separate confirmation. Confirmed changes are atomically saved and applied immediately. Editor cancellation, preview cancellation, invalid drafts, write failures, and runtime application failures preserve the previous file and effective footer.

The standard Advanced menu is one level deep and contains configuration details plus Restore built-in. Standard diagnostics, details, and help are Back-navigable detail screens. Restore still shows the specialized width-aware preview and requires explicit overwrite confirmation.

📝 Example

format = "$brand$provider$model$thinking\n$directory$git_branch$git_status\n$activity$context$tokens$cache$cost$time$turn\n$extension_status"
palette = "tokyo-night"

[palettes.tokyo-night]
header = "#7aa2f7"
header_fg = "#1a1b26"
custom = "208"

[model]
format = "[ $symbol$model ]($style)"
symbol = "◆ "
style = "bold fg:header_fg bg:header"
disabled = false
truncation_length = 36
truncation_symbol = "…"
truncation_direction = "middle"

[activity]
format = "([ $text ]($style))"
style = "fg:custom"

[context]
format = "[$symbol $percentage/$window ]($style)"

[cache]
format = "[$symbol (R$read )(W$write )(CH$rate )]($style)"
disabled = false

[cost]
format = "[ $symbol \\$$cost( $subscription) ]($style)"

[git_branch]
format = "[ $symbol$branch$pr ]($style)"

[package]
version_format = "v$raw"

[nodejs]
detect_files = ["package.json", "!deno.json"]
detect_extensions = ["js", "ts"]

[hostname]
ssh_only = true
trim_at = "."
aliases = { "build.example.test" = "builder" }

[extension_status]
format = "([$statuses ]($style))"
icons = { "github-pr" = "PR", "foo:*" = "🧪", "@narumitw/pi-goal" = "◎", fallback = "•" }

All module tables support format, symbol, style, and disabled. Module-specific options are catalog-owned, type-checked, and listed below; unknown options warn and stay inactive. Version formats replace $raw. Detection arrays replace defaults when non-empty and inspect only one listing of the current directory. A leading ! is supported by language detection arrays and rejects a matching project. [extension_status].icons accepts arbitrary exact Pi status keys, explicit colon namespace wildcards such as foo:*, and installed package IDs; fallback controls unmatched statuses. Icon matching uses exact key, longest :* wildcard, unambiguous package alias, leading status emoji, built-in icon, then fallback/🔌. An empty icon suppresses only the icon. foo:* matches foo:server but not foo, foobar, or foo/server.

Pi does not expose which package owns a status, so package aliases are best-effort conveniences and exact raw keys are the reliable third-party contract. Extension authors may adopt <extension-id> or <extension-id>:<stable-slot> for interoperability, but pi-starship cannot require that convention. Canonical built-ins use sync and retry; compatibility mappings keep pisync and unknown-error-retry settings and older producer versions working.

🧩 Format grammar

• Variables: $name and ${name}. Unknown variables render empty and produce a warning when loaded from TOML.
• Escapes: \\$, \\[, \\], \\(, \\), and \\\\ render functional characters literally.
• Styled groups: [format string](style string).
• Conditional groups: (format string) render only when a nested variable has a non-empty value.
• Nested groups are supported.
• $all expands enabled modules in the default order and omits modules already referenced explicitly.

Module formats can use $style in a style expression. Module output keeps its own style when embedded in an outer styled group.

🎨 Styles and palettes

Style expressions support:

• Named colors and ANSI numbers 0–255.
• Hex RGB (#7aa2f7).
• fg:<color> and bg:<color>; an unprefixed color is foreground.
• bold, dimmed, italic, underline, blink, inverted, hidden, and strikethrough.
• none, fg:none, and bg:none.
• prev_fg and prev_bg to inherit the previous rendered chunk's colors.
• Color names from the active [palettes.<name>] table. The active palette overlays the built-in Tokyo Night colors so the default module styles remain available.

An invalid root format falls back to the built-in root format. An invalid module format or style falls back only for that module. /starship status reports warnings.

🧱 Modules

Module	Format variables	Meaning
brand	$symbol	Pi brand marker
provider	$symbol, $provider	Current model provider
model	$symbol, $model	Current model name
thinking	$symbol, $level	Thinking level
directory	$symbol, $path, $full_path	Current working directory
git_worktree	$symbol, $name, $path	Linked worktree name and top-level path
git_branch	$symbol, $branch, $remote_name, $remote_branch, $pr	Branch, upstream, and actionable PR state
git_commit	$symbol, $hash, $tag	Seven-character HEAD hash and optional exact tag
git_state	$symbol, $state, $progress_current, $progress_total	Rebase, merge, revert, cherry-pick, bisect, or mail-apply state
git_metrics	$symbol, $added, $deleted	Added/deleted line totals from the working tree diff
git_status	$symbol, $all_status, $ahead_behind, $ahead, $behind, $diverged, $up_to_date, $conflicted, $stashed, $deleted, $renamed, $modified, $typechanged, $staged, $untracked, and detailed index/worktree counters	Cached porcelain-v2 counters
activity	$symbol, $state, $tool, $count, $text	Active tools, streaming, completion, or idle
context	$symbol, $percentage, $tokens, $window	Context-window use
tokens	$symbol, $input, $output, $total	Token totals
cache	$symbol, $rate, $read, $write	Prompt-cache reads, writes, and latest hit rate; disabled by default
cost	$symbol, $cost, $subscription	Session cost and optional (sub) marker
time	$symbol, $time	Current local time
turn	$symbol, $count	User turn count
package	$symbol, $version, $source	Direct project manifest version
nodejs	$symbol, $version, $engines_version	Detected Node.js project/runtime
python	$symbol, $version, $virtualenv, $pyenv_prefix	Python runtime and allowlisted environment name
rust	$symbol, $version, $numver, $toolchain	Safe native rustc runtime and allowlisted toolchain name
golang	$symbol, $version, $mod_version	Go runtime ($mod_version is reserved and currently empty)
bun / deno	$symbol, $version	Bun or Deno runtime
mise	$symbol, $health	Bounded mise health result
direnv	$symbol, $rc_path, $allowed, $loaded	Inert direnv status; .envrc is never sourced
conda	$symbol, $environment	Active Conda environment name
pixi	$symbol, $version, $environment, $project_name	Pixi project and environment
nix_shell	$symbol, $state, $name, $level	Allowlisted Nix shell activation metadata
guix_shell	$symbol, $state	Guix shell activation marker
docker_context	$symbol, $context	Non-default local Docker context
kubernetes	$symbol, $context, $namespace, $cluster, $user	Current inert kubeconfig metadata
terraform	$symbol, $workspace, $version	Local Terraform/OpenTofu workspace and optional version
aws	$symbol, $profile, $region	AWS profile/region metadata, never credentials
gcloud	$symbol, $active, $account, $domain, $project, $region	Active gcloud configuration metadata
azure	$symbol, $subscription, $username	Default Azure subscription; username is separately enabled
openstack	$symbol, $cloud, $project	Selected OpenStack cloud/project metadata
os	$symbol, $type, $name, $version, $edition, $codename	Platform/OS metadata; disabled by default
container	$symbol, $name, $type	Known container, WSL, or Dev Container context
hostname	$symbol, $hostname, $ssh_symbol	Hostname, SSH-only by default
username	$symbol, $user	Contextual login identity
fill	$symbol	Flexible width-aware root-layout marker
extension_status	$symbol, $statuses, $count	Pi extension statuses

Usage semantics

• tokens, cache, and cost total every usage-bearing session entry, matching Pi's native footer: assistant messages, nested-LLM tool results, compactions, and branch summaries, including abandoned branches retained in the session.
• Cache $read and $write are cumulative. $rate uses only the latest assistant prompt: cacheRead / (input + cacheRead + cacheWrite) * 100. The module is empty when Pi has reported no cache reads or writes.
• cache is disabled by default, but the built-in root format already contains $cache; users who inherit that format can enable it with only [cache] disabled = false. A custom root format must reference $cache or $all normally.
• Context $percentage uses native one-decimal precision. For a native-style display, use format = "[$symbol $percentage/$window ]($style)" under [context]; the module name remains context, not context_usage.
• Subscription-backed OAuth models and kimi-coding set cost $subscription to (sub). The dollar value is usage cost, not proof of an amount billed under a subscription.
• Pi's public extension API does not expose the current auto-compaction toggle, so pi-starship cannot reliably provide the native (auto) marker.

Model truncation

The model module accepts Starship-style truncation_length and truncation_symbol options plus the Pi-specific truncation_direction option:

[model]
truncation_length = 36
truncation_symbol = "…"
truncation_direction = "middle"

truncation_length counts model grapheme clusters retained before the symbol; 0 disables truncation and is the default. The direction names the removed portion: start retains the suffix, end retains the prefix and is the default, and middle retains both ends. Truncation runs after the built-in Claude/GPT shortening rules and changes display only—the provider model ID is untouched. Terminal control sequences in model IDs and truncation symbols are removed at render time. An empty symbol truncates without a marker. For example, middle can retain both a Hugging Face model family and its variant, while start is useful when a llama.cpp server reports an absolute model path. pi-starship treats model IDs as opaque strings and does not parse paths, repositories, GGUF suffixes, or quantization names.

truncation_direction is a pi-starship adaptation; upstream Starship has no model module or generic truncation-direction setting.

git_worktree is empty in the primary worktree. In a linked worktree it defaults to the top-level directory name; use $path when the full absolute path is needed.

git_commit, git_state, and git_metrics are intentionally not present in the built-in root format. Add their variables to format to opt in; also set [git_metrics].disabled = false, matching Starship's opt-in metrics default. $tag resolves only an exact tag on HEAD and is queried only when the configured git_commit format references it.

If $git_branch.$pr is present in the module format, its selected PR token is removed from extension_status to avoid duplication.

📦 Package and language modules

The native behavior is inspired by Starship pinned at 9f4d07ed45804e280d6884bb8ced7ea3d3033093; it is not complete Starship compatibility.

Area	Adopted	Adapted	Intentionally omitted
package	package.json → Cargo → PEP 621/Poetry precedence, $version	Direct manifests only; Cargo workspace version lookup is capped at eight ancestors	Other package ecosystems, dynamic Python versions, package-manager execution
Node.js	Direct markers/extensions, node --version, package engine text	Bun/Deno markers suppress Node's default detection	Constraint checks and manager/shim evaluation
Python	Direct markers, selected interpreter --version, virtualenv name	Interpreter selection uses only an existing active virtualenv path or python	Python code execution and broad environment discovery
Rust	Direct markers and native rustc --version	.cargo/.rustup shim paths are rejected to avoid toolchain installation	Falling back to rustup or any installing probe
Go	Direct markers and go version	$mod_version stays empty	go list, module downloads, and constraint enforcement
Bun / Deno	Direct markers and bun --version / deno -V	Negative detection avoids overlapping Node defaults	Runtime installation and recursive source detection

All runtime commands use argv execution in ctx.cwd, a 2-second timeout, and 64 KiB accepted output. Commands run only when the reachable module format references the command-backed variable. Missing, killed, oversized, or malformed commands clear that value independently. version_format, detect_files, detect_extensions, and detect_folders are available on language modules; package supports version_format.

🧰 Development environments

Module	Detection / allowed inputs	Optional command	Options
mise	Direct mise.toml, .mise.toml, or .tool-versions	mise doctor only for $health	Detection arrays
direnv	Direct .envrc; the file is never read or sourced	direnv status --json only for status variables	Detection arrays
conda	CONDA_DEFAULT_ENV only	None	ignore_base (default true)
pixi	Direct pixi.toml/pixi.lock, PIXI_ENVIRONMENT_NAME, PIXI_PROJECT_NAME	pixi --version only for $version	Detection arrays, version_format, show_default_environment
nix_shell	IN_NIX_SHELL, NIX_SHELL_NAME, NIX_SHELL_LEVEL	None	None
guix_shell	Presence of GUIX_ENVIRONMENT	None	None

The extension never enumerates the process environment, activates a shell, evaluates Nix, lists installed tools, or publishes arbitrary environment values. Names and paths are control-sanitized and bounded before publication.

🚢 Deployment and cloud context

These modules read inert local metadata only. They do not contact Docker, a Kubernetes cluster, a Terraform/OpenTofu backend, a cloud API, an OAuth flow, a credential helper, or a metadata service. The deployment/cloud safety review retained opt-in root behavior: context labels may be sensitive and there is no usage evidence justifying more default footer density.

• docker_context: DOCKER_CONTEXT, then DOCKER_CONFIG/config.json or ~/.docker/config.json; default is suppressed. only_with_files and detection arrays are supported.
• kubernetes: at most max_config_files (default 8) from KUBECONFIG or ~/.kube/config, with first-wins merge semantics. Only context, namespace, cluster name, and user name are selected. Exact context_aliases, namespace_aliases, cluster_aliases, and user_aliases apply.
• terraform: direct .tf, .tfplan, .tfstate, or .terraform; workspace precedence is TF_WORKSPACE → TF_DATA_DIR/environment → .terraform/environment. terraform version, then tofu version, runs only for $version. Workspace, init, provider, and state commands never run.
• aws: AWS_PROFILE/AWS_DEFAULT_PROFILE, AWS_REGION/AWS_DEFAULT_REGION, then the selected AWS config section. The credentials file is never read. Exact profile/region aliases are supported.
• gcloud: active selector plus allowlisted core.account, core.project, and compute.region INI keys. Exact project/region aliases are supported.
• azure: the default local azureProfile.json subscription name. show_username defaults to false; exact subscription aliases are supported.
• openstack: OS_CLOUD, OS_PROJECT_NAME, or the selected clouds.yaml auth.project_name only; exact cloud/project aliases are supported.

Cloud files often colocate credentials with labels. Parsers allowlist fields while reading and discard source documents; token, key, password, auth URL, tenant, and credential-derived duration fields never enter snapshots, diagnostics, notifications, or rendered output. Presence indicates only selected local metadata—not valid credentials or connectivity.

🖥️ Execution context

hostname is SSH-only by default and supports ssh_only, trim_at, and exact aliases. username appears only for show_always, SSH, root/Administrator, a login-user mismatch, or configured detect_env_vars; it supports exact aliases. Negated username detection names are rejected. os is disabled by default and supports an exact symbols map. container uses only Dev Container/Codespaces markers, WSL metadata, /.dockerenv, /run/.containerenv, and /run/systemd/container; it does not scan process tables or cgroups. Ordinary local hostname/username sessions stay empty. All identity labels are bounded and stripped of C0/C1 controls, ANSI, newlines, and OSC control bytes.

↔️ Fill layout

Add ${fill} between left and right root content (braces disambiguate adjacent text):

format = "$directory$git_branch${fill}$model$context"

[fill]
symbol = " " # native invisible default; use "·" for a visible pattern
style = "dimmed"

Fill resolves independently on each logical line before ANSI serialization and wrapping. Multiple fills divide remaining cells left-to-right; complete positive-width patterns repeat and any remainder uses styled spaces. Empty/zero-width patterns become spaces. Fixed content is never truncated: when it already meets or exceeds the width, fill contributes zero and normal ANSI-aware wrapping applies. Unicode wide/combining symbols, palettes, prev_fg/prev_bg, ANSI, and OSC hyperlinks use Pi TUI visible-width semantics. $all deliberately includes enabled fill, so use $all only when that whole-catalog layout is intended. There is no line_break module; use literal newlines in format.

🔄 Cached refresh lifecycle

Workspace and Git readers start only in TUI sessions and only for reachable enabled modules. Root format reachability, $all, module disabled, and module-format variables determine file and command requirements. Refreshes run at session start, after accepted settings, branch changes, tool/turn completion, and a 30-second fallback. One read runs with at most one latest pending refresh; immutable snapshot equality suppresses redraws, and session/config generations reject stale results. Shutdown, replacement, and footer disposal stop timers, clear pending work, and prevent late publication. Execution identity is retained rather than re-read by the periodic fallback. Render and live preview consume snapshots synchronously and perform zero reads or commands.

Missing, unreadable, malformed, oversized, timed-out, or unavailable sources fail to empty values. Readers cap direct files at 64 KiB, use one bounded current-directory listing, never recurse, and make no network calls. Package's explicitly documented Cargo lookup is the only ancestor walk and is capped at eight parents.

💬 Commands

Command	Purpose
/starship	Open the current-state menu in TUI mode; retain help behavior outside TUI
/starship settings	Open the compatible direct edit → preview → confirm flow (TUI only)
/starship status	Show config source/path and diagnostics
/starship help	Show command and configuration help

The standard main menu keeps frequent goals visible: Customize footer, Check configuration, and Help. It shows whether the footer uses the built-in or custom document and displays the current warning count. Advanced contains uncommon details and the confirmed restore action, with an explicit Back path. The TOML editor and live footer previews remain specialized extension UI.

Status and help remain safe in TUI, RPC, JSON, and print modes. RPC receives notifications but never opens custom terminal UI; print and JSON modes produce no ad hoc output. Footer/timer/Git lifecycle work starts only in TUI mode.

📐 Scope

The formatter, style concepts, and selected contextual modules are Starship-inspired, while Pi owns the lifecycle, snapshots, privacy boundary, and footer layout. This extension does not load starship.toml, claim complete module/config compatibility, invoke the Starship binary, run custom shell modules, or expose unrestricted env_var behavior. JVM/.NET, other long-tail languages, alternative VCS, system-monitor, and additional DevOps modules remain demand-gated; the first-wave review found no issue/discussion evidence for a coherent follow-up batch, so no second wave is added.

Pi-native model, context, cache, cost, Git metrics, and activity remain owned by the existing modules. The lifecycle design rejects provider-specific duplicates and ambiguous turn_duration/last_result modules until separately approved semantics exist.

➕ Adding a module

Create src/modules/<name>.ts with its format variables, defaults, and runtime value resolver, then register it in display order in src/modules/catalog.ts. Configuration names, validation variables, defaults, and $all ordering are derived from that catalog. Add the module to the built-in root format when it should be visible by default, then document and test its user-facing values.

Keep extension_status last in the catalog so earlier modules can consume extension-owned status values without rendering duplicates.

🗂️ Package layout

• src/index.ts — Pi package entrypoint.
• src/pi-starship.ts — extension lifecycle, cached refresh binding, live preview, and footer.
• src/usage.ts — native-aligned session usage and cache aggregation.
• src/commands.ts — goal-oriented menu, preview/confirmation, diagnostics, and compatibility routes.
• src/config.ts — TOML loading, draft validation, defaults, atomic persistence, and rollback.
• src/format/ — native format/style parser and renderer.
• src/modules/ — domain module definitions, ordered registry, reachability, and width-aware renderer.
• src/modules/git/ — bounded Git reader plus branch, status, and worktree modules.
• src/runtime/ — shared refresh controller and bounded package/language/context collectors.

🔎 Keywords

Pi Coding Agent, Starship statusline, Starship TOML, terminal footer, native statusline, prompt cache, cache hit rate, Pi extension

📄 License

MIT. See LICENSE. Starship attribution and its ISC license are included in NOTICES.md.