pi-compact-tools

Collapse every tool display to a header and one preview line. Press Ctrl+O to expand all tools, or click a tool in Pi's fullscreen mode to expand just that tool.

▸ $ pnpm test
  Test run started … [ctrl+o]

Only the display changes. Tool execution, saved results, images, details, and model context stay untouched. Expanding restores the tool's original renderer, including syntax highlighting, diffs, and custom extension displays.

Install

From a local checkout:

pi install /absolute/path/to/pi-extensions/packages/compact-tools

After publication:

pi install npm:@nicknisi/pi-compact-tools

Restart Pi or run /reload after installation.

Behavior

Action or state	Display
Before a result arrives	One line using the tool's normal human-readable header
Streaming or completed result	Header plus one readable preview line
Multiline output	An ellipsis after the preview
Success	Both lines use Pi's green toolSuccessBg background
Running	Both lines use Pi's toolPendingBg background
Error	Both lines use Pi's red toolErrorBg background, with an explicit Error: preview
Images	An image count instead of inline images
Ctrl+O	Pi's existing expand/collapse toggle for all tools
Fullscreen left click	Expand one collapsed tool. Click its original header or result to collapse it again

There is one blank separator before each tool. Long lines truncate to the terminal width rather than wrapping. Built-in, extension, MCP, dynamically registered, and restored tool rows all use the same compact display. Headers reuse the tool's existing renderer, such as read src/index.ts or $ pnpm test. Tools without a custom header show their name and a path, command, query, action, or URL when available. The fallback never dumps JSON arguments or file contents.

Tools start collapsed on session start and reload. The key hint follows your app.tools.expand binding in ~/.pi/agent/keybindings.json. No new tools, commands, shortcuts, widgets, or session entry types are registered.

Configuration

None. The default is two content lines. Use Pi's existing expansion controls when you need more detail.

Dependencies and caveats

• Pi supplies @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent and @earendil-works/pi-tui as peer dependencies. @nicknisi/pi-shared supplies terminal-label sanitization.
• Keyboard compaction works with Pi 0.84 and 0.85. Fullscreen click expansion needs Pi 0.85.1 or newer. Regular terminal mode leaves mouse input to terminal scrollback, so use Ctrl+O there.
• Pi has no public global tool-rendering hook. This extension wraps ToolExecutionComponent.render and its mouse handler, reading the component's private display state. A Pi update can break this integration. Missing required methods produce a warning and leave the original display in place.
• The wrapper is installed only in TUI sessions and removed on session shutdown, including reload. Print, JSON, and RPC sessions are unchanged.
• Previews use the tool's existing result renderer when available, falling back to the first nonempty output line. JSON-only output shows an item or field count instead of serialized data. No model call is made. Custom controls and detailed progress displays are available when expanded.
• Expanded displays retain each tool's own limits. This extension cannot recover output already truncated by a tool.
• Other extensions that replace the same component methods can conflict. This extension does not overwrite a later wrapper during cleanup.
• User shell commands entered with ! or !! use a separate Pi component and are unchanged.

Development

pnpm test -- packages/compact-tools/index.test.ts
pnpm typecheck
pnpm lint