@taterdoge/pi-remember-model

Pi extension that persists the last selected model and each model's thinking level to Pi's global settings.json, so every new session starts where you left off.

Install

pi install npm:@taterdoge/pi-remember-model

Or try without installing:

pi -e npm:@taterdoge/pi-remember-model

How it works

• On model selection, writes defaultProvider and defaultModel to the global settings file (~/.pi/agent/settings.json, or $PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR/settings.json)
• On thinking level selection, writes a per-model entry to modelThinkingLevels, keyed "provider/modelId" — Pi's own setting, so a level one model cannot support never leaks into another model. Pi's startup resolver reads this map, so a new session opens on the level you last used for its model
• On model selection, re-applies that model's level with pi.setThinkingLevel(): Pi keeps its own in-memory copy of modelThinkingLevels and never picks up a mid-session write, so switching back to a model needs that nudge
• Existing settings keys are preserved (read-merge-write); a missing or invalid file is started fresh
• Session-restore events (source: "restore") are ignored, so merely opening an old session never rewrites your default
• defaultThinkingLevel is never written: it is the global fallback for every model

Files

Everything goes into Pi's own global settings — the same keys Pi reads at startup:

{
  "defaultProvider": "anthropic",
  "defaultModel": "claude-opus-4-6",
  "modelThinkingLevels": {
    "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6": "xhigh",
    "openai/gpt-5": "low"
  }
}

modelThinkingLevels is the same map /settings edits and Pi's startup resolver reads, so /settings and this extension stay in sync instead of keeping two copies.

Upgrading from 0.1.2: that release kept levels in ~/.pi/agent/extensions/pi-remember-model/thinking-levels.json, which Pi never read. Merge those entries into modelThinkingLevels by hand (or re-pick the levels once); the file is no longer used.

pi.setThinkingLevel() has existed since Pi 0.76. On any supported Pi the extension remembers the model and re-applies its level when you switch back.

Note: Pi ≥ 0.76 already reads modelThinkingLevels at startup, but only /settings writes it, so switching a level in-session (Enter in the thinking selector, which is session-only, or Ctrl+S, which sets the global default for every model) leaves no per-model record. This extension fills that gap.