@taterdoge/pi-status

Configurable Pi extension that wraps the Editor with a live status bar using border decorations.

Features

• Status bar drawn as border decorations around the Editor, so the footer line stays free for extension statuses
• Four attachment zones: top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right
• Fourteen modules with live data: activity state, cwd, git, runtime, cost, model, thinking, context, tokens, turn, current tool, tokens per second, prompt-cache hit rate, session elapsed time — elapsed is off until you switch it on
• Browser layout editor for all settings: drag modules between zones, reorder them, edit the separator, pick the context bar preset
• /pi-status opens that editor directly — there is no TUI submenu to learn
• Settings in Pi's extension config directory, with an optional per-project override
• Detect what to show, not just where: git status, project runtime, model, and thinking level are refreshed without a restart

Requirements

• Pi @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent ≥ 0.76, running with a UI
• Node-compatible runtime for the extension and the settings server (ships with Pi)
• A built web/dist for the browser layout editor — included in the published package; only local checkouts need build:web

Install

pi install npm:@taterdoge/pi-status

Or try without installing:

pi -e npm:@taterdoge/pi-status

Commands

Everything else moved to the browser page. The old /pi-status components, /pi-status separator, and /pi-status context-style subcommands are gone: each was a keystroke-and-arrow dialogue for something the page does in one drag or one field, and keeping both meant two places to fix every time a module changed. Layout, ordering, separator, and context bar style are all edited there and applied with Save & apply.

All subcommands appear in the /pi-status completion menu, so typing /pi-status and pressing Tab lists them with descriptions. A bare /pi-status is the fast path and opens the editor.

Browser layout editor

/pi-status settings starts a temporary server on 127.0.0.1 and opens a page where the twelve modules can be dragged between the four border zones.

• The preview is the real renderer. Both border rows are produced by the extension itself through the same fitBorder + renderZoneContent path as the terminal, so what the page shows is exactly what the Editor will draw — including where an over-long right zone gets truncated.
• Fixed 120-column demo width. The page deliberately does not track the browser window: matching it only bought pixel fidelity and cost font measuring on every resize. Narrow-terminal truncation is still visible in the real terminal, and the server renders the same truncation at request time.
• Drag inside a zone to reorder, drag to another zone to move, and drag onto Turned off to hide a module. Dropping onto another module takes its slot. Pressing a card starts the drag immediately, which is also what keeps the press from selecting the label text; arrow keys reorder the focused card.
• The left panel edits the separator (8 display cells — over-wide input blocks Save, and the config validator clamps it anyway) and picks the context bar preset; Reset defaults and the theme toggle sit with it. These are the same settings the removed TUI subcommands used to change.
• Save & apply writes the config, reloads it, and reinstalls the Editor in the running session. No restart, no /reload.
• Empty payloads are rejected. The server refuses a config that is not a plain object before validation, because validation fills in missing modules and {} would silently wipe your layout.

The page is guarded by a one-time token exchanged for an HttpOnly; SameSite=Strict cookie, listens only on loopback, and shuts itself down when you save, cancel, or after 10 idle minutes. Static assets are served with a restrictive CSP.

Layout model

The editor works on four ordered lists, not free coordinates. A terminal border only has four attachment points, so arbitrary positions cannot be rendered; a module is "turned off" when it appears in none of the lists. Order inside a list is render order.

Modules

A tool that runs longer than 30 seconds switches status to stale until it reports back, so a hung tool is visible instead of looking busy forever.

Configuration

Settings are stored in the Pi extension config directory, not merged from Pi settings.json:

• ~/.pi/agent/extensions/pi-status/config.json for global settings
• .pi/pi-status.json for project-local settings

Project settings take precedence whenever .pi/pi-status.json exists. Writes follow the same rule: an existing project file is updated, otherwise the global file is written.

separator may be at most 8 display cells wide (CJK and emoji count as two). A longer separator is clamped when the config is loaded or saved, so a hand-edited file cannot break the border. contextBarStyle supports two presets:

• blocks: ◼◼◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻
• lines: ━━━───────

Default config:

{
  "separator": " · ",
  "contextBarStyle": "blocks",
  "components": [
    { "id": "status", "enabled": true, "zone": "top-left" },
    { "id": "cwd", "enabled": true, "zone": "top-left" },
    { "id": "turn", "enabled": true, "zone": "top-left" },
    { "id": "current_tool", "enabled": true, "zone": "top-left" },
    { "id": "git", "enabled": true, "zone": "top-left" },
    { "id": "runtime", "enabled": true, "zone": "top-left" },
    { "id": "cost", "enabled": true, "zone": "top-right" },
    { "id": "model", "enabled": true, "zone": "bottom-left" },
    { "id": "thinking", "enabled": true, "zone": "bottom-left" },
    { "id": "tps", "enabled": true, "zone": "bottom-left" },
    { "id": "tokens", "enabled": true, "zone": "bottom-right" },
    { "id": "context", "enabled": true, "zone": "bottom-right" },
    { "id": "cache", "enabled": true, "zone": "bottom-right" },
    { "id": "elapsed", "enabled": false, "zone": "top-left" }
  ]
}

Modules missing from a file are appended with their defaults, unknown IDs are dropped, and an unrecognised zone falls back to top-left. An unreadable or invalid file falls back to the defaults rather than failing the session.

Environment

Disable the extension by default:

PI_STATUS_DISABLED=1 pi

Accepted truthy values are 1, true, yes, and on.

Local Development

From the repository root:

bun install
bun run --cwd apps/pi-status build:web   # the browser editor is served from web/dist
pi -e ./apps/pi-status

Or install it from the local path:

pi install ./apps/pi-status

The layout editor 404s on start until web/dist exists — bun run check builds it as part of the repository check. Tests and type checks:

bun test apps/pi-status/test
bun run --cwd apps/pi-status check

Uninstall

pi remove npm:@taterdoge/pi-status

Credits

Status-bar content and layout were adapted from a custom implementation, then moved to Pi's border decoration system for this package.