pi-tool-renderer

Compact renderers for Pi tools. Optional tool_batch composite tool. Optional rich diff UI for edits, writes, and bash patches.

Highlights

• Compact one-line tool rows for read, bash, grep, find, ls; file paths in compact rows use OSC 8 file:// hyperlinks when the terminal supports them.
• Delayed live bash tails avoid fast-command output flashes; long-running commands show/preserve the last few lines flush-left so copied output has no gutter characters.
• tool_batch runs multiple independent read/search/list/diagnostic bash calls and renders one combined result.
• Optional rich Shiki diffs for edit/write with side-by-side previews, hunk counts, and inline word highlights.
• Compact user-message cards with a green border and red π marker.
• Compaction summaries and skill invocations render with the same compact chrome.
• Generic renderers for OpenAI-style tools (web_search, webfetch, Agent, Task*) and MCP tools.
• apply_patch call/result preview when the tool is present.

Defaults leave edit/write on Pi's built-in renderers. Enable Render edits/writes compactly to opt in.

Install

Via npm:

pi install npm:@vanillagreen/pi-tool-renderer

Via vstack:

cargo install --git https://github.com/vanillagreencom/vstack.git vstack
vstack add vanillagreencom/vstack --pi-extension pi-tool-renderer --harness pi -y

Restart Pi after installation.

tool_batch

{
  "calls": [
    { "tool": "read", "path": "README.md" },
    { "tool": "grep", "pattern": "registerCommand", "path": "pi-extensions" }
  ]
}

Accepts read, grep, find, ls, and diagnostic bash. Per-call arguments can be flat or wrapped in args.

Prefer it for independent inspection calls. Don't use it for mutating commands, order-dependent commands, streaming output, or anything you want to inspect separately.

If the combined output would exceed Pi's normal tool-result budget, child outputs are capped to fit (head + tail preserved). Use separate calls or read offset/limit for the full budget per call.

Settings

Open /extensions:settings; settings appear under the Tool Renderer tab.

Project settings in .pi/settings.json apply only after Pi marks the workspace trusted; before trust, vstack Pi extensions read user/global settings only.

Glyph style: each package exposes glyphStyle (unicode default, ascii for terminal-safe chrome). @vanillagreen/pi-tool-renderer.globalGlyphStyleOverride=ascii forces ASCII chrome across vstack Pi extensions while leaving tool/model/user content unchanged.

General

Setting	What it does
Enable compact renderers	Override built-in read/bash/search renderers.
Tree connector style	unicode or ascii.
Stack separate native tool calls	Legacy renderer for consecutive native tool calls. Prefer tool_batch.
Stack child display	rows, headline, or anchor-list when stacking is on.

Batch tool

Setting	What it does
Register tool_batch	Add the composite tool.
Batch max calls	Max calls per tool_batch invocation.
Batch per-call timeout (ms)	Max time any one child call may run before tool_batch reports that child as timed out.

Messages

Setting	What it does
Compact user messages	Green border + red π marker instead of filled background; preserves Pi's prompt-zone markers around the full framed card.
User message trailing blank line	Extra blank line after user messages.
Compact compaction summaries	Compact bullet style instead of Pi's padded box.
Compact skill invocation messages	Compact /skill:name rows.
Align assistant messages	Remove Pi's one-column left padding from assistant text.
Styled markdown code blocks	Render fenced code blocks with syntax highlighting and background, flush-left with no copy gutter/prefix.

Read / Search / Bash output

Setting	What it does
Read output mode	preview, summary, or hidden.
Search output mode	preview, count, or hidden.
Bash output mode	opencode, preview, summary, or hidden.
Live bash output delay (ms)	Wait this long before showing a running bash output tail.
Live bash tail lines	Tail lines shown for long-running bash output and kept after completion.
Expanded read/search/bash preview lines	Per-tool expand-time line caps.
Command preview characters	Max command chars in collapsed bash rows.
Collapsed bash preview lines	Tail lines shown when bashOutputMode=preview.

Bash diffs

Setting	What it does
Render bash diffs	Detect diff output from read-only bash and render rich diff UI. Off by default.
Render git diff command diffs	Show rich diff UI for explicit git diff commands. Off by default.

Mutation (edit/write)

Setting	What it does
Render edits/writes compactly	Override Pi's built-in edit/write renderers. Off by default.
Split diff view	Side-by-side rich diffs on wide terminals.
Collapsed / expanded diff preview lines	Line budgets for collapsed and expanded rows.
Edit/write call preview	Show safe call-phase diff previews before execution completes.
Edit/write call preview lines	Line budget for call-phase previews.
Syntax-highlight diffs	Use Shiki when a language can be detected.
Inline word diff highlights	Highlight changed words in paired removed/added lines.
Diff line backgrounds	Fill added/removed lines with success/error backgrounds.
Show diff hunk metadata	Include hunk counts and truncation hints.

Generic tools

Setting	What it does
Generic external tool renderers	Render web_search, webfetch, Agent, Task* and similar.
Render apply_patch	Install apply_patch call/result renderers without changing execution.
apply_patch call preview	Parse arguments and render diff previews during the call phase.
apply_patch preview lines	Line budget for collapsed apply_patch diffs.
MCP output mode	preview, summary, or hidden.
MCP preview lines	Line budget for MCP/generic tool previews.

Chrome

Setting	What it does
Global tool chrome	off, transparent, or outlines (muted horizontal rules above/below), including tools that render their own shell.
Guard terminal right margin	Render one column short to avoid auto-wrap flashes in tmux.
Animate pending tool status	Blink pending bullets. Off for stable streaming.
Working indicator	default, pulse, or hidden.

Safety

Setting	What it does
Max renderer line width	Hard cap for single rendered lines.

Notes

This package mostly changes rendering, not tool execution. tool_batch is one tool result, so it caps combined child output if needed; individual built-in tools still apply their own truncation first.