@zenspc/pi-quiet

Quiet Display for the Pi coding agent: dense rows for built-in tools, so new (and tired) users are not drowned in tool chrome and stdout.

Once installed, Quiet Display is on by default. Turn it off anytime with /quiet off (Sticky Preference).

Install

pi install npm:@zenspc/pi-quiet

Local development from this monorepo:

pi -e ./packages/pi-quiet
pi install ./packages/pi-quiet

What you see

Tool	Collapsed success	Notes
read	📖 read path · N lines	Image reads chip as image
grep / find / ls	Kind Emoji + target + count	Zero hits = Soft Breakthrough (compact, not an alarm)
edit	✏️ edit path · +N -M	Diff body on expand
write	📝 write path · N lines
bash	💻 $ cmd · exit 0	Stdout hidden on success; non-zero = Hard Breakthrough

Run Compaction

Adjacent settled successes (and Soft Breakthroughs) of the same tool kind fold into one Compaction Group:

📖 read ×3
  • ~/a.ts · 40 lines
  • ~/b.ts · 12 lines
  • ~/c.ts · 8 lines

• Strict neighbors only - assistant/user prose or a different tool kind splits groups.
• Hard Breakthrough never joins a group and splits runs before/after.
• Pending never joins - a running tool stays a singleton Quiet Row. Already-settled same-kind neighbors stay compacted while a trailing same-kind tool is still running; the Compaction Group grows only after that tool settles successfully (or soft).
• Expand expands the whole group to stacked Stock Display bodies.
• Groups are rebuilt from session history after reload.

Behavior notes

• While running: static pending marker only (no live stdout firehose).
• Tool Shell Background: visible Quiet Rows and Compaction Groups keep Stock's pending/success/error strip so built-ins match other tools (MCP, etc.). Hidden compaction members stay zero-height.
• Hard Breakthrough: failed edit/write, bash non-zero / thrown error - chip + capped error tail without you expanding.
• Expand (pi's normal expand gesture): full Stock Display body for that row (or whole Compaction Group). Expand does not change the Sticky Preference.
• /quiet: Sticky Preference only; renders follow the current preference when components redraw.

Commands

Command	Description
/quiet	Toggle Quiet Display
/quiet on	Quiet Display
/quiet off	Stock Display (pi's normal tool UI)
/quiet status	Show preference + config path
/quiet help	Help

Config

Package-local Sticky Preference:

~/.pi/agent/extensions/quiet.json

(or $PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR/extensions/quiet.json)

{
	"enabled": true
}

Missing or invalid file → Quiet Display on.

Scope

In: built-in read, bash, edit, write, find, grep, ls (Quiet Rows, Kind Emoji, Run Compaction).

Out: assistant prose, thinking, MCP/extension tools, startup header, second density preference, durations on chips.

Security notes

• Config is untrusted input: size-capped, regular-file only (no symlinks), atomic 0o600 writes.
• TUI chrome only. No network. Does not change tool execution semantics - only presentation (and the same built-in implementations run underneath).
• Overriding built-ins makes pi show its normal tool-override warning once; that is expected.

License

MIT