pi-deepseek-local-search

A pi extension that lets you swap the agent's web tools to DeepSeek's official Search & Fetch API for the current session only.

Session-only by design. The switch exists in memory for the current live window/session and nowhere else. It never writes settings.json, a provider definition, or any config file. As soon as you turn it off (/deepseek_search_off), replace the session (/new, /resume, /reload), or close the window, the takeover is gone and the original web_search / web_fetch tools are back.

/deepseek_search_on      # for this window only: web_search/web_fetch -> deepseek_search/deepseek_fetch
/deepseek_search_off     # for this window only: restore the original tools
/deepseek_search_status  # print the current takeover state

Session lifetime

Nothing is persisted anywhere: the state is a single in-memory boolean inside the extension runtime. There is no setting, no config key, no dotfile to clean up.

Install

# local package (development / self-use; edits take effect immediately, nothing is copied)
pi install ./pi-deepseek-local-search

# or from npm / git
pi install npm:pi-deepseek-local-search
pi install git:github.com/<you>/pi-deepseek-local-search

Restart pi or run /reload, then run /login deepseek once so the extension can obtain a key through pi's model registry.

Usage

The tools are direct-exposed, so while the takeover is off deepseek_search / deepseek_fetch stay registered but are not declared to the model and cannot be called. The model never sees a dangling tool.

Why not simply override web_search?

Pi requires tool names to be unique across extensions, so two extensions cannot both register web_search. This extension therefore swaps the active tool set (pi.getActiveTools() / pi.setActiveTools()) instead of shadowing a name: after /deepseek_search_on, the model is only declared deepseek_search + deepseek_fetch, and the previous web_* tools are no longer declared or callable. Functionally identical, no name collision.

It also never registers a provider or changes the wire format, so it does not compete with provider-level extensions (for example anything that re-pins DeepSeek to the Responses API), and it is safe to keep installed next to @bytetrue/pi-web-search or any other search plugin.

Tools

deepseek_search

Returns one block per hit with title, URL, publish date, authority (0-4), rerank_score, site name, and a summary clipped to 600 chars. details.results carries the structured list for rendering and HTML export.

deepseek_fetch

Returns {title, content} as Markdown (extraction happens server side), truncated to 20,000 chars. Loopback, private, and link-local targets are rejected before the request leaves the machine.

Cost & limits

Per the official guide, Search and Fetch are billed per successful request (HTTP 200 and a non-empty result): CNY 5 / 1000 calls each. Failed requests, empty result sets, and timeouts are not billed. QPS: Search 100, Fetch 25 per account. count changes the number of results, not the price.

Requirements

• pi with @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent (peer) and typebox (peer)
• a DeepSeek API key available to pi for provider deepseek (/login deepseek)

Development

# load the extension file directly, without installing the package
pi --no-extensions -e ./extensions/index.ts --ds-search --mode json "search today's weather in Beijing"

# inspect what would be published
npm pack --dry-run

Tunable constants live at the top of extensions/index.ts: REPLACED_TOOLS, MAX_SUMMARY_CHARS, MAX_FETCH_CHARS, SEARCH_TIMEOUT_MS, FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS.

Notes

• Commands must be typed in pi's input; pi -p "/deepseek_search_on" is treated as a prompt. In Git Bash a leading / argument is path-translated, so quote it or use PowerShell.
• If an older copy of this extension was dropped into ~/.pi/agent/extensions/, remove it before installing the package: both would register the same tool names and collide.

License

MIT