pi-dx

Pi extension that adds /diff and opens the external dx terminal diff reviewer from inside Pi.

dx is not bundled with this package. Install dx separately and keep it on PATH, or set PI_DX_BIN to the executable path.

Install

Install dx first:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/phongndo/dx/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

Then install the Pi package from npm:

pi install npm:pi-dx

Use a non-PATH binary with:

PI_DX_BIN=/path/to/dx pi

Development

Run the extension from this checkout without installing the npm package:

pi -e ./extensions/pi-dx.ts

Developer checks use pnpm:

cd pi-dx
pnpm install
pnpm run check

Useful individual commands:

pnpm run typecheck
pnpm run lint
pnpm run format:check
pnpm run format

Release

Publishing is manual, matching the main dx binary release flow:

1. Update pi-dx/package.json version.
2. Merge the change.
3. Run the Publish pi-dx GitHub Actions workflow.

The workflow validates the package, publishes it to npm with provenance, and can create a pi-dx-vX.Y.Z GitHub release. npm trusted publishing must be configured for this repository and workflow before the publish step can succeed.

Usage

/diff
/diff --staged
/diff --unstaged
/diff --base main
/diff main feature
/diff --pr 123
/diff --pr https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/123
/diff --patch changes.diff

The external dx terminal UI opens immediately from interactive Pi, including while an agent turn is still running. Pi's TUI is restored when dx exits.

/diff --patch - is intentionally rejected because Pi cannot pipe stdin into the external viewer from a slash command. Write the patch to a file and pass the file path instead.

Current error behavior

• Missing dx: shows an install hint.
• Non-interactive Pi mode: refuses to run because dx needs a terminal.
• No Git repo for Git-backed diffs: shows a clean error. Future agent turn diff support can use this branch as the fallback path.
• Malformed /diff quoting or non-zero dx exit: shows a Pi notification.