◌ pi-glance

A calm input surface for pi

Replace the default prompt with a rounded multiline editor and an inline glance at Git, cost, Reply speed, context, optional tokens, and model.

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Install

From npm:

pi install npm:pi-glance

Or clone as a traditional pi extension directory:

git clone https://github.com/LinYS77/pi-glance.git ~/.pi/agent/extensions/pi-glance

Then restart pi or run /reload.

To update installed packages/extensions, use pi update --extensions or pi update --all. pi update updates Pi itself by default.

Compatibility: current pi-glance releases target Pi packages under @earendil-works/* and the Node runtime supported by current Pi. If your Pi installation still exposes the older package namespace or runs on Node 20, pin pi-glance@0.3.0 or upgrade Pi before updating pi-glance.

For development/testing:

pi -e /path/to/pi-glance

Local checks and Git diagnostics:

npm test
npm run test:git
npm run debug:git

Use

/glance

That's the only command — opens a calm settings pane with a real input-surface preview and a compact three-column settings grid.

What you see

🖊️	Rounded editor	Configurable 2 / 3 / 4 min rows and 0 / 1 / 2 top spacing rows, preserves all pi defaults
🏷️	Project title	Current folder name, or a safe ~/... path when enabled
📊	Inline status	Git · cost · Reply speed · context · optional tokens · model — top-right
⚙️	/glance pane	General settings, segment order, and per-segment detail settings in a calm grid
💤	Dim unfocused	Surface quiets down when you scroll the chat
🎨	Themes	22 built-in palettes, from Light/Dark to Catppuccin, Solarized, Gruvbox, Rosé Pine, One, Kanagawa, Everforest, and High Contrast

Notes

• To switch themes, open /glance → General → Light theme or Dark theme, press Enter, preview palettes in the browser, then press Enter to accept or Esc/Left to return. Both rows can choose from all 22 built-in Glance palettes: the Light theme browser lists light-toned palettes first and the Dark theme browser lists dark-toned palettes first, but neither browser filters the catalog. Built-ins: Light, Dark, Catppuccin Latte/Mocha/Frappé/Macchiato, Nord, Tokyo Night, Gruvbox Light/Dark, Solarized Light/Dark, Rosé Pine/Dawn, One Light/Dark, Kanagawa Wave/Lotus, Everforest Light/Dark, and High Contrast Light/Dark.
• Icons default to plain so pi-glance works with normal terminal fonts.
• Editor top spacing is configurable: open /glance → General → Top spacing and choose none, 1 row, or 2 rows.
• nerd icons are opt-in: open /glance → General → Icons and choose nerd for richer symbols.
• Nerd icons need a Nerd Font or Symbols Nerd Font fallback. If icons look like boxes, choose plain.
• pi-glance does not auto-detect, install, or bundle terminal fonts.
• Reply speed is enabled by default and appears between cost and context. It shows output tokens per wall time: ? means no trusted measurement yet, ~42 tok/s is a provisional current-run checkpoint from completed turns, and 42 tok/s is the finalized agent-end measurement.
• Configure /glance → Reply speed → Precision: auto, 1 digit, or 0 digits. Wall time includes tools, waiting, network, and thinking, so it is not a benchmark. Reply speed uses no notifications, no timers/tickers, no token estimation from text/deltas, and adds no command, footer, dashboard, history, or average view.

Themes and config

pi-glance uses its own curated 22 built-in Glance palettes. It is not a Pi theme manager: it does not enumerate, switch, or install Pi UI themes, and it does not render with Pi theme token colors.

The supported config model is theme: { light: GlanceThemeName, dark: GlanceThemeName }. New installs default to:

{
  "theme": {
    "light": "light",
    "dark": "dark"
  }
}

When pi-glance loads an older config, migration is conservative: an old string such as { "theme": "x" } is preserved as { "theme": { "light": "x", "dark": "x" } } when x is one of the built-in Glance theme names.

At render time, pi-glance reads only Pi's public UI theme name to choose a slot:

• exact light selects theme.light
• exact dark selects theme.dark
• unknown or custom Pi theme names fall back to theme.light

Segment details

/glance keeps segment settings small and display-focused:

• Git — dirty marker, upstream counts, SHA, and polling.
• Cost — hide zero cost.
• Reply speed — enabled by default; shows unknown ?, provisional ~, or finalized output tokens per wall time in the status line. Precision can be auto, 1 digit, or 0 digits. It sends no notifications, uses no timers, and does not estimate tokens from text or deltas.
• Context — percent / tokens, or hide unknown usage.
• Tokens — input / output, total, or cache details. Tokens stay off by default.
• Model — provider and thinking labels. Model stays last by default.

Workspace title

Open /glance, select General, and set Workspace label:

• name — show only the current directory name. This is the default.
• smart — show more path context on wider terminals.
• path — show a safe ~/... path when possible.

pi-glance never renders full absolute paths in the title: home paths are shortened to ~/..., and non-home paths use an ellipsis tail such as …/work/project.

Git status

The Git segment is intentionally quiet:

• Clean repositories show only the branch name.
• Dirty repositories add * in plain mode or ● in Nerd Font mode.
• Conflicts add ! in plain mode or ⚠ in Nerd Font mode.
• Ahead/behind counts appear when Git reports an upstream, for example ↑2 ↓1.
• Non-Git directories hide the Git segment.

Open /glance, select Git, move to a value with the arrow keys, and press Enter to configure:

• Dirty marker — hide/show normal dirty markers; conflict markers stay visible.
• Ahead / behind — hide/show upstream counts.
• SHA — off, detached, or always.
• Polling — 2s, 5s, 10s, or 30s.

Git is collected asynchronously and cached. External file changes usually appear within a few seconds. For local development/debugging you can compare pi-glance with Git directly:

git status --short --branch
npm run debug:git

Design

• No pi core patches — public extension APIs only
• No render-time IO — Git is collected asynchronously and cached
• Global config at ~/.pi/agent/pi-glance/config.json

License

MIT © 2026 linys77