pi-input-history

Cross-session prompt history and fuzzy reverse search for pi.

Why

Pi's built-in ↑/↓ history only covers the current session and is lost on reload. This extension persists your last 100 prompts across sessions and adds fuzzy reverse search (default Ctrl+R) to find any past prompt instantly.

Install

pi install npm:pi-input-history

Or from git:

pi install git:github.com/ouzhenkun/pi-input-history

Usage

Persistent History

On session start, your last 100 prompts across all sessions are loaded into the editor. Use ↑/↓ arrows to browse them as usual.

Reverse Search

1. Press the search shortcut (default Ctrl+R) to open the search overlay.
2. Type to fuzzy-filter history (subsequence matching, space-separated multi-token).
3. Matched characters are highlighted with your theme's accent color.
4. Navigate and accept:

Key	Action
search shortcut / ↑	Cycle to older match
newer shortcut / ↓	Cycle to newer match
Enter	Accept match into editor
Esc / Ctrl+G	Cancel

Defaults: search = ctrl+r, newer = ctrl+s.

Configuration

Optional config at ~/.pi/agent/pi-input-history.json:

{
  "searchShortcut": "ctrl+r",
  "newerShortcut": "ctrl+s"
}

Field	Default	Description
searchShortcut	ctrl+r	Open reverse search; press again in the overlay to cycle older
newerShortcut	ctrl+s	In the overlay, cycle to a newer match

Omit the file or any field to keep the default. After editing, run /reload in pi.

Shortcut conflict with app.session.rename

Pi binds app.session.rename to ctrl+r by default (session picker). This extension can still use ctrl+r; pi logs a non-fatal conflict warning and prefers the extension shortcut at the editor level.

To silence the warning while keeping reverse search on Ctrl+R, rebind rename in ~/.pi/agent/keybindings.json:

{
  "app.session.rename": "ctrl+shift+r"
}

Or change searchShortcut in pi-input-history.json to another chord.

Features

• Cross-session persistence — history survives across sessions automatically.
• Fuzzy subsequence matching — type partial characters in order, multi-token support with spaces.
• Character-level highlighting — matched positions shown with accent color underline.
• Deduplication — no duplicate entries across sessions.
• Current session awareness — merges live branch history with cached cross-session history.
• Configurable shortcuts — override via pi-input-history.json.

Acknowledgments

The reverse search component is inspired by pi-readline-search by @mrshu.

License

MIT