pi-inspect-image

A pi extension that analyzes images using a separate vision-capable model — independent of your main chat model. This enables vision capabilities for non-vision models (e.g. Haiku, Sonnet) via tool calls to a selected vision model.

When to use it:

• Your primary chat model doesn't support vision — route image analysis to a dedicated model.
• You want to keep large image payloads out of your main conversation context — only the derived description enters your chat.
• You need specialized image tasks: describing screenshots, extracting text via OCR, analyzing UI mockups, reading diagrams or charts, debugging visual layout issues, or inspecting error screenshots.
• You're working with visual artifacts (designs, photos, graphs) and want pi to understand them before generating code.

Supported providers: OpenAI, OpenRouter, and any OpenAI-compatible API.

Setup

Run /setup-vision for a 2-step interactive configuration:

/setup-vision

1. Pick a provider — auto-populated from providers you've authenticated via /login that have vision models.
2. Enter the model ID — e.g. gpt-4o, openai/gpt-4o, or any model available on your provider.

The extension validates your entry against the model registry and warns if the model isn't recognized or lacks vision support (both are advisory — the call will still be attempted). Configuration is saved to .pi/settings.json.

You can also configure manually:

{
  "visionConfig": {
    "provider": "openai",
    "model": "gpt-4o"
  }
}

• Project settings (.pi/settings.json) — shared with your team, set via /setup-vision.
• Global settings (~/.pi/agent/settings.json) — personal, edit manually.

API keys

Configure via /login or set the appropriate environment variable:

Provider	Env var
OpenAI	OPENAI_API_KEY
OpenRouter	OPENROUTER_API_KEY
Custom	Any — handled by /login or auth.json

Configuration

Field	Required	Description
provider	Yes	"openai", "openrouter", or any custom provider name
model	Yes	Model ID (e.g. "gpt-4o", "openai/gpt-4o")
baseUrl	No	Custom API base URL for compatible providers (auto-resolved for OpenAI/OpenRouter)
maxTokens	No	Max tokens in response (default: 4096)

Supported Image Formats

PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, BMP — up to 20 MB.

Usage

The extension registers an inspect_image tool. Once configured, ask pi to describe an image and it will use this tool automatically.

You can also pass a custom prompt to guide the analysis:

inspect_image("screenshot.png", "Extract all text visible in this image")

If no vision model is configured when the tool runs, you'll be guided through setup on the spot.

License

MIT