pi-inspect

Introspection dashboard for the pi coding agent — tools, slash commands, skills, and the system prompt injected on init.

Packages

Package details

extension

Install pi-inspect from npm and Pi will load the resources declared by the package manifest.

npm repohome report
$ pi install npm:pi-inspect
Package
pi-inspect
Version
0.6.0
Published
Oct 25, 2026
Downloads
576/mo · 386/wk
Author
nikiforovall
License
MIT
Types
extension
Size
366.4 KB
Dependencies
2 dependencies · 1 peer
Pi manifest JSON
{
  "image": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NikiforovAll/pi-inspect/main/assets/demo.png",
  "extensions": [
    "./extensions"
  ]
}

Security note

Pi packages can execute code and influence agent behavior. Review the source before installing third-party packages.

README

pi-inspect

npm version npm downloads

Introspection dashboard for the pi coding agent — see what's actually loaded into a session: tools, slash commands, skills, and the system prompt injected on init.

Installation

pi install npm:pi-inspect

Then use /inspect start | stop | restart | status | open | list | snapshot from inside pi.

Usage (inside a pi session)

Command What it does
/inspect Open the dashboard for the current session in your browser (http://localhost:5462/?session=<id>)
/inspect <sessionId> Open dashboard pinned to a specific past session
/inspect snapshot Re-capture the current session snapshot now
/inspect list Print all captured session IDs in the terminal
/inspect open web|app Open in browser or as a PWA window
/inspect start / stop / restart / status Manage the local server

State is driven entirely through the ?session= URL param — share or refresh URLs to pin views. The in-page picker also writes to the URL.

A session is captured when it starts with pi-inspect loaded. If you open a session that was never captured, the picker marks it "not captured". Run /inspect snapshot in that session to capture it.

The theme follows your system setting until you toggle it with t.

Keyboard

Key What it does
j / k, arrows Next / previous row. Moving onto an item shows it.
g / G First / last row
l / h Expand a group / collapse it or go to the parent
Enter Open the row (toggle a group)
e Expand or collapse all
/ Search by name or source
0–5 Kind: all, context, tools, commands, prompts, skills
s Pick a session
o Open the item's file in your editor
c Copy the item's path
r Refresh
t Toggle light and dark
Esc Close the item, or leave an input
? Show all keys

Sharing a snapshot

Click the share button in the topbar to copy a self-contained link of the current snapshot. The snapshot is deflate-raw compressed and base64url-encoded into the URL hash (#s=…) — no server, no upload, no account.

Recipients open the link on the hosted static dashboard at https://nikiforovall.blog/pi-inspect/ and see the exact same tools / commands / skills / system prompt. The page makes no network requests; everything is in the URL.

Heads up: the link includes the system prompt and cwd. Don't share secrets you wouldn't paste in chat.

What it captures

  • Tools — name, description, parameter schema, source
  • Slash commands — name, source
  • System prompt — full text injected on init, split into system / user AGENTS.md / project AGENTS.md sections
  • Session meta — cwd, model, sessionId, sessionName, captured timestamp

Snapshots live at <agentDir>/inspect/snapshots/<sessionId>.json. The agent dir is PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR, or ~/.pi/agent when it is not set, as in pi.

Server options

Flag Env var What it does
--port <n> PORT Port. Default 5462. 0 picks a free port. The server prints the URL it listens on.
--host <addr> Listen address. Default 127.0.0.1.
--open Open the dashboard in the browser
--no-open Do not open the browser, also when --open is given
--session <id> The session to open with --open

A flag wins over its env var.

The server refuses POST requests whose Origin is not its own, so other web pages cannot delete snapshots or change settings. The API also answers only to localhost, 127.0.0.1, [::1] and the --host name, which blocks DNS-rebinding pages. With --host 0.0.0.0 or :: the API answers to every host name.

Embedding

A host such as the pi-kanban board can run the dashboard as a companion and frame it:

  • GET /api/companion returns { name, version, session }. session is the page for one session, /?session={id}.
  • Add embed=1 to the query of the framed URL. The dashboard then posts { type: 'pi-companion:ready' } to its parent.
  • The parent answers with { type: 'pi-companion:theme', mode, colors }, and sends it again when its theme changes. mode is light or dark. colors holds bgDeep, bgSurface, bgElevated, bgHover, border, textPrimary, textSecondary, textTertiary, textMuted, accent, accentText, success, warning, and error, each a CSS color.

In embed mode the theme toggle and the GitHub link are hidden, and the theme is not saved. The page uses no browser dialogs, so it works in a sandboxed frame without allow-modals.

Development

npm install
npm test                        # node:test: snapshot store, routes, flags, server spawn, watcher
npm run typecheck:extensions    # type-checks extensions/inspect.ts against pi's types
node server.js --port 0 --no-open

Set PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR to point the server at another agent dir, for example a dev one.