pi-jarvis

Give Pi a memory. Give yourself a second lane.

Remember decisions. Reuse preferences. Find the conversation that started it all.

Main Pi and Jarvis share persistent, searchable memory across sessions—so useful preferences, corrections and project decisions can inform the next conversation. It works in main Pi even if you never open /jarvis, independently of Repo tools and bridge permissions.

Want the original history, not just useful facts? The separate, opt-in session archive adds indexed search, session browsing and preview-confirmed import of existing Pi chats. Optional password encryption protects its active database, index and SQLite journals.

And /jarvis still gives you a polished side-conversation overlay: a second opinion, live main-session context, opt-in repo inspection, and quiet notes or confirmed redirects.

Local storage. User-controlled access. No background model calls or embeddings. Shared memory is on in trusted projects and stored in plaintext; recalled facts can be sent to your active model. The separate archive and its encryption are off by default. Understand the controls and privacy boundary.

pi install npm:pi-jarvis

Memory in 60 seconds · Search your history · Import existing sessions · Archive encryption · Open the overlay

     _    _    ____ __     _____ ____
    | |  / \  |  _ \\ \   / /_ _/ ___|
 _  | | / _ \ | |_) |\ \ / / | |\___ \
| |_| |/ ___ \|  _ <  \ V /  | | ___) |
 \___//_/   \_\_| \_\  \_/  |___|____/

       PI / A SECOND LANE OF THOUGHT

Renderer preview with a custom dark palette and demo conversation—not a live provider session. Your Pi theme controls the normal overlay.

Stop re-explaining your project

A fresh session should not mean throwing away every useful decision. pi-jarvis gives main Pi and Jarvis a shared place to keep the facts you want to reuse—and an optional archive when you need the original evidence.

Memory is context, not authority: records can be stale, recall is bounded and relevance-based, and model curation depends on the model using its tools. Current instructions still win. Archive search covers recorded or explicitly imported history—not everything Pi has ever seen.

Memory in 60 seconds

After installing and reloading, check the first-use notice and effective settings. These are literal commands, not promises that a model will save or recall a fact:

/jarvis-memory
/jarvis-memory remember Build workflow | This project uses npm, not pnpm.
/jarvis-memory remember --global Answer style | Prefer concise answers with file paths.
/jarvis-memory search Build workflow

The first note stays in this project; the second is a deliberate cross-project preference. Both lanes use the same store. Inside the overlay, /memory search Build workflow runs locally without a model call or waiting for queued side work.

Now ask either lane: "What build workflow did we save for this project? Search memory if needed." Or ask: "Find the earlier discussion about deployment and show the source before suggesting a change." Automatic recall uses global/current-project records; broader search is explicit:

/jarvis-memory search --all deployment

Your controls, immediately available: /jarvis-memory off is the global master-off; /jarvis-memory --project off pauses this project. /jarvis-memory --project capture off and --project recall off control saving and recall separately here. Full off retains data but blocks even record inspection; none of these switches erases original Pi transcripts or already-sent model context. Inspect, edit and forget saved records.

A second cockpit—not a second task queue for main Pi

Use /jarvis for a second opinion, progress checks or repo inspection while the main lane stays on its plan. Repo tools, Note main and Redirect are separate opt-ins; redirects still require confirmation. Shared memory does not steer, interrupt or queue work into the other lane.

• "What is the main agent doing right now?"
• "Which project decisions did we save, and which might be stale?"
• "Summarize the last validation failure and tell me what matters."
• "Check this file while the main session keeps moving."
• "Redirect the main session, but make me confirm it first."

Two complementary memory features

Both work across main Pi and Jarvis, independently of Repo tools and whether the overlay is open. Each has its own local SQLite store and global/project controls. Turning one off does not turn the other off.

Privacy matters: shared memory remains local plaintext. The archive also defaults to plaintext, with separate, optional password encryption. Archive content is unredacted and can include secrets; encryption does not prevent authorized model reads from sending retrieved content to your provider. It does not protect original Pi transcripts, shared memory or retained plaintext backups. “Full” means accepted finalized data exposed by Pi—not hidden provider reasoning or a crash-safe audit log. Historical import is explicit. Review the memory controls, archive limits and encryption boundary before enabling more access.

At a glance

How it fits into Pi

flowchart LR
    U[You] -->|primary work| M[Main Pi session]
    U -->|open /jarvis| J[Jarvis overlay]
    M -->|summary + recent delta| J
    M <-->|independent memory controls| S[Shared local memory]
    J <-->|independent memory controls| S
    M -->|recording opt-in| A[Separate local history archive]
    J -->|recording opt-in| A
    A -. separately authorized model reads .-> M
    A -. separately authorized model reads .-> J
    J -->|Repo tools enabled| R[Local tools\nread • bash • edit • write]
    J -->|Repo tools enabled| C[Configured native MCP\nside-owned connections]
    J -. Note main .-> M
    J -. Redirect after confirmation .-> M

Operating model

flowchart TD
    A["Main session keeps moving"] --> B["/jarvis opens in overlay"]
    B --> C["Jarvis sees current main-session context"]
    C --> D{"What do you need?"}
    D -->|Status / summary / analysis| E["Jarvis handles the side task"]
    D -->|Repo inspection| F["Enable Repo tools"]
    D -->|Influence the main lane| G["Enable Note main or Redirect"]
    G --> H{"Redirect?"}
    H -->|Yes| I["Per-send confirmation"]
    H -->|No| J["Quiet follow-up note"]

Why use /jarvis instead of the main lane?

Use /jarvis when you want:

• a second opinion without changing the primary plan yet
• a quick repo inspection while the main agent keeps moving
• a compact explanation of current progress or validation state
• a controlled way to send guidance back to the main session

Stay in the main lane when you want:

• the main plan to change immediately
• the main session itself to execute the next step directly
• no side conversation overhead at all

Quick start

1) Install

pi install npm:pi-jarvis

This package is meant to run inside a Pi installation that already provides the Pi runtime packages. Those host packages are declared as optional peers so npm does not install a second copy of the full Pi/AI provider stack just to add this extension.

Requires Pi 1.0.0 and Node.js 22.19.0 or newer. Version 1.6.0 supports local repository tools and opt-in native Pi MCP as described below; it does not load the legacy pi-mcp-adapter or bundle another Pi runtime.

2) Restart or reload Pi

pi install registers the package automatically. For local development, build and load ./dist/index.js with pi -e ./dist/index.js. Shared memory is enabled by default in trusted projects, including main Pi even if you never open the overlay. A first-use notice explains capture and recall; try the one-minute memory workflow. Already using another memory extension? Run /jarvis-memory off before your first prompt; this disables both main and Jarvis memory without deleting anything.

The separate full-session archive is OFF by default. Nothing is imported or recorded by that subsystem until you opt in. Optional password encryption is also OFF by default; installation does not encrypt an existing archive or change your recording/model/memory settings. If you want to avoid new plaintext archive captures during setup, pause effective capture before enabling or migrating. See Full-session archive and safe encryption setup.

3) Open Jarvis

/jarvis

Or open it and send the first message immediately:

/jarvis summarize the last validation failure and suggest the fastest next move

4) Turn on more power only when you want it

• leave Repo tools off for context / analysis without repository or MCP access; shared memory has separate controls
• turn Repo tools on when you want local read, bash, edit, write, and configured native MCP capabilities
• turn Note main on when you want Jarvis to quietly message the main session
• turn Redirect on when you want Jarvis to propose a redirect that you still explicitly confirm

Command surface

/jarvis

Opens the side overlay. If text follows the command, that text becomes the first side-session prompt.

/jarvis-model

In Pi's terminal UI, running /jarvis-model with no argument opens a searchable model picker. In RPC, JSON, and print modes it reports the current selection; exact model-setting commands still work. /jarvis itself requires the terminal UI and does not start hidden work in other modes.

/jarvis-model [--project|--global] <provider/model>

Pins /jarvis to a specific model without changing the main session model. A plain /jarvis-model <provider/model> writes a project-local override to .pi/jarvis.json.

/jarvis-model [--project|--global] follow-main

Restores the chosen scope to follow-main. A project-scoped follow-main override still wins over a global pinned setting.

/jarvis-model [--project|--global] clear

Removes the selected scope so /jarvis falls back through the remaining config layers to the built-in default.

/jarvis-thinking [--project|--global] auto|follow-main|off|minimal|low|medium|high|xhigh|max

Sets the thinking level used by /jarvis without changing the main session thinking level. A plain /jarvis-thinking <level> writes a project-local override to .pi/jarvis.json.

• auto preserves the built-in behavior: follow the main thinking level only when /jarvis follows the main model; pinned /jarvis models use off.
• follow-main follows the main thinking level even when /jarvis is pinned to a separate model.
• Explicit levels request that thinking level; Pi clamps it to the selected model's supported levels.
• Changes to main thinking immediately synchronize when /jarvis follows it.
• xAI /jarvis models still force thinking off.

/jarvis-thinking [--project|--global] clear

Removes the selected scope so /jarvis thinking falls back through the remaining config layers to the built-in auto default.

/jarvis-memory

Reports shared-memory status. Use /jarvis-memory help for controls and data-management commands. Memory controls default to global, unlike model/thinking controls. See Shared memory below.

/jarvis-archive

Reports the separate full-session archive's status. It defaults OFF, with independent capture, model-access and optional encryption controls. /jarvis-archive help documents enablement warnings, paging, explicit import, deletion and human-only encryption administration. See Full-session archive.

Side-session commands inside /jarvis

The /jarvis input handles a small set of built-in commands against the isolated side-session:

• /compact [instructions] compacts the /jarvis conversation context.
• /tree prints the /jarvis session tree with entry IDs.
• /tree <entry-id> navigates the /jarvis session tree to that entry.
• /tree --summarize <entry-id> [instructions] navigates and summarizes the branch being left.
• /new starts a fresh /jarvis side-session without changing the main Pi session.
• /memory … or /jarvis-memory … manages shared memory immediately, without sending a model prompt or waiting for queued side work. Initial forms such as /jarvis /memory off are also handled locally, without booting a side session.
• /archive … or /jarvis-archive … manages the separate optional archive locally, without model/queue work; initial /jarvis /archive … works without booting a side session.

Full-session archive

This is a separate, optional subsystem, not a change to shared memory's curated notes or bounded text captures. It is OFF by default, independent of Repo tools, Note main, Redirect, and overlay open/close. Model reads are also off by default, even after recording is enabled. No archive content is automatically injected into prompts.

Enable only after reviewing the risks

These examples opt into recording; they are not encrypted-first setup. If you want to avoid new plaintext archive captures, pause effective capture before enabling or migrating, then verify encryption/cleanup before explicitly resuming capture.

/jarvis-archive                                    # status; no archive-record reads
/jarvis-archive --project on --confirm-sensitive    # record here only
/jarvis-archive on --confirm-sensitive              # enable globally
/jarvis-archive model-access on --confirm-sensitive # allow model search/read; recording alone doesn't
/jarvis-archive capture off                         # pause recording default, retain access
/jarvis-archive off                                 # global MASTER OFF; keep stored data
/jarvis-archive clear --confirm-sensitive           # remove global settings; fallback may re-enable

Controls default to global; use --project for an override. Resolution is per-field project > global > defaults (enabled: false, capture: true, modelAccess: false), except an explicit global off overrides every project. capture off and model-access off set defaults that a project can override; inspect effective status. Use clear --confirm-sensitive to remove a scoped setting, never data. Malformed/unreadable settings and untrusted projects pause all archive access. Full off blocks even manual record inspection; recording-only/model-only pauses do not prevent explicit human reads. Separate files avoid interfering with memory/model settings:

• Global: <active-agent-dir>/extensions/pi-jarvis-archive.json
• Project: .pi/jarvis-archive.json
• Shape: { "archive": { "enabled": true, "capture": true, "modelAccess": false } }

Enabling/model-access commands require the literal warning acknowledgment, and direct-file enablement shows a first-use warning. This archive is unredacted, PLAINTEXT by default, and may retain passwords, tokens, private files, and sensitive tool output. Optional password encryption protects only its active database, index and SQLite journals; original Pi transcripts, shared memory and retained plaintext sources/backups remain outside that protection. Model access can send retrieved data to the active provider even when storage is encrypted. Neither mode is a sandbox or a substitute for carefully managing secrets. Review safe encryption setup before enabling if you want to avoid new plaintext archive captures.

What “full” means

Accepted new, finalized Pi journal entries are retained as complete JSON, without memory's secret filtering, 16 KiB text cap, or 10,000-record eviction. This includes user/assistant/system messages, exposed thinking, tool calls/results and details, failed/aborted output that Pi retained, inline image payloads, custom entries, compaction/context edits, and branch metadata. Session headers retain provenance, including parent-session links. Search indexes textual content locally with SQLite FTS5; binary image data and opaque signatures are retained but not text-indexed. There is no OCR, embedding service, or background model call.

“Full” does not mean an infallible wire/stream audit log. Hidden provider reasoning, keystrokes, intermediate stream/tool updates, non-persisted commands/events, external attachment files, and output already truncated by Pi/tools are not recovered. Referenced files are never automatically opened or copied. Later message-redaction hooks run before capture. Raw history includes abandoned branches and superseded context, not just the effective current model context.

Recording begins after an activation baseline, never by importing pre-existing entries. Captures occur at finalized turn/settlement and supported session boundaries, not per token. The side owner takes a final snapshot of already-finalized entries before disposal, while recording remains authorized. Crashes, late shutdown hooks, unsupported journal APIs, failed storage, or permission transitions can leave gaps; warnings report observation/storage failures without replaying uncertain writes. Pending/disabled-period content is not backfilled after re-enable. Explicit 64 MiB raw-entry and indexing ceilings reject oversized work rather than truncating it. Normalization uses bounded chunks; pathological Unicode combining/composition contexts beyond 64K UTF-16 units also reject explicitly. Conservative index budgeting can reject excessive whitespace/normalization expansion even if its final folded text would be smaller. No automatic eviction or strict total-disk quota is imposed: monitor space and prune deliberately. Large synchronous writes/indexing can pause the UI. Search/page order may change as other sessions append/delete records; pagination is not a frozen snapshot.

Search and inspect

/jarvis-archive search deployment decision
/jarvis-archive search --all --offset 20 deployment
/jarvis-archive session --all <session-id> 0
/jarvis-archive read --all <record-id> 0
/jarvis-archive read --all --metadata <record-id> 0
/jarvis-archive stats --all

Search/session pages return bounded excerpts of normalized indexing text with IDs, project, lane, timestamps and parent entry IDs. Excerpts are not exact quotations; use read for original case and content. Follow nextOffset to continue. Exceptionally large/escape-heavy provenance is explicitly labeled with abbreviated field names, never allowed to block record access; read --metadata (model tool part: "metadata") pages the exact original metadata. read returns complete raw JSON through pages; its offsets count Unicode codepoints, not bytes or UTF-16 units. Results are bounded to 24,000 bytes of JSON plus an untrusted-data notice; stored payloads are not shortened. Use explicit --all to access other projects. Models get only three read-only tools—jarvis_archive_search, jarvis_archive_read, and jarvis_archive_session—when model access is enabled. No model controls, import, or deletion tools exist. Tools recheck current permissions/trust/cancellation and reject stale definitions.

Global accessibility is within the same active Pi agent directory, not cloud sync or other users' machines. Project controls govern operations initiated here; existing records from a paused project remain accessible through explicit all-project queries from another allowed project. Disabling is not deletion. Returned model-tool results persist normally in Pi and can be captured again as part of a later journal entry.

Import all existing Pi sessions

With archive recording enabled, run:

/jarvis-archive import-all

This previews .jsonl candidates recursively under the active Pi agent directory's sessions folder (normally ~/.pi/agent/sessions). It shows the candidate file count before any transcript body is read or archived. Then paste the confirmation command supplied by the preview:

/jarvis-archive import-all --confirm-sensitive --preview <preview-id>

For a different session directory, preview it explicitly:

/jarvis-archive import-all /absolute/path/to/session-directory

The default covers Pi's standard main-session directory across projects. For older Jarvis side sessions, repeat the preview for <active-agent-dir>/jarvis-sessions; custom --session-dir locations also need an explicit directory preview.

The confirmation token selects the exact reviewed file list, not a fresh scan. Files created afterward are not silently added. Existing identical entries are skipped, and each source file keeps its original project/session identity. Bad/legacy files are reported individually rather than hiding failures or abandoning the rest of the batch. Original transcripts are never rewritten.

/jarvis-archive import-report <report-id>       # paged per-file results
/jarvis-archive import-report <report-id> <nextOffset> # follow the returned offset
/jarvis-archive import-cancel                   # stop pending/active imports

Previews expire after 10 minutes and are bound to the current project/session and permission generation. A new preview replaces the old one; confirmation consumes it once. The latest report is kept only in memory, not persisted or supplied to models. Policy/session changes, cancellation, or storage-wide failure stop remaining work; completed entries remain, with partial counts reported. The start notice supplies the report ID; progress counts update as each file settles, not on every entry. Counts cover acknowledged writes; a storage failure can leave an uncertain final commit. Re-preview explicitly to retry—imports are never automatically replayed.

Discovery skips symlinks below the selected root, hardlinked/nonregular files, and unrelated extensions. Unreadable directories or discovery limits abort the preview rather than calling a partial scan “all”: at most 10,000 candidates, 50,000 visited entries, depth 64, and an 8 MiB manifest budget. Opened files and reviewed directory identities are checked for substitution; bulk reads are limited to the reviewed size, with mutation checks during streaming. These are defensive checks, not an immutable filesystem snapshot or sandbox. Pause active sessions for the most reliable historical import; changed files are reported and may need a fresh preview.

Bulk import is a human command, not a model tool. It requires enabled recording in the initiating trusted project but does not require model access or Repo tools. Like single-file import, it can ingest sensitive unredacted history from multiple projects; no automatic startup scan or import occurs.

Single-file import and retention

/jarvis-archive import --confirm-sensitive /absolute/path/to/session.jsonl
/jarvis-archive forget-session --confirm <session-id>
/jarvis-archive prune --confirm 2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
/jarvis-archive prune --all --confirm 2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

Single-file import is human-only, requires enabled recording and an explicit regular v3 JSONL file, and preserves the source header's project/session identity—even if different from the current project. Directory discovery happens only through the explicit bulk preview above; no silent historical import occurs. Both import modes require v3 session files; legacy session versions require a separately reviewed conversion first. Completed entries survive a partial/cancelled import, with counts reported; duplicate entries are skipped, differing payloads for an existing identity are rejected, and originals are never modified. Deletion defaults to this project; --all is explicit. Stable identity tombstones prevent re-import of deleted entries, not every semantic copy or other previously unarchived entry.

Storage is lazy SQLite under <active-agent-dir>/extensions/pi-jarvis-archive/: the plaintext default uses archive.sqlite (normally ~/.pi/agent/extensions/pi-jarvis-archive/archive.sqlite). After explicit encryption management, archive.vault.json selects a generation at vaults/<UUID>/archive.sqlite; the same root retains prior generations until explicit cleanup. Owned directories/files use private permissions where supported, with defensive link/type checks and concurrent-writer transactions. There is no background watcher: observed settings changes are propagated between mounted lanes, while other processes recheck at operation boundaries. Deletion does not erase original Pi files, prior search-result copies, already-sent model context or backups, and does not guarantee reclaimed disk space or forensic erasure. For a complete reset, stop all Pi processes using the store and remove only its archive directory yourself; that also removes tombstones. Shared memory stays separate and unchanged. To stop both Jarvis persistence layers, use both /jarvis-archive off and /jarvis-memory off; neither disables Pi's original session transcripts.

Optional archive encryption

Version 1.10.0 provides optional, OFF-by-default password encryption for the full-session archive. It is agent-wide, shared by main Pi and Jarvis in the same active agent directory, not a project-scoped setting. Encryption is independent of archive enablement, capture, model access, shared memory, Repo tools and bridge permissions. No archive is automatically migrated, no history is backfilled, and no user setting is changed automatically.

What it protects—and what it does not

Encrypted operation protects the active archive SQLite database, its FTS search index and SQLite journal/WAL content, not just message bodies. A random 256-bit data key is password-wrapped with scrypt and AES-256-GCM; the database uses a SQLCipher-4-compatible AES-256-CBC/HMAC-SHA512 profile provided by SQLite3MultipleCiphers. Ordinary encrypted operation does not use a temporary plaintext database; temporary SQLite work is memory-only.

It does not encrypt Pi's original JSONL/session files, shared-memory SQLite, external attachments, exports, independently retained backups, or previously retrieved/provider-sent context. Migration retains its source, including plaintext, until explicit cleanup. Vault metadata (generation identities, wrapping parameters and startup policy) and filesystem metadata are not concealed. An unlocked process and authorized tools can read the contents; swap, core dumps, trusted extensions and malicious same-user code are outside this boundary. There is no independently audited cryptography, official/vendor-audited SQLCipher, FIPS, sandbox or forensic-erasure claim. Public/private-key unlocking is deferred.

Choose a strong, unique password and keep it safely outside Pi conversation history. Passwords are valid Unicode, 1–4096 UTF-8 bytes, without control characters or line breaks; they are not trimmed or normalized. There is no password-recovery bypass. /jarvis-archive password requires an unlocked archive, asks for a new password twice, and locks afterward. It rewraps the same data key, not key rotation: old key/envelope backups may still unlock that key's data.

Safe initial setup

These are explicit user actions, not permission for an agent or extension to change your settings.

1. Start Pi yourself in regular TUI: pi --tui-mode regular. Stop all other Pi instances using this agent directory, including older versions, before migration, recovery or cleanup. Review available disk space: migration retains both source and target.
2. Run /jarvis-archive status and review the configured/effective enablement, capture and model-access settings, trust and any config errors. Project fields override global defaults; an explicit global archive off is a master-off. Repair malformed settings manually without discarding privacy controls.
3. If avoiding new plaintext archive captures, pause CAPTURE before enabling or migrating, for example /jarvis-archive --project capture off, then check status for effective capture off. A global capture off alone does not defeat project capture on overrides. Review every scope you intend to enable; do not start sensitive work until the effective pause is confirmed. This pause does not stop Pi's own transcripts or shared-memory capture.
4. Enable the archive only in your intended scope, for example /jarvis-archive --project on --confirm-sensitive, and confirm that it is configured ON in a trusted project with capture still off. Project on cannot override an explicit global master-off; choose any global change yourself, recognizing that global enablement can affect other projects. Encryption administration requires enabled/trusted archive policy, but does not require capture or model access to be on. Leave model access off unless you separately want it.
5. Run /jarvis-archive encryption on --confirm-sensitive --confirm-stopped. Enter the new password twice in the private prompt, verifying each submission as described below. On success the encrypted generation is unlocked for the current main session; your capture setting is unchanged. Inspect /jarvis-archive encryption status and, if desired, manually inspect records with capture/model access still off. A pre-existing archive's accepted records are migrated exactly; old Pi session files are not imported.
6. Verify that the active encrypted archive is usable before deleting its retained source. If you choose to remove retired plaintext, run /jarvis-archive encryption cleanup --confirm-sensitive --confirm-stopped with a live unlock. Cleanup ends the local grant: unlock again, check status/retired plaintext counts and inspect any reported partial cleanup. Do not call the archive protected while plaintext copies you care about still remain. Cleanup does not touch outside backups or original transcripts.
7. Resume capture explicitly only when ready, in the scope you paused, for example /jarvis-archive --project capture on; check effective status again. Unlocking and migration do not turn capture on or recover the paused period. Enable model access separately only if intended.

Human commands

These commands run locally without a provider call and are not model tools. No password, key, path or scope arguments are accepted. The overlay's /archive … alias also works locally; password entry closes Jarvis and uses the main editor area, revoking the overlay's transient permissions.

/jarvis-archive encryption [status]
/jarvis-archive encryption on --confirm-sensitive --confirm-stopped
/jarvis-archive encryption off --confirm-sensitive --confirm-stopped
/jarvis-archive encryption cleanup --confirm-sensitive --confirm-stopped
/jarvis-archive encryption recover --rollback --confirm-sensitive --confirm-stopped
/jarvis-archive encryption break-lock --confirm-sensitive --confirm-stopped
/jarvis-archive unlock [session|process|remember|for MINUTES|idle MINUTES]
/jarvis-archive lock
/jarvis-archive password
/jarvis-archive startup manual|prompt|remember

encryption on migrates the active archive to an encrypted generation; encryption off converts it to plaintext. Neither turns recording on/off. In contrast, /jarvis-archive off is the ordinary archive master-off: it pauses reads/capture without decrypting or deleting stored files. lock revokes the local key first and then attempts durable remembered-authorization revocation; a failure is reported honestly, not silently repaired. Other processes observe durable revisions at operation boundaries, not instantaneously.

Private password entry

Only Pi regular TUI is supported (pi --tui-mode regular). Fullscreen, unknown/missing renderer modes and non-TUI operation refuse password entry; there is no ordinary-editor, RPC, argument or environment fallback. Do not change renderer settings automatically. Passwords are masked and never routed through normal editors/history, model tools, session entries, notifications or logs.

Every submit or cancel—including typed-only Enter, Escape and Ctrl+C—requires a fresh displayed code typed by hand, followed by Enter. Pasting a code cannot approve completion. Cancellation immediately revokes backend work, but retains a cancel-only private input sink until you verify its exit; a completed/aborted backend promise does not restore the editor. Jarvis, its model picker and main-memory review cannot overlap that ownership. Cancellable main-session switch/fork/tree navigation is refused until verified exit; retry navigation afterward. Resize a tiny terminal if the code is not readable. Repeated hostile input can deny service; this is not proof that every buffered transport byte has drained.

Do not force /reload, quit or focus replacement while entering a password. Forced host reload/quit and trusted external focus replacement cannot preserve input quarantine. The extension abandons ownership and wipes/revokes what it owns without stale editor-restoration callbacks, but cannot protect bytes routed after host/process teardown or genuine human-verified release. Trusted extensions with input/screen/process access are not isolated. Use the displayed verified cancellation instead.

Unlock lifetimes and startup

Timed grants check both monotonic and wall time, including access-boundary expiry after suspend/delayed timers; no immediate erasure during sleep is promised. Plaintext conversion refuses fixed/idle timed grants before copying a key or publishing a transition: explicitly unlock session or unlock process first if you really intend conversion. Any grant can be revoked by explicit lock, observed full-off/trust/config failure, revision changes or unsafe storage. No instantaneous cross-process key erasure is promised.

Startup runs only from the main lifecycle, never Jarvis boot. Full-off, untrusted/malformed policy and restart-required storage suppress prompts, credential access and database authentication. Restoring trust does not silently reuse a revoked local grant. An explicit nonremember unlock clears an existing remembered authorization (and changes remembered startup to manual); a startup manual/prompt selection also clears it. Explicit lock clears remembered authorization durably before best-effort native credential deletion. Failed deletion can leave a key in the OS store and is reported; durable revocation is not a promise that all OS copies are erased.

Migration, cleanup and recovery

Migration uses a distinct generation, verifies exact stored raw JSON spelling, index text, provenance, row IDs and tombstones, and checks/checkpoints/closes/fsyncs the target before publication. Capture pauses without buffering or backfill. The source becomes a retired generation, not automatically deleted. At most eight retired generations are tracked; further migration requires explicit cleanup. Check status for retained plaintext generations. There is no hard total-disk quota.

Cleanup deletes only recognized retired SQLite files under the owned layout, never the active database or outside backups. It preflights files, deletes auxiliaries before the main file, and rechecks live authorization between deletions. Encrypted cleanup needs a live lease and authentication of the existing active database; a missing active database is not recreated. Failure can leave a partial retained backup; inspect the report/metadata, do not assume rollback or automatic deletion retry. Cleanup ends the local lease.

A pending Transition blocks archive reads, capture, import and ordinary deletion. recover --rollback is an explicit source-checked rollback, not a retry/resume of migration: it can discard only the known unpublished target. A missing/empty/unsafe/changed known source requires manual inspection/restoration; preserve the target and metadata as potential copies. An explicitly originally absent legacy source is different from a lost source. Never publish a missing known source as an empty archive or delete its possible remaining target. Invalid metadata requires manual inspection; it is not repaired automatically.

Locks are cooperative, not a filesystem sandbox. break-lock never steals a live or unknown lock: it requires a demonstrably dead local PID on the same host plus identity/token rechecks. The confirmation flags acknowledge that other Pi instances have actually been stopped; they do not stop them for you.

Uncertain native close, publication or lock release requires stopping Pi, inspecting status/storage and an actual Pi process restart before further access or recovery. /reload, new sessions, aliases and logical quit do not clear restart-required state. Publication may already have succeeded even if an operation reported failure: never assume a guaranteed Transition, replay an uncertain write or automatically retry cleanup/recovery. Restart clears the process-local safety block, not invalid metadata, missing sources or a durable Transition; inspect again and choose recovery explicitly.

Dependencies and platform limits

Encryption lazily loads exact optional better-sqlite3-multiple-ciphers@13.0.3; plaintext uses node:sqlite. Remembered unlock separately needs exact optional @napi-rs/keyring@2.1.0 and an available, authorized OS credential service. On Linux this is explicitly Secret Service, with no kernel-keyring downgrade; macOS/Windows use the adapter's native OS stores. A headless/locked/unavailable service can refuse remembered unlock. Manual password unlock does not require remembered-key storage.

Linux glibc prebuilt bindings require glibc 2.35 or newer. Upstream advertises musl/macOS/Windows bindings, but local runtime validation is Linux-only; other platforms and real OS credential integration are not certified by that validation. Missing, omitted or incompatible optional dependencies fail closed—no plaintext database, ordinary input, unprotected key file or alternative credential backend fallback. Runtime does not execute install scripts or auto-build/download replacement binaries. A failed remembered restore stays locked; manually choose a password unlock if desired.

See Archive encryption design and operating contract for the format, lifecycle and validation limits.

Shared memory

The feature you can use even without the overlay: main Pi and Jarvis use one local memory service, independent of the overlay lifecycle. Useful Jarvis discussions can inform a later main session and vice versa—even when Note main is off. Memory does not steer or queue messages into the other session; it supplies historical context when recalled. Close/reopen, /new, and project changes do not erase it.

Use project notes for architecture choices, build conventions, corrections and useful references. Use global notes only for preferences you deliberately want across projects. Prefer concise, specific facts with stable titles; search and inspect their dates/provenance before relying on them. Do not use memory as a password or token store. See Memory in 60 seconds for commands you can run without involving a model.

What is remembered

• Bounded conversation captures (not the optional full-session archive): only newly finalized user/assistant text observed after loading this feature, labeled with project, main/Jarvis lane, session ID, event identity and timestamps. No silent historical import or reconstruction from old session files.
• Curated notes: your active model can save concise preferences, corrections, project decisions and references during normal foreground work. Stable scoped titles update/deduplicate notes. You can save or edit notes explicitly too. Curation depends on the model choosing the tool; it is not a separate background summarizer.
• Bounded recall: a small request-local selection of global/current-project notes and matching conversation excerpts, using local keyword search. Other projects are available through explicit search --all or the model's cross-project search tool. Project scope uses the canonical working directory, not a remote repository name; separate worktrees remain separate scopes unless a note is global.

There are no embeddings, background model calls, telemetry, or memory-server connections. Retrieval and saving tools can add normal foreground model turns/tokens. Recalled text is sent to the active model as untrusted historical data, not instructions. Automatic recall is capped at 6,000 UTF-8 bytes of record JSON plus a short notice; tool search results are capped at 12,000 bytes with explicit excerpt/omission markers. Automatically injected memory guidance and recall are request-local, not appended to Pi's persisted transcript. Explicit memory-tool calls/results are recorded normally by Pi and may contain saved facts; model replies may repeat them too.

Controls

/jarvis-memory                         # status, without reading stored memories
/jarvis-memory off                     # global MASTER OFF for main + Jarvis
/jarvis-memory on                      # enable globally; project restrictions still apply
/jarvis-memory capture off             # saving default off (project overrides apply)
/jarvis-memory recall off              # recall default off (project overrides apply)
/jarvis-memory --project off           # pause memory in this project
/jarvis-memory --project clear         # remove this project's memory settings
/jarvis-memory --global clear          # remove global settings, not stored data

enabled, capture, and recall default to true. Each field resolves project → global → default, except global enabled: false is a master switch that no project can override. Untrusted projects and unreadable/malformed settings pause all memory. Use --project capture off or --project recall off to pause that capability specifically here; inspect status for the effective setting. The full off switch means no capture, memory-record reads, injection, tool execution, or background work; existing data remains on disk. Even inspection requires re-enabling memory. Explicit management commands still work with only capture or recall turned off. Turning memory off does not erase facts/tool results already in the current conversation or already-viewed output.

Controls share the existing settings files and preserve model/thinking/unknown keys:

{
  "memory": { "enabled": false }
}

Place this in <agentDir>/extensions/pi-jarvis.json to disable memory before installation/startup (normally ~/.pi/agent/extensions/pi-jarvis.json; honors PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR). Project overrides live in .pi/jarvis.json. Memory settings writes are atomic and use a bounded cooperative lock; legacy model/thinking writers do not share that lock, so avoid concurrent configuration changes. Corrupt shared settings are never automatically repaired or overwritten—even by model/thinking set or clear commands. Repair the JSON manually while preserving privacy settings. A crashed config writer can leave a .memory.lock file; remove it only after confirming no writer is running.

Inspect, edit and forget

/jarvis-memory list                    # recent global/current-project records
/jarvis-memory search deployment       # local keyword search
/jarvis-memory search --all deployment # explicitly search every project
/jarvis-memory show <id>
/jarvis-memory remember --global Answer style | Prefer concise answers.
/jarvis-memory remember Build choice | This project uses npm, not pnpm.
/jarvis-memory edit <id> Replacement fact, preserving the note's scope/title.
/jarvis-memory forget <id>
/jarvis-memory forget-all --confirm     # this project's records only
/jarvis-memory forget-all --confirm --global
/jarvis-memory forget-all --confirm --all

Put data scope flags after the action. list --global and search --global … restrict results to global records; show --all <id> and forget --all <id> explicitly allow another project's record. Lists and searches are bounded; narrow your query to find older records. Model-requested deletion is limited to one current/global record and requires human confirmation; commands above are explicit user actions. Confirmation is cancelled on observed permission change, abort or disposal, and a concurrently changed record must be reviewed again. Settings are rechecked at operation boundaries; other processes do not receive a live push notification.

Storage and privacy

The store is <agentDir>/extensions/pi-jarvis-memory/memory.sqlite, with SQLite transaction/WAL coordination across processes. It is opened lazily; Node 22/24 may print an experimental SQLite warning on first actual use. On POSIX, the owned directory is mode 0700 and database mode 0600; this is local plaintext, not encryption or a sandbox. Backups of your agent directory may include it.

Only newly finalized visible text is captured—not thinking blocks, tool results/calls, images, custom/system messages, failed/aborted assistant outputs, or old session files. Metadata-only event anchors are resolved after Pi's message-finalization/redaction hooks, at turn/settlement boundaries. Pending captures are discarded on permission/session changes or disposal, not replayed after re-enable. Recognizable credential blocks are omitted and common secret formats redacted, but filtering is best-effort and cannot detect every sensitive detail. Pause capture or disable memory for sensitive work. Notes containing detected secrets are rejected rather than silently changed. Oversized captures (over 16 KiB UTF-8) are omitted, not truncated into misleading facts; curated-note writes over that limit fail explicitly.

Retention is bounded to the newest 10,000 captured messages and 1,000 curated notes. Archive rollover never truncates Pi's original history; notes are not automatically discarded at their limit. Forgetting tombstones the record identity so the same captured event/scoped note title is not automatically restored; an explicit remember command can restore a forgotten title. This is not semantic erasure of every mention: other records, original Pi transcripts, already-sent model context and backups may still contain the fact. SQLite deletion is logical, not forensic secure erasure.

The combined live-record/tombstone budget is 100,000 identities: new identity saves fail at capacity rather than dropping deletion markers; existing records always reserve room for forgetting. First database open performs synchronous integrity checks and can briefly pause on a large archive. SQLite WAL files can temporarily grow while another process holds a reader snapshot; there is no strict total-directory disk quota. To completely reset/delete this local store without re-enabling memory, stop every Pi process using it, then remove only the pi-jarvis-memory directory yourself. This also removes tombstones, not original Pi transcripts.

Model and thinking resolution

flowchart TD
    A[Project config\n.pi/jarvis.json] -->|if present| B{valid?}
    B -->|yes| P[Use project overrides]
    B -->|no or missing| C[Global config\n<agentDir>/extensions/pi-jarvis.json]
    C -->|if present| D{valid?}
    D -->|yes| G[Use global overrides]
    D -->|no or missing| E[Built-in defaults]
    E --> F[Model default: follow-main]
    E --> H[Thinking default: auto]

Resolution order

Model and thinking settings resolve through the same config layers, then fall back to separate built-in defaults:

1. project config: .pi/jarvis.json
2. global config: ~/.pi/agent/extensions/pi-jarvis.json or the equivalent path under a custom Pi agent dir
3. built-in defaults: model follow-main, thinking auto

Global writes do not displace an existing project override. Config writes use same-directory atomic replacement and preserve unrelated keys; unreadable files are never treated as malformed JSON and overwritten. Malformed JSON must be manually repaired: set/clear commands will not replace or delete a corrupt shared file and risk resetting memory privacy controls. Avoid simultaneous configuration writes from multiple Pi processes: cross-process locking is not implemented.

Overlay controls

The overlay header exposes three controls, all off by default:

Note main and Redirect can be forcibly disabled when the active /jarvis model is incompatible with bridge tools. Closing the overlay revokes all three permissions and cancels pending confirmations. Already-running local operations are not undone; newly starting calls are blocked.

Long redirects are paged: review every page with Up/Down or PageUp/PageDown before pressing Y. Resize if the terminal is too small to review safely. Configured Pi selection keybindings are respected.

First-open neon intro

The first /jarvis open for each main-session ID shows the ASCII wordmark with a 1.8-second cyan/violet/pink chrome sweep. It is decorative, not a loading screen: startup and queued prompts continue normally, and the editor and permission controls remain usable. Type or paste to dismiss it immediately; your input is preserved. Escape still closes the overlay. Confirmation review and warnings/errors take priority.

Reopening Jarvis, side /new, tree navigation, and returning to a previously opened main session do not replay it. The once-per-session memory lives in the loaded extension; restarting Pi or /reload resets it. Small terminals use a compact wordmark or skip the intro entirely. Light themes and 256-color terminals are supported; there is no flashing or terminal blinking.

To skip the intro, start Pi with PI_JARVIS_NO_ANIMATION=1. A non-empty NO_COLOR or TERM=dumb also suppresses it. These switches affect the intro, not Pi's other animations or colors.

Keyboard and drafts

Version 1.5.0 adds compact diagnostics, scrollback, and a multiline draft editor.

The compact header keeps main status, the side model, main focus, and permissions visible. Activity and waiting-message counts remain visible while reading older output; counts exclude the active request. The latest notice appears separately; expand details for more of a long notice.

The multiline editor uses Pi's public editor and configured editing keybindings. Up/Down move within a draft; Up at the beginning of the first line (or in an empty editor) recalls prompts. Down past recalled prompts restores the draft. Pasted indentation and newlines are preserved, with Pi's normal tab-to-spaces normalization. Oversized drafts (over 64 KiB) and terminal-control payloads are rejected explicitly, never silently truncated or sent.

Unsent drafts survive closing and reopening /jarvis in the same running Pi session. They are not saved to disk. Side /new, main-session replacement, and switching to an unrelated side-session reference clear them; navigating the side tree only resets the transcript view. Closing still revokes all three overlay permissions; shared memory follows its separate persistent controls.

Scrollback follows new output until you scroll up. To bound rendering work, the overlay retains up to 500 recent entries and 512K UTF-16 code units of source text, with a 64K-unit per-entry limit. Omitted content is marked explicitly; these display limits do not modify persisted conversation history. Resizing preserves the reading position on a best-effort basis.

Permission flow

flowchart TD
    A[Overlay opens] --> B[Repo tools off]
    A --> C[Note main off]
    A --> D[Redirect off]

    B -->|enable| E[Jarvis may use local tools]
    E --> H[Configured native MCP]

    C -->|enable| I[Jarvis may send a quiet note to main]
    D -->|enable| J[Jarvis may request redirect sends]
    J --> K[Every redirect still requires confirmation]

    L[Incompatible /jarvis model] --> M[Note main disabled]
    L --> N[Redirect disabled]

Redirect flow

sequenceDiagram
    participant You
    participant Jarvis
    participant Main as Main session

    You->>Jarvis: Enable Redirect
    You->>Jarvis: "Tell the main session to stop and inspect overlay teardown"
    Jarvis->>You: Confirmation request
    You-->>Jarvis: Approve
    Jarvis-->>Main: Redirect instruction
    Main-->>You: Continues on new priority

Session behavior

• /jarvis keeps its own isolated conversation state
• prior side-session history is restored from a session file under jarvis-sessions/
• main-tree navigation reconciles the side-session reference instead of continuing in an unrelated side thread
• reset/shutdown invalidates old queues; failed commands and uncertain sends are not automatically replayed
• side-session project resources honor the main session's project-trust decision
• Jarvis sees current main-session state plus a compact delta since the last /jarvis turn
• /compact, /tree, and /new entered inside /jarvis operate on the side-session, not the main session
• plain /jarvis-model <provider/model> writes the project model override; use --global to change the global default
• plain /jarvis-thinking <level> writes the project thinking override; use --global to change the global default
• thinking-step streaming is intentionally collapsed to a cleaner animated fallback for readability

Example usage

Ask for live status

/jarvis what is the main agent doing right now?

Ask for triage while the main lane keeps moving

/jarvis summarize the last failing test and tell me the fastest likely fix

Use Jarvis as a repo-side helper

/jarvis inspect overlay.ts for teardown or redraw risks

Send a non-interrupting note back to the main session

1. Open /jarvis
2. Enable Note main
3. Ask Jarvis to send the note

Send a redirect safely

1. Open /jarvis
2. Enable Redirect
3. Ask Jarvis to redirect the main session
4. Confirm the send

Compatibility note

This repository's validation baseline is Pi 1.0.0, using host-provided @earendil-works/pi-ai, @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent, and @earendil-works/pi-tui. Older Pi versions are not supported by this release.

Physical models use the main host's public model registry for requests and credentials, including custom providers and runtime-only authentication. Virtual/router models are not supported: Pi's public extension registry does not expose session-aware virtual routing. Pin /jarvis-model <provider/physical-model> if the main session uses a virtual model.

Native MCP

Pi already provides MCP; Jarvis 1.6.0 opts its separate SDK session into Pi's native factories when Repo tools is enabled.

• Repo tools is the opt-in for both local tools and native MCP. While initially off, Jarvis does not start MCP connections or expand MCP configuration credentials/commands.
• Enabling it starts separate, side-owned connections to configured servers from the active agent directory's mcp.json and, only when trusted, the project's .pi/mcp.json. Main-session connections are neither reused nor disconnected. Servers registered only by main-session extensions are not automatically inherited.
• Native direct, deferred/tool-search, codemode, and resource tools keep Pi's configured exposure. Jarvis rechecks live permission and session lifetime for calls, including nested calls and previously prepared tool references. Server annotations are hints, not permission grants.
• Disabling Repo tools, closing the overlay, or disposing the side runtime invalidates that permission generation, hides its tools, aborts owned call signals, and requests native disconnection. Re-enabling creates a fresh generation rather than reviving stale calls.
• Cancellation is best effort, not rollback or a sandbox. Pi may allow already-started connection handshakes, authentication refresh/cleanup, or remote operations to finish or time out after revocation. A pending native handshake may outlive the shutdown request until Pi finishes or times it out.
• Manage servers and OAuth sign-in in main Pi (/mcp or pi mcp ...), not through a side-session administration command. Jarvis does not register a side /mcp manager. Codemode's classifier/image-model helpers are disabled in the side session.

Use narrowly scoped credentials and trust your configured servers. Enabling Repo tools permits the configured MCP capabilities; it is not a read-only grant.

Development

Archive encryption is optional and off by default; its design and operating contract documents the shipped password-based feature and its limits. Development validation uses disposable synthetic archives and injected credential stores—never real user migrations or OS credentials. Keep optional native packages lazy, exact-pinned and fail-closed; public/private-key support remains deferred.

Install dependencies without running lifecycle scripts:

npm install --ignore-scripts

Type-check:

npm run check

Run tests:

npm test

Build the published package contents:

npm run build

Preview and verify the npm payload contract:

npm run verify:release

Check the mandatory annotated version-number tag policy for committed history:

npm run check:tags

Regenerate the shared logo and actual-renderer demo artwork after visual changes:

npm run render:branding

This uses deterministic fixtures, without opening a terminal, calling a provider, or connecting to MCP servers.

Release automation

GitHub Actions validate branch pushes and pull requests on Node 22.19.0 and 24. They require an annotated stable vX.Y.Z tag on every reachable post-policy-baseline commit and run tests, build, and package verification. Every commit bumps the matching package and documentation versions; prerelease (dev, alpha, beta, RC), build-metadata, and SHA-only tags do not qualify. Fork PR jobs are read-only.

A matching annotated vX.Y.Z tag runs exact-tag validation and creates a GitHub release with the validated npm tarball. npm publication stays manual; no npm publishing token is configured. Existing assets are verified, never overwritten with different bytes.

CI reports violations; protected-branch/tag rules must be configured separately for enforcement. See RELEASING.md for atomic tagged pushes, fork/merge handling, reruns, and manual npm publication.

License

pi-jarvis is released under the MIT License. See LICENSE.