Pi Models Extension

Browse and switch AI models in Pi with an intuitive cascading menu.

This extension adds a /models command to Pi that opens an interactive model browser. Instead of typing model IDs, you can visually navigate through providers and model families to find and switch models instantly.

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What This Is

Pi Models replaces manual model switching with a point-and-select interface:

• Visual browsing - See all available models organized by provider or family
• Two browsing modes - Choose your navigation style: by provider (Anthropic → Claude) or by model family (Claude → pick provider)
• Smart grouping - Automatically groups models into families (GPT-4, Claude, Llama, etc.)
• Multi-provider awareness - When the same model is available from multiple providers (e.g., Claude via Anthropic, AWS, or Vertex), you choose which one to use
• Free model discovery - All free models from any provider grouped together at the top
• No truncation - Full model names are displayed with dynamic column sizing

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How to Use It

1. Open the Browser

Type /models in Pi's input box and press Enter:

User: /models
Pi: [Model browser opens]

2. Choose Browse Mode

First, pick how you want to browse:

📦 Browse Models
→ 📦 By Provider          ← Browse provider → model
  🔬 By Lab               ← Browse lab → all models from that lab
  🏷️ By Model Family     ← Browse family → provider → model

Mode	Best For	Flow
By Provider	When you know which provider hosts the model	Provider → Model
By Lab	When you want to see all models from a specific lab/company	Lab → All Models
By Model Family	When you know the model type and want family filtering	Family → Provider (if multi) → Model

Navigate: ↑/↓ or k/j to move, Enter to select, Esc to cancel

3. Browse and Select

By Provider View

📦 Models                    📦 anthropic
→ 🆓 Free Models (3)         → ● claude-sonnet-4-20250514
  anthropic (8)                claude-haiku-3-20240307
  google (4)                   claude-opus-4-20250514
  openai (6)
  ollama (12)

1. Select a provider (or 🆓 Free Models)
2. See all models for that provider
3. Select a model to switch to it

By Model Family View

🏷️ Model Families            🏷️ Claude Sonnet
→ 🆓 Free Models (3)         → anthropic
  Claude Haiku (2)             aws
  Claude Opus (2)              vertex
  Claude Sonnet (3)
  GPT-4o (4)
  Llama 3.3 (5)

1. Select a model family (or 🆓 Free Models)
2. If multiple providers: Choose which provider's version
3. If single provider: Latest version is selected automatically
4. Model switches instantly

4. Model Switches Automatically

After selection, Pi immediately switches to that model:

[System: Switched to claude-sonnet-4-20250514]

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Supported Model Families

The extension automatically categorizes models using pattern matching on model IDs and names:

Family	Pattern	Example IDs Matched
Claude	claude	claude-opus-4, claude-sonnet-3.5, claude-haiku-3
GPT	gpt	gpt-4o, gpt-4-turbo, gpt-3.5-turbo, o1-preview
Gemini	gemini	gemini-1.5-pro, gemini-1.5-flash, gemini-ultra
Llama	llama	llama3.2, llama-3.3-70b, codellama-70b
DeepSeek	deepseek	deepseek-chat, deepseek-r1
Qwen	qwen	qwen3.5-397b, qwen3-coder, qwen3-vl
MiniMax	minimax	minimax-m2.5, minimax-m2
Kimi	kimi or moonshot	kimi-k2.5, moonshot-v1-32k
GLM	glm or chatglm	glm-4.7, glm-5, chatglm3
Nemotron	nemotron	nemotron-4-340b, nemotron-3-super
Mistral	mistral	mistral-large-3, mistral-small
Arcee	arcee or trinity	trinity-large-preview, arcee-ai/trinity-mini
Hermes	hermes	hermes-2-pro, hermes-3-llama
Hy3	hy3	hy3-70b, hy3-lite
Lyria	lyria	lyria-1, lyria-v2
Qianfan	qianfan	qianfan-chat, qianfan-ernie
Other	router, auto	Router models grouped separately

Multi-Provider Grouping: Models with the same name from different providers (e.g., Trinity Large Preview from zen, kilo, cline) are automatically merged into the same family.

Ollama Models: Local Ollama models are grouped with their brand families (e.g., ollama/llama3.2 → Llama family, ollama/qwen2.5 → Qwen family).

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Development

Running Tests

The extension includes a comprehensive test suite (43 tests) covering model family detection, grouping, and utility functions:

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run tests once
npm test

# Run tests in watch mode during development
npm run test:watch

# Type check
npm run typecheck

Test Coverage

Function	Tests
isModelFree()	5 tests - cost checking edge cases
formatModelName()	3 tests - name vs ID handling
getProviders()	5 tests - grouping, sorting, free counting
detectModelFamily()	42 tests - all model family patterns, ollama, routers, multi-provider
getModelFamilies()	5 tests - grouping, sorting, name-based merging

Total: 60 tests covering all major functionality and edge cases.

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Installation

Via pi install (recommended)

pi install npm:pi-models

This installs the package and adds it to your settings.json automatically. Run /reload in Pi to activate.

Via settings.json

Add to ~/.pi/agent/settings.json:

{
  "packages": ["npm:pi-models"]
}

Then run /reload in Pi.

Via GitHub (manual)

cd ~/.pi/agent/extensions
git clone https://github.com/apmantza/pi-models.git

Or copy just the file:

cp pi-models.ts ~/.pi/agent/extensions/

Run /reload in Pi.

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Controls Reference

Key	Action
↑ / ↓ or k / j	Navigate up/down
Enter	Select highlighted item
Esc	Go back to previous level / close browser

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Requirements

• Pi v1.0+ with TypeScript extension support
• Models must have configured auth (API keys or local dummy keys like "ollama")

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Changelog

Unreleased

0.2.3

• New: Hermes, Hy3, Lyria, and Qianfan model family support
• New: Provider count shown in "By Model Family" view (e.g., "Claude Sonnet (3)")
• Improved: Overlay screens auto-resize to fit content width

0.2.2

• Fixed: OpenAI o4 models now correctly group under OpenAI lab (added "o4" to o-series detection)
• Fixed: By Lab view now shows all models directly without intermediate family selection step

0.2.1

• Fixed: Ollama models now group with brand families instead of separate ollama-* families
• New: Name-based family merging - models with same name from different providers auto-merge
• New: Arcee/Trinity model family support
• New: Router models (router, auto, kilo-auto/free) grouped into "Other" family
• New: Mistral model family support
• New: Complete test suite (60 tests)

0.2.0

• New: Browse mode selection (By Provider / By Model Family)
• New: Automatic model family detection with heuristic pattern matching
• New: Multi-provider selection for same model families (e.g., Claude from Anthropic/AWS/Vertex)
• Improved: Dynamic column sizing - model names are no longer truncated
• Improved: Wider overlays for better visibility
• Improved: Free Models accessible in both browse views

0.1.0

• Initial release
• Two-level provider → model browsing
• Free models virtual provider
• Local model support (Ollama)

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Author: Apostolos Mantzaris
License: MIT