pi-package-search

Search npm for installable Pi packages, then install the right one without leaving Pi.

pi-package-search adds package discovery to Pi with two tools and a matching skill:

• search_pi_packages searches npm for packages tagged with pi-package
• install_pi_package installs the package the user chooses
• /skill:pi-package-search guides Pi to use the right workflow

It uses the same npm registry search endpoint behind the Pi package gallery, then formats results as ready-to-run pi install commands.

Why this exists

Discovering Pi packages is easier when Pi can do the searching for you.

This package helps Pi:

• find relevant packages from npm
• stay focused on packages intended for Pi
• return short descriptions with copy-pasteable install commands
• install a selected package in global or project scope

What's included

Component	Name	Purpose
Tool	search_pi_packages	Search npm for packages tagged with pi-package
Tool	install_pi_package	Run pi install for a chosen package
Skill	/skill:pi-package-search	Prompt Pi to use the package discovery workflow

Install

From a local checkout

pi install /absolute/path/to/pi-package-search

From npm

pi install npm:pi-package-search

[!NOTE] Use the npm form after the package has been published.

Usage

Ask Pi naturally

• Find pi packages for session search
• Search for pi packages related to browser automation
• Show me pi packages for git workflows

Or invoke the skill directly

/skill:pi-package-search browser automation

Example result

Found 3 pi packages for "browser automation"

1. @scope/package-name@1.2.3
   Short description here.
   Install: pi install npm:@scope/package-name
   npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@scope/package-name

If the user already knows what they want, install_pi_package can install it directly:

• global scope: pi install npm:@scope/package-name
• project scope: pi install -l npm:@scope/package-name
• it also tolerates the user or model passing the full command back in, like pi install npm:@scope/package-name

How it works

search_pi_packages calls the npm registry search API and automatically adds the keywords:pi-package filter.

Each result is normalized into:

• package name and version
• short description
• npm package URL
• homepage URL when available
• a copy-pasteable pi install command

install_pi_package accepts either:

• a bare package name like @scope/pkg
• a full npm source like npm:@scope/pkg@1.2.3
• a full command like pi install npm:@scope/pkg or pi install -l @scope/pkg

Development

npm install
npm run check

Useful commands:

npm run test
npm run lint
npm run format
npm run typecheck
npm run e2e
npm run publish:dry-run

Project structure

extensions/index.ts          # Registers the tools with Pi
src/search-pi-packages.ts    # npm search client + result formatting
src/install-pi-package.ts    # pi install wrapper
skills/pi-package-search/    # matching discovery skill
tests/                       # Vitest coverage for tools and extension wiring

E2E smoke test

Run the real Pi flow locally with your configured Pi model credentials:

npm run e2e

What it does:

1. creates a temporary git repo
2. installs this package into that repo
3. runs /skill:pi-package-search session search
4. verifies search_pi_packages was called
5. runs Install @kaiserlich-dev/pi-session-search in this project.
6. verifies install_pi_package was called and updated .pi/settings.json

Useful environment variables:

• PI_PACKAGE_SEARCH_SOURCE — override the package source, for example npm:pi-package-search
• PI_E2E_TEST_INSTALL_PACKAGE — package installed during the smoke test
• PI_E2E_MODEL — override the Pi model used during the run
• PI_E2E_KEEP_TMPDIR=1 — keep the temp directory for debugging
• PI_E2E_ISOLATE_AGENT_DIR=1 — use a clean Pi config directory instead of your current auth/config

Publishing

Local publish sanity check:

npm run publish:dry-run

One-time npm setup after the first manual publish:

1. open the pi-package-search package settings on npmjs.com
2. add a trusted publisher for the GitHub repo forjd/pi-package-search
3. select the workflow file .github/workflows/release.yml

GitHub Actions workflows included in this repo:

• CI — lint, typecheck, unit tests, and npm pack --dry-run
• Conventional Commits — enforces a semantic pull request title
• E2E — installs the package into a temp repo and exercises the real Pi flow
• Release Please — opens release PRs, bumps semver versions, and publishes to npm with trusted publishing when a release is created

[!NOTE] npm publishing now uses npm trusted publishing via GitHub Actions OIDC, so the release workflow does not need NPM_TOKEN or any model provider key.

Conventional commits and releases

This repository uses Conventional Commits for release automation.

Local enforcement:

• simple-git-hooks runs commitlint in the commit-msg hook
• pre-commit still runs lint + typecheck
• pre-push still runs tests

GitHub enforcement:

• the Conventional Commits workflow checks pull request titles
• Release Please reads conventional commit history to decide whether the next release is a patch, minor, or major bump
• when Release Please creates a release, the same workflow publishes the package to npm automatically with trusted publishing
• model-backed Pi smoke tests stay in the separate E2E workflow, not in the release path

Quality checks

• Vitest covers URL building, result mapping, formatting, install behavior, and extension registration
• Biome handles formatting and linting
• GitHub Actions runs CI plus a real Pi E2E smoke test workflow
• commitlint and semantic PR checks enforce conventional commits
• release-please is bootstrapped from the manually published 0.1.0 release via .release-please-manifest.json

License

MIT © Dan