pi-powerline-footer

Customizes the default pi editor with a powerline-style status bar, welcome overlay, and AI-generated "vibes" for loading messages. Inspired by Powerlevel10k and oh-my-pi.

Features

Editor stash — Press Alt+S to save your editor content and clear the editor, type a quick prompt, and your stashed text auto-restores when the agent finishes. Toggles between stash, pop, and update-existing-stash. A stash indicator appears in the powerline bar while text is stashed.

Powerline Queue + Inbox — Capture thoughts without interrupting the current agent. Type # <idea> and press Enter to save an idea instead of sending it; # @global <idea>, # @current <idea>, and # @alias <idea> route it. Messages typed during compaction are held by Powerline and delivered after successful compaction instead of disappearing into Pi's native queue. /idea, /ideas, and /queue provide a file-backed inbox for current-session prompts, project ideas, aliases, retries, clears, and manual delivery. Use /ideas next to work the oldest active idea in the current session, or /ideas issue to hand it to the current agent for safe GitHub issue triage. Active queue, idea, and blocked counts appear in the queue segment only when there is something to show.

Working Vibes — AI-generated themed loading messages. Set /vibe star trek and your "Working..." becomes "Running diagnostics..." or "Engaging warp drive...". Supports any theme: pirate, zen, noir, cowboy, etc.

Welcome overlay — Branded splash screen shown as centered overlay on startup. Shows gradient logo, model info, keyboard tips, loaded AGENTS.md/extensions/skills/templates counts, an approximate initial system-prompt token count, and recent sessions. Auto-dismisses after 30 seconds or on any key press. Set powerline.welcome to false to disable it while keeping the footer enabled.

Rounded box design — Status renders directly in the editor's top border, not as a separate footer.

Native Pi layout — Pi owns fixed input, feed scrolling, selection, and terminal behavior; this extension supplies powerline widgets and the custom bash/stash/editor integrations.

Live thinking level indicator — Shows current thinking level (think:off, think:med, etc.) with per-level colors. High, xhigh, and max levels use a rainbow effect inspired by Claude Code's ultrathink.

Smart defaults — Nerd Font auto-detection for iTerm, WezTerm, Kitty, Ghostty, and Alacritty with ASCII fallbacks. Colors matched to oh-my-pi's dark theme.

Git integration — Async status fetching with 1s cache TTL. Automatically invalidates on file writes/edits. Shows branch, staged (+), unstaged (*), and untracked (?) counts.

Context awareness — Color-coded warnings above 70% (yellow) and above 90% (red) context usage. During streaming, the context segment refreshes from live assistant usage instead of waiting for the next turn. Auto-compact indicator when enabled. If pi-custom-compaction is installed and enabled, the powerline automatically hides native context segments so the footer does not show stale post-summary usage.

Token intelligence — Smart formatting (1.2k, 45M), used/max/percentage context display, subscription detection, and configurable subscription cost display.

Sticky bash mode — Toggle bash mode with ctrl+shift+b or /bash-mode. It keeps a managed shell session alive for the current pi session, shows a dedicated shell_mode segment, streams command output into an embedded transcript below the editor, and lets cd or exported state persist across commands.

Shell ghost suggestions — Bash mode is now ghost-first. Successful per-project shell history is the primary source, while deterministic path and git continuations can still extend an existing command. Shell-native completion probes are disabled so !command predictions never spawn interactive shell completion subprocesses. At command position, short stems first resolve from the newest successful local command, can use guarded global shell history for high-confidence heads like git, and finally fall back to a tiny curated default set when history is absent. Right now that curated set is g → git status and c → cd ... If the bash prompt is empty, bash mode shows the newest successful project-history ghost suggestion when one exists, otherwise it stays empty. The same inline predictions now also kick in for one-off !command and !!command prompts. Right Arrow or Tab accepts ghost text into the editor, and Enter runs the current shell command.

Installation

pi install npm:pi-powerline-footer

Restart pi to activate.

Usage

Activates automatically. Toggle with /powerline, switch presets with /powerline <name>, and move the primary row with /powerline placement above|below|toggle.

Use /cd <path> to continue the current conversation from another working directory. It supports relative paths, absolute paths, ~, ~/..., and directory completions. With no argument, /cd prints the current Pi session directory. The command switches into a cwd-updated session file so Pi tools and the footer path segment agree after the change.

Powerline Queue + Inbox commands and capture shortcuts:

• # <text> — capture an idea for the current project without sending it to the agent
• # @global <text> — capture a global idea
• # @current <text> — capture an idea targeted to the current session
• /queue alias <name> [path] — save a project alias, defaulting to the current cwd when path is omitted
• # @name <text> — capture an idea for a saved project alias
• /compact <text> — compact now and queue <text> as the next prompt after successful compaction
• /idea [@target] <text> — command form of idea capture, useful for scripts and users who disable the sigil
• /idea issue [id] — hand the oldest active idea, or a specific idea, to the current agent for safe GitHub issue triage
• /ideas — open the captured-ideas picker
• /ideas next — send the oldest active idea to the current session
• /ideas issue [id] — ask the current agent to dedupe and file a GitHub issue only when the target repo is clear and owned/controlled
• /ideas send <id> — send an idea to the current session
• /queue — open the queued-prompt picker
• /queue send [id] / /queue retry [id] — deliver a queued item now
• /queue clear <id|all> — clear queued prompt items
• /queue target <id> @name|global|current — retarget a queued item

The default capture sigil is #. When the editor text starts with # , the prompt glyph changes to #; pressing Enter saves the idea, clears the editor, and leaves the original sigil text in editor history for quick recovery. Configure or disable this under powerline.queue.captureSigil:

{
  "powerline": {
    "queue": {
      "captureSigil": "#"
    }
  }
}

Set captureSigil to false if you often submit markdown headings and prefer /idea instead.

Captured data is stored under the Pi agent directory in powerline-footer/inbox.jsonl and powerline-footer/projects.json. inbox.jsonl is a stable read surface for orchestrators and helper agents; each line is a queue item with id, text, createdAt, updatedAt, source, target, intent, status, and optional error. Writes should still go through Powerline commands or the store so locking and atomic writes are preserved. Ideas sent with /ideas next or /ideas send <id> include a small provenance header so the receiving agent can treat them as deferred captured context. /idea issue and /ideas issue do not file issues directly from the extension; they send a guarded handoff prompt that tells the current agent to dedupe open issues first, create a GitHub issue only for a clear owned/controlled repo, and ask before filing when the target is unclear.

• /powerline placement below — move the primary powerline row below the editor
• /powerline placement above — restore the default placement
• /powerline placement toggle — switch between above and below

You can also set it in the agent settings file (~/.pi/agent/settings.json by default, or under PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR) or project-local .pi/settings.json:

{
  "showLastPrompt": true,
  "powerline": {
    "preset": "default",
    "placement": "below",
    "welcome": true
  }
}

Preset	Description
default	Model, thinking, path (basename), git, context, tokens, cost
minimal	Just path (basename), git, context
compact	Model, git, cost, context
full	Everything including hostname, time, abbreviated path
nerd	Maximum detail for Nerd Font users
ascii	Safe for any terminal

Environment: POWERLINE_NERD_FONTS=1 to force Nerd Fonts, =0 for ASCII.

Preset selection is saved under powerline in the agent settings file and restored on startup. Run /powerline default to switch back to the default preset.

Custom items from extension statuses

You can promote any extension status key into its own dedicated powerline item. This gives you a general way to register your own status items without changing this extension.

1. Any extension can publish status text through ctx.ui.setStatus("my-key", "...value...").
2. Configure powerline.customItems to place those keys on the left, right, or secondary row.

{
  "powerline": {
    "preset": "default",
    "customItems": [
      {
        "id": "ci",
        "statusKey": "ci-status",
        "position": "right",
        "prefix": "CI",
        "color": "warning"
      },
      {
        "id": "review",
        "position": "secondary",
        "hideWhenMissing": false,
        "prefix": "review"
      }
    ]
  }
}

customItems fields:

• id (required): unique item id (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _, -)
• statusKey (optional): extension status key to read, defaults to id
• position (optional): left, right, or secondary (default right)
• prefix (optional): text shown before the live status value
• color (optional): any Pi theme color (warning, accent, etc.) or hex (#RRGGBB)
• hideWhenMissing (optional): hide item when no status is present (default true)
• excludeFromExtensionStatuses (optional): omit this key from the aggregate extension_statuses segment (default true)

If you still prefer the older string preset config shape, "powerline": "default" continues to work. String preset shorthand keeps welcome enabled and uses the default shortcut/cost/model display settings.

Disabling segments

Set powerline.disabledSegments to hide built-in or configured custom segments from the active preset:

{
  "powerline": {
    "preset": "default",
    "disabledSegments": ["cost", "extension_statuses", "custom:ci"]
  }
}

Built-in names are listed under Segments below. Custom items use custom:<id>. Unknown names are ignored with a startup warning.

Custom layout

Use powerline.layout to override segment order and grouping while keeping the selected preset’s colors and segment options. Set powerline.separator when you want a separator style independent of the preset:

{
  "powerline": {
    "preset": "default",
    "separator": "chevron",
    "layout": {
      "left": ["model", "thinking", "path", "git"],
      "right": ["context_pct", "cost"],
      "secondary": ["custom:ci"]
    },
    "customItems": [
      { "id": "ci", "statusKey": "ci-status" }
    ]
  }
}

A present left, right, or secondary array replaces that preset group exactly; an empty array clears it. Omitted groups keep the preset entries and automatically append custom items by their configured position. Explicitly listing a segment moves it out of omitted preset groups, and explicitly placed custom items are not auto-appended elsewhere. disabledSegments is applied after layout. separator accepts any style listed below; omit it to keep the preset’s separator.

Responsive behavior is unchanged: these groups control ordering and overflow priority, not permanently pinned terminal rows. right means “later primary segments,” not right-edge alignment. On wide terminals secondary entries can fit in the top bar; on narrow terminals primary overflow moves into the secondary line. Some segments are hidden when they have no value, so thinking appears only when the active session/model reports a non-off thinking level. Unknown entries are ignored with a startup warning. The old fixed custom preset has been removed; combine any preset with layout instead.

Demo settings

For a compact current footer setup:

{
  "powerline": {
    "preset": "default",
    "path": { "mode": "basename" },
    "model": { "display": "name" },
    "cost": { "subscriptionDisplay": "subscription", "currency": "USD" }
  }
}

Use "model": { "display": "qualified" } when two providers expose models with the same display name.

cost.currency accepts USD, CNY, EUR, GBP, JPY, CAD, AUD, CHF, INR, or KRW. Pi reports costs in USD; non-USD display uses a keyless USD FX rate fetched in the background and cached for 24 hours under the Pi agent directory. If no cached rate is available yet, the cost segment renders -- CODE until a later footer refresh can use the fetched rate.

Subscription cost display accepts:

Mode	Subscription + reported cost	Subscription + no reported cost
subscription	(sub)	(sub)
reported-cost	$0.12	(sub)
both	$0.12 (sub)	(sub)

Segment display formats (opt-in; defaults match the historical rendering):

Segment option	Values	Default	Effect
"context": { "format" }	"full" / "percent"	"full"	"percent" shows a bare rounded 83% (threshold-colored, no icon) instead of 12k/200k (6.2%)
"cache_read": { "format" }	"tokens" / "percent" / "both"	"tokens"	"percent" shows the cache hit rate cacheRead / (input + cacheRead) instead of the raw token count; "both" shows raw tokens plus the hit rate, e.g. cache in: 12k (80%)

{
  "powerline": {
    "context": { "format": "percent" },
    "cache_read": { "format": "both" }
  }
}

Bash mode

Toggle bash mode with either:

• ctrl+shift+b
• /bash-mode on
• /bash-mode off
• /bash-mode toggle

Reset the managed shell with /bash-reset.

While bash mode is active:

• Enter runs the current shell command
• Right Arrow accepts ghost text into the editor without running it
• Tab accepts the current ghost suggestion when one exists; otherwise it does nothing
• Up and Down browse matching shell history
• escape exits bash mode and returns to normal prompt mode
• ctrl+c interrupts the active shell job before falling back to normal pi behavior

The managed shell is persistent for the current pi session. Command output appears in a transcript below the editor, and shell cwd changes are reflected in the footer path and shell_mode segment. If the bash prompt is empty, bash mode shows the newest successful project-history ghost suggestion immediately when one exists, including right after mode entry or after the prompt is cleared again. One-off !command and !!command prompts reuse the same shell prediction pipeline, including ghost text. Mode entry stays quiet: there is no automatic or manual dropdown completion surface, and ghost suggestions do not run shell-native completion probes.

Bash mode configuration

In ~/.pi/agent/settings.json (or under PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR when that environment variable is set):

{
  "bashMode": {
    "toggleShortcut": "ctrl+shift+b",
    "transcriptMaxLines": 2000,
    "transcriptMaxBytes": 524288
  }
}

Editor Stash

Use Alt+S / Option+S as a quick stash toggle while drafting. It keeps one active stash and clears the editor when stashing. Powerline listens for unambiguous Alt/Meta-S escape encodings by default. If your old terminal setup only emits the printable German sharp-S character for Option+S and you still want that to trigger stash, set "stashSharpSShortcut": true under powerline.

Editor	Stash	Alt+S result
Has text	Empty	Stash current text, clear editor
Empty	Has stash	Restore stash into editor
Has text	Has stash	Update stash with current text, clear editor
Empty	Empty	Show "Nothing to stash"

Auto-restore after an agent run only happens when the editor is still empty. If you typed meanwhile, the stash is preserved.

The stash indicator appears in the powerline bar (on presets with extension_statuses). Active stash is still session-local and resets on session switch / disable, but stash history is persisted to the agent dir at powerline-footer/stash-history.json so it survives restarts. By default the agent dir is ~/.pi/agent; set PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR to move global powerline settings, stash history, sessions, vibes, skills, commands, and extension discovery with Pi.

Stash history

Open prompt history with either:

• ctrl+alt+h
• /stash-history

Prompt history now has two sources:

• stashed prompts — up to 12 recent stashed prompts (newest first)
• recent project prompts — up to 50 recent user-submitted prompts pulled from pi sessions in the current project folder

Selecting a stashed entry lets you insert it or promote it to an idea. Project prompt history entries insert into the editor. If the editor already has text, you can choose Replace, Append, or Cancel.

Editor clipboard and navigation shortcuts

• ctrl+alt+c — copy full editor content
• ctrl+alt+x — cut full editor content (copy, then clear)
• ctrl+alt+q — open the queued-prompt picker
• cmd+shift+up — move the editor cursor to the start of the first line
• cmd+shift+down — move the editor cursor to the end of the last line

Copy/cut actions do not modify stash state or stash history. Dragging files, folders, images, or screenshots from Finder into the custom editor inserts their path strings. Pi owns chat scrolling, selection, and fixed input behavior natively.

Shortcut configuration

You can override shortcut keys in the agent settings file:

{
  "powerlineShortcuts": {
    "stashHistory": "ctrl+alt+h",
    "copyEditor": "ctrl+alt+c",
    "cutEditor": "ctrl+alt+x",
    "ideaCapture": null,
    "queueOpen": "ctrl+alt+q",
    "editorStart": "cmd+shift+up",
    "editorEnd": "cmd+shift+down"
  }
}

After changing bindings, run /reload. Invalid bindings, reserved key conflicts like Alt+S, or duplicate conflicts fall back to safe defaults. Set a binding to null or "" to disable that action. cmd and command are accepted aliases for Pi's super modifier for the documented Command navigation keys.

Editor autocomplete composition

Powerline wraps Pi's autocomplete provider so bash mode can add shell-aware suggestions. When another editor extension was already installed, powerline now passes Pi's provider through that previous editor's setAutocompleteProvider() first and then wraps the resulting provider. This preserves prior autocomplete-provider wrappers where possible, but it is not full render/input composition between custom editors.

Working Vibes

Transform boring "Working..." messages into themed phrases that match your style:

/vibe star trek    → "Running diagnostics...", "Engaging warp drive..."
/vibe pirate       → "Hoisting the sails...", "Charting course..."
/vibe zen          → "Breathing deeply...", "Finding balance..."
/vibe noir         → "Following the trail...", "Checking the angles..."
/vibe              → Shows current theme, mode, and model
/vibe off          → Disables (back to "Working...")
/vibe model        → Shows current model
/vibe model openai/gpt-4o-mini → Use a different model
/vibe mode         → Shows current mode (generate or file)
/vibe mode file    → Switch to file-based mode (instant, no API calls)
/vibe mode generate → Switch to on-demand generation (contextual)
/vibe generate mafia 200 → Pre-generate 200 vibes and save to file

Configuration

In the agent settings file:

{
  "workingVibe": "star trek",                              // Theme phrase
  "workingVibeMode": "generate",                           // "generate" (on-demand) or "file" (pre-generated)
  "workingVibeModel": "openai-codex/gpt-5.4-mini",         // Optional: model to use (default)
  "workingVibeFallback": "Working",                        // Optional: fallback message
  "workingVibeRefreshInterval": 30,                        // Optional: seconds between refreshes (default 30)
  "workingVibePrompt": "Generate a {theme} loading message for: {task}",  // Optional: custom prompt template
  "workingVibeMaxLength": 65                         // Optional: max message length (default 65)
}

Modes

Mode	Description	Pros	Cons
generate	On-demand AI generation (default)	Contextual, hints at actual task	Model-dependent cost and latency
file	Pull from pre-generated file	Instant, zero cost, works offline	Not contextual

File mode setup:

/vibe generate mafia 200    # Generate 200 vibes, save to the agent dir
/vibe mode file             # Switch to file mode
/vibe mafia                 # Now uses the file

How file mode works:

1. Vibes are loaded from vibes/{theme}.txt in the agent dir into memory
2. Uses seeded shuffle (Mulberry32 PRNG) — cycles through all vibes before repeating
3. New seed each session — different order every time you restart pi
4. Zero latency, zero cost, works offline

Prompt template variables (generate mode only):

• {theme} — the current vibe theme (e.g., "star trek", "mafia")
• {task} — context hint (user prompt initially, then agent's response text or tool info on refresh)
• {exclude} — recent vibes to avoid (auto-populated, e.g., "Don't use: vibe1, vibe2...")

How it works:

1. When you send a message, shows "Channeling {theme}..." placeholder
2. AI generates a themed message in the background (3s timeout)
3. Message updates to the themed version (e.g., "Engaging warp drive...")
4. During long tasks, refreshes on tool calls (rate-limited, default 30s)
5. Cost and latency depend on your configured workingVibeModel

Thinking Level Display

The thinking segment shows live updates when you change thinking level:

Level	Display	Color
off	think:off	gray
minimal	think:min	purple-gray
low	think:low	blue
medium	think:med	teal
high	think:high	rainbow
xhigh	think:xhigh	rainbow
max	think:max	rainbow

Path Display

The path segment supports three modes:

Mode	Example	Description
basename	powerline-footer	Just the directory name (default)
abbreviated	…/extensions/powerline-footer	Full path with home abbreviated and length limit
full	~/.pi/agent/extensions/powerline-footer	Complete path with home abbreviated

Configure via preset options: path: { mode: "full" }

Git polling

By default the git segment polls both branch and dirty state. If background git status --porcelain calls interfere with your workflow, use branch-only polling:

{
  "powerline": {
    "git": { "polling": "branch" }
  }
}

Use "off" to disable extension-owned git polling entirely and only show the branch reported by Pi when available.

Git host icon

Set git.hostIcon to replace the branch icon with the origin remote's host logo:

{
  "powerline": {
    "git": { "hostIcon": true }
  }
}

The origin remote is detected (SSH or HTTPS) and mapped to an icon: GitHub (), GitLab (), Bitbucket (), or a generic git logo () for any other remote (self-hosted, Gitea, Codeberg, …). Repositories without an origin remote keep the plain branch icon (), as do ASCII (non–Nerd Font) setups. The remote is read once and cached, so this adds no per-render cost. Default is false (branch icon unchanged).

Segments

model · thinking · shell_mode · path · git · subagents · token_in · token_out · token_total · cost · context_pct · context_total · time_spent · time · session · hostname · cache_read · cache_write · extension_statuses

Separators

powerline · powerline-thin · slash · pipe · dot · chevron · star · block · none · ascii

Theming

Colors are configurable via pi's theme system. Each preset defines its own color scheme, and you can override individual colors and icons with a theme.json file in the extension directory.

Default Colors

Semantic	Theme Color	Description
model	#d787af	Model name
shellMode	accent	Bash mode segment
path	#00afaf	Directory path
gitClean	success	Git branch (clean)
gitDirty	warning	Git branch (dirty)
thinking	thinkingOff	Thinking level (off)
thinkingMinimal	thinkingMinimal	Thinking level (minimal)
thinkingLow	thinkingLow	Thinking level (low)
thinkingMedium	thinkingMedium	Thinking level (medium)
context	dim	Context usage
contextWarn	warning	Context usage >70%
contextError	error	Context usage >90%
cost	text	Cost display
tokens	muted	Token counts

Custom Theme Override

Create extensions/powerline-footer/theme.json in the agent dir (~/.pi/agent by default, or PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR when set):

{
  "colors": {
    "model": "accent",
    "shellMode": "accent",
    "path": "#00afaf",
    "gitClean": "success",
    "thinking": "thinkingOff",
    "thinkingMinimal": "thinkingMinimal",
    "thinkingLow": "thinkingLow",
    "thinkingMedium": "thinkingMedium"
  },
  "icons": {
    "auto": "↯",
    "warning": ""
  }
}

Colors can be:

• Theme color names: accent, muted, dim, text, success, warning, error, border, borderAccent, borderMuted
• Hex colors: #ff5500, #d787af

Icons can be any string, including "" when you want to suppress a specific glyph entirely.

For npm package installs, this documented agent-dir file is separate from the package files under ~/.pi/agent/npm/node_modules. The extension reads the agent-dir override first, then falls back to a theme.json colocated with the loaded extension file. Use /reload or restart Pi after creating or editing theme.json.

See theme.example.json for all available options.