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.

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, and recent sessions. Auto-dismisses after 30 seconds or on any key press.

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

Fixed editor cluster — In interactive TUI sessions, chat/feed content scrolls above the fixed Pi working/status line, powerline rows, editor, ghost suggestions, bash transcript, and last-prompt/status rows. Scroll chat with the mouse wheel, PageUp/PageDown, Command+PageUp/PageDown, Ctrl+Shift+Up/Down, or message-jump shortcuts; the editor stays put. Drag text to copy it, drag selection to the viewport edge to scroll, double-click a line to select it, and right-click to open the terminal menu. Use /powerline fixed-editor off for Pi’s regular scrolling layout, or /powerline mouse-scroll off for native terminal selection.

Live thinking level indicator — Shows current thinking level (think:off, think:med, etc.) with per-level colors. High and xhigh 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 at 70% (yellow) and 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), subscription detection (shows "(sub)" vs dollar cost).

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>, fixed-editor mode with /powerline fixed-editor on|off|toggle, and wheel mode with /powerline mouse-scroll on|off|toggle.

Fixed editor is on by default.

• /powerline fixed-editor off — return to Pi’s regular scrolling layout
• /powerline fixed-editor on — re-enable the fixed editor
• /powerline fixed-editor toggle — switch between the two

You can also set it in ~/.pi/agent/settings.json or project-local .pi/settings.json:

{
  "powerline": {
    "preset": "default",
    "fixedEditor": false
  }
}

Use "fixedEditor": true to enable it again. Add "mouseScroll": false if you want native terminal selection instead of fixed-editor mouse handling.

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 to ~/.pi/agent/settings.json under powerline 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 old style, "powerline": "default" continues to work.

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:

{
  "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.

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 ~/.pi/agent/powerline-footer/stash-history.json so it survives restarts.

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 an entry inserts it into the editor. If the editor already has text, you can choose Replace, Append, or Cancel.

Editor clipboard and chat shortcuts

• ctrl+alt+c — copy full editor content
• ctrl+alt+x — cut full editor content (copy, then clear)
• cmd+up — scroll the fixed-editor chat viewport up
• cmd+down — scroll the fixed-editor chat viewport down
• 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
• ctrl+shift+u — jump the fixed-editor chat viewport to the previous user message
• ctrl+shift+i — jump the fixed-editor chat viewport to the next user message
• ctrl+alt+, — jump the fixed-editor chat viewport to the previous LLM message
• ctrl+alt+. — jump the fixed-editor chat viewport to the next LLM message
• ctrl+shift+g — jump the fixed-editor chat viewport to the bottom

Copy/cut actions do not modify stash state or stash history. Chat jumps require fixed-editor mode because they use its app-owned scroll viewport. Submitting editor text also returns that viewport to the bottom so new output stays in view.

Shortcut configuration

You can override shortcut keys in ~/.pi/agent/settings.json:

{
  "powerlineShortcuts": {
    "stashHistory": "ctrl+alt+h",
    "copyEditor": "ctrl+alt+c",
    "cutEditor": "ctrl+alt+x",
    "jumpPreviousUserMessage": "ctrl+shift+u",
    "jumpNextUserMessage": "ctrl+shift+i",
    "jumpPreviousLlmMessage": "ctrl+alt+,",
    "jumpNextLlmMessage": "ctrl+alt+.",
    "jumpChatBottom": "ctrl+shift+g",
    "scrollChatUp": "cmd+up",
    "scrollChatDown": "cmd+down",
    "editorStart": "cmd+shift+up",
    "editorEnd": "cmd+shift+down"
  }
}

After changing bindings, run /reload. Invalid bindings, reserved key conflicts (like Alt+S), or duplicate conflicts automatically fall back to safe defaults. cmd and command are accepted aliases for Pi's super modifier for the documented Command navigation keys; unsupported Command-letter bindings such as cmd+c are ignored instead of matching plain text input. Some terminals, including Ghostty, bind Command+Arrow themselves; remap those terminal keys to send \x1b[1;9A / \x1b[1;9B for chat scrolling and \x1b[1;10A / \x1b[1;10B for editor-boundary navigation if you want Pi to receive them.

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 ~/.pi/agent/settings.json:

{
  "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 ~/.pi/agent/vibes/mafia.txt
/vibe mode file             # Switch to file mode
/vibe mafia                 # Now uses the file

How file mode works:

1. Vibes are loaded from ~/.pi/agent/vibes/{theme}.txt 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

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" }

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

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 ~/.pi/agent/extensions/powerline-footer/theme.json:

{
  "colors": {
    "pi": "#ff5500",
    "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.

See theme.example.json for all available options.