pi-resource-center

A keyboard-driven resource browser for Pi: browse, enable/disable, and organize your packages, skills, extensions, prompts, themes, tools, and MCP servers from a single /resource TUI. Resource commands mirror browser actions; server management delegates to native /mcp.

Questions or bug reports? Join the Discord.

Quick start

pi install npm:pi-resource-center

Then in Pi:

/reload
/resource

That's it. The browser opens on the Packages tab. Everything below is reference material.

The Browser

Categories

¹ Disabling a package replaces its resource filters with empty arrays; enabling restores the plain source. Fine-grained autoload, glob, and +/-/! filters are cleared — use Manage Resources (Enter on the package) to preserve them. Resource Center refuses to disable its own running package.

² Core builtin tools and native codemode / tool_search changes also persist to Pi's defaultTools. Other tools only change the session/branch active set. Deactivating codemode/deferred tools does not block indirect calls (see Tools).

Row badges

Keys

³ Sort modes: Recent, Default, Name, Enabled, Scope. ⁴ Integrations tab only.

Notes:

• Manage Resources (Enter on a package) opens the package contents view to browse and toggle contained extensions, skills, prompts, and themes individually. Package-contained resources can be surfaced in their top-level category via Show in Category (marked [pkg]).
• Add view: default scope follows the current selection context; inline suggestions for local paths, npm:, git:, and GitHub URLs. Remote adds run the real Pi install before writing settings. Long operations show a live status widget and survive leaving the view.
• Settings view persists preferences (sort mode, reload behavior, search options, pins, external skill sources) to its own file.

Behavior notes

Tools

The Tools tab reads Pi's getAllTools() / getActiveTools() inventories when opened or refreshed. Tools from the same source or namespace are grouped (builtin, package name, local:<file>, or mcp:<server>); single-tool sources are plain rows. The builtin group always sorts first.

• Builtin tools (read, bash, powershell, edit, write, grep, find, ls, plus native codemode and tool_search): toggles update the active set and persist only the requested +name/-name change to Pi's defaultTools — project settings if the trusted project defines defaultTools, otherwise user settings. Unrelated entries, inheritance, and explicit empty allowlists are preserved.
• Other extension/SDK/MCP tools: change the session/branch active set, not startup settings. Pi may restore that selection on resume, but /reload can reactivate tools registered active by default. Resource Center does not save and restore these selections across reloads. Disable the providing package/extension or use native /mcp for persistent server configuration.
• Exposure matters: codemode and deferred tools remain callable through codemode/tool search even when inactive; their actions are Activate/Deactivate, not access controls. Withdrawn hidden tools are omitted. With codemode.mode: "only", active tools may also be hidden from direct model declarations.
• Tool selection does not unload the extension, its commands, or its event handlers and is not a permission boundary.
• Tools are runtime capabilities: no add/remove/update/pin, and they don't count toward package summaries.
• On Windows, enabling powershell and disabling bash persistently replaces Bash with PowerShell — equivalent to:

{ "defaultTools": ["read", "powershell", "edit", "write"] }

MCP

/resource mcp lists servers from user/trusted-project mcp.json, extension registrations, and observed MCP tool namespaces. Disabled servers remain visible. Project overrides are shown only after trust; configuration secrets, arguments, environment variables, and credentials are not displayed or executed.

• Enter opens server details; Browse Server Tools switches to its namespace in Tools without removing tools from that category.
• Space, M, or Open Native /mcp closes Resource Center and dispatches the existing /mcp command for connection/authentication/configuration management. Resource Center does not open additional connections or edit mcp.json.
• Pi 1.4 does not expose a per-server resource inventory or connection-status API to extension commands. Resources are explicitly not queried, not counted as zero. Details show the shared native list_mcp_resources, list_mcp_resource_templates, and read_mcp_resource tools when registered; their presence does not prove that a particular server offers resources.
• The overview is a snapshot; reopen or rediscover after servers/tools change. /resource add/enable/disable/remove mcp ... directs you to native MCP management rather than treating servers as Pi file resources.

Themes

Themes are applied, not enabled/disabled: Space switches the UI immediately and saves the theme setting. Available themes come from Pi's runtime inventory, merged with discovered file/package metadata. Built-in system (Pi's default), dark, and light can't be removed; custom themes can. The name system is reserved.

Discovery model

Resources are discovered from, in both project and user scope:

• Pi settings path entries (extensions, skills, prompts, themes arrays, including +/-/! and glob filters)
• Conventional folders: .pi/extensions|skills|prompts|themes and ~/.pi/agent/...
• Pi's built-in extensions: builtin:mcp, builtin:llama.cpp, builtin:codemode, and builtin:tool-search (disable/enable, not remove)
• Agent Skills folders: .agents/skills/ in the current directory and its ancestors
• Configured package sources (npm:, git:, http(s)://, local paths), including autoload: false deltas
• External skill sources configured in Resource Center settings (see Integrations)

By default, package-contained extensions/skills/prompts are managed from the package's Manage Resources view; Show in Category surfaces them top-level. Package themes are always shown in the Themes tab. When a project is not trusted, project-scope resources are neither discovered nor modified.

Commands (Reference)

Tab completes resource subcommands and names. MCP server operations use native /mcp / pi mcp commands.

Category aliases: package, skill, extension, prompt, theme, tool (plural forms work). Matching covers name, source, path, and package-relative path.

Integrations

Shift+S → Integrations manages external skill sources: Claude, Codex, Codex Plugins, OpenCode, plus custom directories (add with A, remove with R, toggle with Space, edit paths inline).

• Enabled sources are synchronized into Pi's settings.json skills entries so Pi owns directory discovery.
• Codex plugin skills are grouped by plugin in the Skills browser and get stable IDs (source + plugin + relative path), so disabled skills stay disabled across Codex cache or version changes. Disabled state lives in Resource Center settings, not in Codex paths.
• The Codex Plugins integration only syncs plugins that don't declare apps (app-backed plugins may need Codex/OpenAI runtime Pi can't provide).

Plugin settings

Resource Center stores its own state (preferences, pins, exposed resources, disabled external skill IDs, external sources, sync entries) in a separate file, not in Pi's settings.json:

• Windows: C:\Users\<you>\.pi\agent\pi-resource-center-settings.json
• macOS/Linux: ~/.pi/agent/pi-resource-center-settings.json

Honors PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR. Stale pins/exposures are pruned automatically. Legacy resource-hub.json files are safe to delete.

Requirements

• Node.js >=22.19.0, Pi >=1.4.0
• Peer dependencies: @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent >=1.4.0, @earendil-works/pi-tui >=1.4.0
• Development checks use exact Pi 1.4.0 dependencies: npm ci --ignore-scripts then npm run check.

# From GitHub
pi install https://github.com/sodie2323/pi-resource-center

# From a local path (loads the folder directly — run /reload after changes)
pi install .
pi install E:/code/pi-resource-center

License

MIT