pi-skill-palette

Trigger pi skills on demand with a VS Code/Amp-style command palette.

Instead of relying on the agent to automatically invoke skills based on task context, this extension lets you explicitly select which skill to apply to your next message.

Features

• Quick Access: /skill command opens an elegant overlay
• Fuzzy Search: Type to filter skills by name or description
• Visual Queue: Selected skill shown in footer and widget until consumed
• Toggle Support: Re-select a queued skill to unqueue it (with confirmation)
• Auto-Injection: Skill content automatically sent with your next message

Installation

pi install npm:pi-skill-palette

Restart pi to load the extension.

Usage

1. Open palette: Type /skill and press Enter
2. Search: Start typing to fuzzy-filter skills
3. Navigate: Use ↑/↓ arrow keys
4. Select: Press Enter to queue a skill
5. Send message: Your next message will include the skill context

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
↑ / ↓	Navigate skills
Enter	Select / Unqueue skill
Esc	Cancel
Tab	Switch buttons (in confirmation dialog)
Y / N	Quick confirm/cancel unqueue

Skill Locations

Skills are loaded from these directories (in order):

1. ~/.codex/skills/ — Codex user skills (recursive)
2. ~/.claude/skills/ — Claude user skills (one level deep)
3. .claude/skills/ — Claude project skills (one level deep)
4. ~/.pi/agent/skills/ — Pi user skills (recursive)
5. ~/.pi/skills/ — Legacy user skills (recursive)
6. .pi/skills/ — Pi project-specific skills (recursive)

Each skill must be in its own directory with a SKILL.md file containing YAML frontmatter:

---
name: my-skill
description: Brief description of what this skill does
---

# Skill Content

The actual skill instructions go here...

How It Works

1. When you select a skill, it's queued in memory
2. Visual indicators show the queued skill (footer status + widget)
3. On your next message, the skill content is sent as a custom message alongside your prompt
4. The agent sees both your message and the skill context

UI Components

Skill Palette

╭──────────────────────── Skills ────────────────────────╮
│                                                        │
│  ◎  type to filter...│                                 │
│                                                        │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                        │
│  · clean-copy  —  Reimplement a branch with clean...   │
│  ▸ code-mode ●  —  Batch multiple tool operations...   │
│  · planning  —  Create implementation plans...         │
│                                                        │
│  ●●●○○○○○○○  3/11                                      │
│                                                        │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                        │
│  ↑↓ navigate  enter select/unqueue  esc cancel         │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

• ▸ — Selected item
• · — Unselected item
• ● — Currently queued skill
• Progress dots show scroll position

Unqueue Confirmation

╭─────────────── Unqueue Skill ───────────────╮
│                                             │
│              ◆ planning                     │
│                                             │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                             │
│          Remove      Keep                   │
│                                             │
│           ●●●●●●●●○○  28s                   │
│                                             │
│     tab switch  enter confirm  esc cancel   │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────╯

• 30-second auto-cancel timeout (keeps skill queued)
• Color-coded buttons: red Remove, green Keep
• Press Y/N for quick selection

Theming

Customize colors by creating theme.json in the extension directory. Copy theme.example.json as a starting point:

cp theme.example.json theme.json

Theme values are ANSI SGR codes:

• Simple: "36" (cyan), "32" (green), "2" (dim)
• Compound: "2;3" (dim + italic)
• 24-bit: "38;2;215;135;175" (RGB pink)

Property	Description
border	Box borders
title	Title text
selected	Selection indicator
selectedText	Selected item text
queued	Queued badge
searchIcon	Search icon
placeholder	Placeholder text
description	Skill descriptions
hint	Footer hints
confirm	Confirm button
cancel	Cancel button

Dependencies

• @mariozechner/pi-tui — For matchesKey, Container, Text

Technical Notes

• Skills are deduplicated by name (first occurrence wins)
• Symlinks are followed when scanning skill directories
• Skill content is sent via the before_agent_start extension event
• The skill message uses display: true to show injected content in chat
• Theme is loaded once at startup (restart pi to reload)

License

MIT