pi-zai-agents

Unofficial pi extension package for Z.AI Agent API products:

• GLM Slide/Poster Agent (slides_glm_agent)
• Translation Agent (general_translation)
• Video Effect Template Agent (vidu_template_agent)
• Shared Agent API support: file upload, async result polling, and slide conversation/export retrieval

This package is intentionally separate from pi-zai-mcp. It does not register or manage Z.AI MCP servers.

Install

pi install npm:pi-zai-agents

Install directly from GitHub:

pi install https://github.com/fitchmultz/pi-zai-agents

From a local clone:

git clone https://github.com/fitchmultz/pi-zai-agents.git
cd pi-zai-agents
npm install
pi install .

Try without installing permanently:

Z_AI_API_KEY="your_key" pi -e .

Configure

Variable	Required	Default	Purpose
Z_AI_API_KEY / ZAI_API_KEY	Yes	none	Z.AI API key sent as Authorization: Bearer ....
Z_AI_AGENT_API_BASE_URL	No	https://api.z.ai/api	Agent API base URL.
Z_AI_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE	No	en-US,en	Accept-Language header.
Z_AI_AGENT_TIMEOUT_MS	No	300000	Per-request timeout in ms. Applies to API and artifact download requests.

Run /zai-agents-status in pi to check local configuration.

Tools

The package intentionally exposes the minimum product-level surface: three tools, one per Z.AI Agent product. Shared helper behavior is folded into those tools to reduce tool count, prompt size, and agent confusion.

Tool	Purpose
z_ai_agent_translate	Calls general_translation for translation, streaming translation, glossary upload, or glossary-backed translation. glossaryPath is resolved relative to the current pi session cwd and supports a leading @.
z_ai_agent_slide	Calls slides_glm_agent to create/refine slides/posters (action=create) or retrieve/download conversation exports (action=conversation).
z_ai_agent_video	Calls vidu_template_agent to create video-template tasks (action=create) or retrieve/poll async results (action=result).

TUI output is compact by default and uses colored custom renderers. Long-running calls emit early progress updates so the tool card appears before the API call completes. Press Ctrl+O on a tool result to expand details. Large JSON responses and truncated summaries are saved to temp files when needed; streaming slide responses are always saved as raw JSON.

When file_url, image_url, or video_url values appear in a response, this extension downloads those artifacts into an OS temp directory and reports the local paths.

Paid-call warning

These tools make real Z.AI Agent API calls. Z.AI pricing docs list:

• GLM Slide/Poster Agent(beta): $0.7 / MTok
• General-Purpose Translation: $3 / MTok
• Popular Special Effects Video Templates: $0.2 / video

File upload docs state uploaded files are retained for 180 days. Do not upload sensitive files unless that retention is acceptable.

Integration contract

Evidence inspected on 2026-06-05:

• Docs index: https://docs.z.ai/llms.txt
• Slide/Poster guide: https://docs.z.ai/guides/agents/slide
• Translation guide: https://docs.z.ai/guides/agents/translation
• Video Template guide: https://docs.z.ai/guides/agents/video-template
• Agent API: https://docs.z.ai/api-reference/agents/agent
• File Upload API: https://docs.z.ai/api-reference/agents/file-upload
• Async Result API: https://docs.z.ai/api-reference/agents/get-async-result
• Slide Conversation API: https://docs.z.ai/api-reference/agents/agent-conversation
• HTTP/API auth guide: https://docs.z.ai/guides/develop/http/introduction
• Pricing: https://docs.z.ai/guides/overview/pricing
• Errors: https://docs.z.ai/api-reference/api-code

Auth and base URL

• Base server: https://api.z.ai/api
• Auth: Authorization: Bearer <api key>
• JSON calls also send Content-Type: application/json and Accept-Language: en-US,en by default.
• File upload uses multipart/form-data.

Endpoints

Endpoint	Method	Used by	Notes
/v1/agents	POST	Translation, Slide/Poster, Video Template	Request shape differs by agent_id.
/paas/v4/files	POST	File upload	Purpose must be agent.
/v1/agents/async-result	POST	Video async polling	Documented for vidu_template_agent.
/v1/agents/conversation	POST	Slide conversation/export	Docs say only slides_glm_agent is supported.

Agent request contracts

Translation Agent

agent_id: general_translation

Request:

{
  "agent_id": "general_translation",
  "stream": false,
  "messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": [{ "type": "text", "text": "..." }] }],
  "custom_variables": {
    "source_lang": "auto",
    "target_lang": "zh-CN",
    "glossary": "optional uploaded file id",
    "strategy": "general",
    "strategy_config": {
      "general": { "suggestion": "optional style guidance" },
      "cot": { "reason_lang": "to" }
    }
  }
}

Strategies exposed: general, paraphrase, two_step, three_step, reflection, cot. The guide lists COT as a strategy. The OpenAPI enum omits cot, but a live probe on 2026-06-05 returned HTTP 200 for strategy: "cot", so this package exposes it.

Response includes id, agent_id, status, choices, and usage token counts. finish_reason may be stop, tool_calls, length, sensitive, or network_error.

Slide/Poster Agent

agent_id: slides_glm_agent

Request:

{
  "agent_id": "slides_glm_agent",
  "stream": true,
  "conversation_id": "optional existing conversation",
  "request_id": "optional caller id",
  "messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": [{ "type": "text", "text": "..." }] }]
}

The API docs list stream default true; this tool follows that default. A live streaming probe confirmed text/event-stream frames shaped as data: {...} and terminated by data: [DONE]. Frames include fields such as id, agent_id, conversation_id, choices, messages, phase, and text deltas.

Use z_ai_agent_slide with action=conversation and the returned conversation_id to retrieve export metadata. Conversation requests support custom_variables.include_pdf and optional page descriptors with position, width, and height. Conversation responses can include file_url and image_url artifacts.

Video Effect Template Agent

agent_id: vidu_template_agent

Request:

{
  "agent_id": "vidu_template_agent",
  "request_id": "optional caller id",
  "messages": [{
    "role": "user",
    "content": [
      { "type": "text", "text": "template prompt" },
      { "type": "image_url", "image_url": "https://..." }
    ]
  }],
  "custom_variables": { "template": "bodyshake" }
}

Supported templates from docs: french_kiss, bodyshake, sexy_me.

Initial response includes status, agent_id, and async_id. Poll /v1/agents/async-result with agent_id and async_id; status can be pending, success, or failed. Successful async result choices can include MP4 video_url artifacts.

File Upload

POST /paas/v4/files with multipart form fields:

• purpose: agent
• file: binary file

Documented limits:

• Max 100 files
• Max 100 MB per file
• Retained for 180 days
• Formats: pdf, doc, xlsx, ppt, txt, jpg, png

Response includes id, object, bytes, filename, purpose, and created_at.

Failure semantics

Z.AI documents two layers of errors:

• HTTP status codes, such as 400 parameter errors, 401 auth errors, 429 rate/balance/concurrency errors, 435 file too large, and 500 server errors.
• JSON body business errors under error.code and error.message.

This extension throws tool errors for non-2xx HTTP responses, top-level error objects, and status: "failed". Streaming failures may arrive inside SSE frames and are surfaced as tool errors when present.

Examples

Translate text:

{
  "action": "translate",
  "text": "Two roads diverged in a wood.",
  "sourceLang": "en",
  "targetLang": "zh-CN",
  "strategy": "general"
}

Translate with an uploaded glossary in one call. Relative paths resolve from the current pi session cwd:

{
  "action": "translate",
  "text": "pi-zai-agents live validation is complete.",
  "sourceLang": "en",
  "targetLang": "zh-CN",
  "glossaryPath": "./glossary.xlsx"
}

Create a slide/poster:

{
  "action": "create",
  "prompt": "Create a five-slide product launch deck for a developer tool.",
  "stream": true
}

Retrieve slide exports:

{
  "action": "conversation",
  "conversationId": "returned-conversation-id",
  "includePdf": true
}

Create and poll a video template task:

{
  "action": "create",
  "imageUrl": "https://example.com/input.png",
  "template": "bodyshake",
  "waitUntilComplete": true,
  "pollIntervalMs": 5000,
  "maxPolls": 60
}

Poll an existing video async result:

{
  "action": "result",
  "asyncId": "returned-async-id",
  "waitUntilComplete": true
}

What this package does not include

• Z.AI MCP servers. Use pi-zai-mcp for Web Search, Web Reader, Zread, and Vision MCP.
• Generic raw /v1/agents escape hatches. This package keeps a strict scope and only exposes the three verified product tools.
• Z.AI GLM chat model provider support. Pi already has Z.AI model provider support through ZAI_API_KEY.

Verify this repo

npm install
npm run typecheck
npm run lint
npm publish --dry-run

Local pi package smoke check:

tmpdir="$(mktemp -d)"
cd "$tmpdir"
pi install -l /path/to/pi-zai-agents
pi list

Project map

extensions/zai-agents.ts  # pi package entrypoint
src/index.ts              # extension implementation
package.json              # npm + pi package manifest
CHANGELOG.md              # release notes