Pi Bay

What is Pi? Pi is an open-source AI coding agent that runs in your terminal. This extension docks Pi right inside the VS Code editor area so you never leave your editor.

One click to launch, zero context switches. Feed Pi your skills and templates from the Explorer or Command Palette, use Ctrl+G to compose prompts in a full editor tab, and never lose a session -- Pi Bay automatically restores your sessions when VS Code restarts, so you pick up right where you left off.

Pi Bay -- a Pi session docked in the editor area

Quick Start

Install the Pi CLI: npm install -g @mariozechner/pi-coding-agent
Install Pi Bay from the Marketplace.
Click the Pi icon in the editor title bar -- a Pi session opens in your editor area.

Features

One-click launch -- Click the status bar or the editor title bar icon to open a fresh Pi session docked in the editor area. No new windows. No browser tabs. No terminal juggling.
Workspace resources -- Right-click files in the Explorer or use the Command Palette to launch Pi with your Skills, Templates, Extensions, or Prompts. Multi-select is supported.
Ctrl+G editor integration -- Focus a Pi session and press Ctrl+G to compose your prompt in a full VS Code editor tab. Save and close the tab to send it back to Pi. Your flow state, protected.
Session persistent -- Pi sessions restore automatically when VS Code restarts. Close your laptop, reboot, update VS Code -- your Pi sessions are waiting when you come back.
Configurable -- Set default CLI flags (--model openai/gpt-4o), choose your external editor command, and fine-tune terminal behavior through VS Code settings.
VS Code-friendly hotkeys -- Alternate shortcuts for actions VS Code would otherwise intercept (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+L, etc.). Type /hotkeys-original to revert to Pi's built-in keys, or /hotkeys-vs-code to bring them back.

Resource type details

Each "Run Pi with..." command accepts specific file types:

Command	Accepted files	Pi CLI flag
Run Pi with Skill...	`SKILL.md`	`--skill <parent-dir>`
Run Pi with Template...	`.md` files (excluding `SKILL.md`)	`--prompt-template <file>`
Run Pi with Extension...	`.ts` files	`--extension <file>`
Run Pi with Prompt...	Any text file	`@<file>`

Explorer context menu: Right-click selected files to run the matching command. All selected files must match the command's file type.
Editor context menu: Right-click in the editor to run a command with the current file.
Command Palette: Opens a Quick Pick to browse and multi-select matching files from your workspace.

External editor auto-detection

Pi Bay auto-detects your editor variant and exports a matching EDITOR / VISUAL command for Pi's external editor flow:

VS Code Stable -> code --wait
VS Code Insiders -> code-insiders --wait
Cursor -> cursor --wait

If auto-detection fails, the extension preserves your existing VISUAL / EDITOR values. Override this with the piBay.editorCommand setting.

How It Works

Pi Bay is a thin launcher around the Pi CLI. It creates VS Code terminals pre-configured to run Pi, manages session persistence across restarts, and provides keybindings and menus for Pi's features. All AI reasoning, code generation, and tool execution happen inside Pi itself.

Additional Shortcuts

Pi Bay adds alternate shortcuts for the keys VS Code would otherwise intercept. Most of Pi's Ctrl shortcuts become Alt:

Pi Bay shortcut	Action	Pi built-in shortcut
`Alt+C`	Clear editor	`Ctrl+C`
`Alt+D`	Exit when editor is empty	`Ctrl+D`
`Alt+T`	Cycle thinking level	`Shift+Tab`
`Alt+P`	Cycle to next model	`Ctrl+P`
`Shift+Alt+P`	Cycle to previous model	`Shift+Ctrl+P`
`Alt+O`	Toggle tool output	`Ctrl+O`
`Ctrl+Shift+Enter`	Queue follow-up message	`Alt+Enter`

Use these slash commands inside a Pi session:

/hotkeys-vs-code -- enable the VS Code-compatible shortcut layer
/hotkeys-original -- revert to Pi's built-in shortcuts

Commands

Commands appear in the Command Palette under the Pi Bay category:

Command	Description
Run Pi Bay	Open an interactive Pi session in the editor area
Run Pi with Skill...	Launch Pi with one or more Skill resources (`SKILL.md` files)
Run Pi with Template...	Launch Pi with one or more prompt templates (`.md` files)
Run Pi with Extension...	Launch Pi with one or more extensions (`.ts` files)
Run Pi with Prompt...	Launch Pi with a text file as a prompt reference

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`piBay.defaultArgs`	`""`	Extra CLI flags for every Pi invocation (e.g. `--model openai/gpt-4o`)
`piBay.editorCommand`	`""` (auto)	Override the `EDITOR` / `VISUAL` command. Leave empty to auto-detect
`piBay.promptExtraContext`	`""`	Extra context appended after the `@file` reference in Prompt invocations
`piBay.virtualEnvironmentOverride`	`true`	Temporarily disable Python venv activation when creating a Pi terminal
`piBay.virtualEnvironmentDrainMs`	`150`	Milliseconds to wait before restoring venv activation (ignored when override is off)
`piBay.restoreSessionsOnStartup`	`true`	Reopen previous Pi sessions on VS Code startup

Building from source

npm install
npm run compile
npm test

For manual verification in a live VS Code instance, see TESTING.md.

Packaging

npm run package
# Produces: pi-bay-<version>.vsix
code --install-extension pi-bay-<version>.vsix

.Pi Bay - Coding Agent

Winnie The Pooh