pi: change directories mid-session

Pi 0.82.1, the interactive coding agent from earendil-works, cannot change its working directory mid-session, as commands like `cd` run in child processes and no built-in `/cd` exists. The maintainer, @badlogic, has closed multiple feature requests for runtime cwd changes, citing the need for a large refactor, and the new extension API promised in issue #4423 is still not available in 0.82.1. Users must quit and restart Pi in the desired directory.

♠ Today I learned : pi https://pi.dev/ 0.82.1 cannot change its working directory mid-session. The interactive shell syntax looks tempting, but and run commands in a child process. cd ends with that process; Pi keeps the session’s original cwd. There is no built-in /cd either: % pi --version 0.82.1 % docs="$ brew --prefix pi-coding-agent /libexec/lib/node modules/@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent/docs" % rg -n 'ctx\. newSession|switchSession|changeCwd|switchCwd ' "$docs/extensions.md" 1109: ctx.newSession options? 1117:const result = await ctx.newSession { 1187: ctx.switchSession sessionPath, options? 1192:const result = await ctx.switchSession "/path/to/session.jsonl", { 1220: await ctx.switchSession choice, { 1247: await ctx.newSession { 1262: await ctx.newSession { % rg -n '^\| / ^| + ' "$docs/usage.md" | tail -5 56:| /share | Upload as private GitHub gist with shareable HTML link | 57:| /reload | Reload keybindings, extensions, skills, prompts, themes, and context files | 58:| /hotkeys | Show all keyboard shortcuts | 59:| /changelog | Display version history | 60:| /quit | Quit pi | This has been requested several times upstream: % for n in 2102 2992 3921 4423 6997; do gh issue view "$n" --repo earendil-works/pi \ --json number,title,state,stateReason \ --jq ' .number, .title, .state, .stateReason | @tsv' done 2102 Allow extensions to change cwd at runtime CLOSED COMPLETED 2992 Allow session CWD to be changed CLOSED COMPLETED 3921 Feature request: ExtensionCommandContext.changeCwd for lightweight cwd switching CLOSED NOT PLANNED 4423 Add command API to switch cwd CLOSED COMPLETED 6997 Windows Bash inside Pi not working properly CLOSED NOT PLANNED The exact /cd proposal lives in 3921 https://github.com/earendil-works/pi/issues/3921 . The maintainer responses on 2102 https://github.com/earendil-works/pi/issues/2102 , 2992 https://github.com/earendil-works/pi/issues/2992 , and 4423 https://github.com/earendil-works/pi/issues/4423 capture the trade-off: 2102 @badlogic: use case makes sense, however, it can be done by overriding the built-in tools to support cwd changes. 2992 @badlogic: setting a new cwd in a session is not great, as a bunch of things need to be rewired. currently unsupported. 4423 @badlogic: this is part of the big refactor work and will be available in the new extension api. That last API still is not exposed in 0.82.1. Changing cwd means rebuilding tools, project settings, extensions, skills, context files, autocomplete, footer state, and session storage—not merely calling process.chdir . For now, the boring path is the supported one: /quit % cd ~/Workspace/perrotta.dev % pi Session cwd is a runtime boundary. Oh well. 🤖 Drafted with /bloggify .— § — Reply via email mailto:serendipity@perrotta.dev?subject=Reply to: pi: change directories mid-session