Pi Coding Agent: Minimalist Terminal Workflows Training Course

Introduction to Pi

• Understanding Pi’s core philosophy of minimalism and control
• Comparing Pi with tools like Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Cursor
• Overview of the four built-in tools: read, write, edit, and bash
• Scenarios where choosing Pi is advantageous over heavier agents

Installation and Setup

• Installing Pi via npm and other package managers
• Configuring API keys for support of 15+ providers
• Setting up working directories and context files
• Running Pi in local environments as well as Docker containers

Core Terminal Workflows

• Generating code from simple text prompts
• Precisely reading and editing files
• Safely executing bash commands within the agent
• Managing session state and performing context resets

Building Custom Skills

• Understanding the TypeScript skill API structure
• Writing custom operations for read, write, and edit functions
• Integrating bash execution hooks for specialized workflows
• Isolated testing and debugging of skills

Prompt Templates and Themes

• Customizing system prompts for various languages and frameworks
• Creating reusable prompt templates to ensure team consistency
• Packaging themes as shareable modules

Extending Pi with npm Packages

• Bundling skills into pi packages
• Publishing packages to npm and Git repositories
• Installing community-contributed packages
• Managing dependency versions and ensuring compatibility

Provider Flexibility

• Switching between Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and other backends
• Optimizing for cost, speed, and quality based on specific tasks
• Running local models entirely offline for sensitive code handling

Practical Use Cases

• Automated testing and test generation workflows
• Refactoring legacy code using custom skill chains
• Documentation generation and ongoing maintenance
• Seamless CI integration with minimal agent overhead

Security and Control

• Understanding the limitations of the 300-word system prompt boundary
• Requiring manual approval for all write operations
• Sandboxing bash execution in untrusted environments
• Maintaining audit logs of all agent actions

Summary and Next Steps

• Recap of key principles: minimalism, control, and extensibility
• Accessing community resources and understanding contribution guidelines
• Exploring advanced topics for experienced Pi users