pi-jewter

🎯 Use the right model for each task without switching models by hand. Small questions rarely need your most expensive model; architecture and difficult debugging often do. Jewter is a Pi extension that chooses among your configured models as the conversation moves between different kinds of work.

🔀 Select jewter/auto once. By default, before each agent step (including after tool results), Jewter uses the Jev classifier to identify the task and the model capability it needs, then selects a model and thinking level from your settings. Planning, implementation, review and verification can each use different combinations. A cache-switch penalty discourages marginal model changes; choose per-request routing instead in /jewter → Routing.

🧭 You stay in control. You choose the models and routing settings, can see what actually answered, and can switch back to a specific model at any time. Jewter does not automatically delegate work, run tests or enforce a development workflow.

💡 Jewter also offers optional context compaction and suggestions to verify changes. Verification suggestions never send a request automatically.

🚀 Quick start

Requires Pi 1.5.0+, Node 22.19.0+, a TypeSafe or OpenRouter API key for Jev, and at least one model you can already use in Pi.

1. Install

Choose one source:

pi install npm:pi-jewter                     # released version
pi install git:github.com/bobuk/pi-jewter    # current main

Run /reload if Pi is already open. Features marked Unreleased are available only from Git; if npm does not list the package yet, use Git.

2. Give Jev an API key

Jev needs an API key from TypeSafe or OpenRouter. Set the matching variable in the environment that starts Pi:

export TYPESAFE_API_KEY='…'
# Or:
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY='…'

This key is for classification, separate from your answering models. Claude or ChatGPT subscription sign-ins do not authenticate Jev.

3. Choose your models

With a working model selected in Pi, open /jewter → Configure in a chat with Pi. The assistant proposes settings and asks before writing. Or configure Models manually.

Assign models to fast, medium and strong capability tiers; at least medium must be configured and authenticated. Jewter ships no model assignments. Roles such as planning, implementation and review can override those defaults.

Want a starting point? See the price-oriented and quality-oriented profiles. Adapt their model IDs to your providers; both examples enable compaction, which is otherwise off by default.

4. Start routing

Use /model to select jewter/auto, then ask as usual. Select a specific model to bypass routing; verification hints and compaction have separate toggles.

Model = capability; thinking = thoroughness. A large mechanical change may need less capability than a short, high-stakes question. See workflows and profiles for guidance.

🛠 Everyday commands

Settings normally live in ~/.pi/agent/jewter.json; trusted projects can override them in .pi/jewter.json. See the configuration reference for all settings and commands.

⚠️ Know the limits

• Jev classification adds latency and may cost money. Switching models can reduce prompt-cache reuse.
• Prompt and context excerpts are sent to Jev. Verification and compaction may also send file paths, command summaries and tool output. See privacy and behavior before using sensitive data.
• Verification hints are on by default; compaction is off. A hint is not a test result, and no hint does not mean the work passed.

📚 Learn more

• Configuration — settings, credentials and model selection.
• Workflows and profiles — roles, capability, thinking and subagents.
• Behavior and limits — routing, verification, compaction, privacy and costs.
• Troubleshooting.
• Development and releases · Changelog.

Update or remove

Update using the source you installed, then run /reload:

pi update npm:pi-jewter
# Or:
pi update git:github.com/bobuk/pi-jewter

To uninstall, select a specific model first, remove any Jewter subagent bindings, then use pi remove with the same source. Your jewter.json is kept. See troubleshooting for cleanup details.

License

MIT