pi-remember-model

Pi extension that remembers the last selected model and thinking level for new sessions.

License

Licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 only (GPL-3.0-only). See LICENSE for the full terms.

Compatibility

Targets @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent 1.5.2 and Node.js 22.18 or newer. Other Pi versions are not declared compatible until verified.

Behavior and embedded hosts

• In interactive TUI sessions, restore the saved model and thinking level on a fresh startup or /new.
• Explicit startup --model, --provider, or --models arguments take precedence (including --flag=value forms). These startup flags do not prevent restoration on a later /new.
• Resumed sessions, forks, reloads, and startup sessions with existing messages retain their own model.
• Invalid or incomplete saved state is ignored.
• RPC, JSON, and print modes neither restore nor save global model state. This prevents embedded/non-interactive hosts from having their model choices overwritten.

Pi's extension context does not indicate whether an SDK caller supplied a model explicitly. SDK/Herdr hosts that bind extensions in TUI mode must set PI_REMEMBER_MODEL_DISABLE=1 in the child process environment before loading extensions if they own the model selection. This disables the extension entirely, including state writes. There is no automatic Herdr-specific detection; the mode guard and opt-out are covered by unit tests, not an end-to-end Herdr test.

Install from npm

Run pi install npm:pi-remember-model, then use pi list to check the installed source.

Install locally (development)

From this repository, run pi install . (user-level; do not pass --local). Pi loads the package directly from this checkout, so edits to extensions/remember-model.ts can be tested with /reload or a fresh Pi process. Use pi list to check the installed source. No copy into Pi's extensions directory is needed.

Development

Edit extensions/remember-model.ts in this checkout. The pi.extensions manifest in package.json selects that file. Pi provides @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent at runtime; local packages are not modified by pi install.

Run the tests with:

npm test

The unit tests use only Node's built-in test runner and a stub for the host's getAgentDir() import: no Pi installation, personal paths, credentials, or network access are required. Temporary state directories are removed after the suite, and process arguments/environment are restored between tests. Coverage includes startup precedence, lifecycle exclusions, JSON validation, persistence, all thinking levels, unavailable models, non-interactive modes, and the embedded-host opt-out. These are unit tests, not a complete runtime integration test.

The extension reads and writes last-model.json in Pi's user agent directory. That state file is not part of this repository. Keep credentials, personal settings, and session files outside the repository as well.