@mariozechner/pi-coding-agent) is a
terminal coding agent with a rich extension model: TypeScript extensions,
pi packages, skills, and AGENTS.md instructions. Smithers has a
first-party Pi plugin that goes deeper than any other agent: it embeds a live
run inspector (run tree, frame scrubber, node inspector) directly in the Pi TUI.
Pi has no built-in MCP client (“No MCP” is by design). So unlike Claude Code
or Cursor, you integrate Smithers through a skill or the pi-plugin, not an
MCP server.
The pi-plugin (recommended)
@smithers-orchestrator/pi-plugin wraps the Smithers control plane as a Pi
extension. It registers tools to launch, approve, deny, cancel, and stream
workflow runs, and renders the run inspector inline. This is the tightest
integration Smithers ships: Pi becomes a full Smithers operator console.
See the dedicated guide for setup and the three integration modes (Pi as a
workflow agent, Pi as a server client, and the hybrid): Pi integration.
Install the skill
If you want the lighter path,skills add installs the Smithers skill set into
Pi’s directory for you:
~/.pi/agent/skills/ (global) or .pi/skills/ (project),
and loads AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md at startup, so you can also drop the
onboarding skill in by hand:
/skill:smithers, or let Pi pick it up by description.
Standing instructions
Pi concatenatesAGENTS.md from global, parent, and current directories. Add an
orchestration section the same way you would for Codex or Cursor:
Smithers runs Pi too
In the other direction, Smithers spawns Pi as a worker viaPiAgent, including
its text / json / rpc modes and extension-UI hook callbacks: