pi-tool-display

OpenCode-style tool rendering for the Pi coding agent.

pi-tool-display provides compact, expandable tool call/result rendering that keeps your terminal clean while preserving access to full details when needed.

Features

• Compact Tool Rendering — Overrides built-in read, grep, find, ls, bash, edit, and write tools with collapsed-by-default output
• MCP Tool Support — Custom rendering for MCP gateway tool calls with configurable verbosity
• Rich Diff Display — Adaptive split/unified diff views with syntax highlighting and inline change emphasis for edit and write operations
• Three Presets — Quick verbosity profiles: opencode (minimal), balanced (summaries), verbose (previews)
• Thinking Labels — Prefixes AI thinking blocks with themed labels for better readability
• Native User Message Box — Bordered user prompt styling (optional)
• Extension Compatibility — Per-tool ownership toggles to avoid conflicts with other extensions
• Capability Detection — Auto-hides MCP/RTK settings when those features aren't available

Installation

Local Extension Folder

Place this folder in one of Pi's auto-discovery locations:

# Global (all projects)
~/.pi/agent/extensions/pi-tool-display

# Project-specific
.pi/extensions/pi-tool-display

npm Package

pi install npm:pi-tool-display

Git Repository

pi install git:github.com/MasuRii/pi-tool-display

Usage

Interactive Settings

Open the settings modal:

/tool-display

Direct Commands

/tool-display show                    # Display current configuration
/tool-display reset                   # Reset to default settings
/tool-display preset opencode         # Apply opencode preset
/tool-display preset balanced         # Apply balanced preset
/tool-display preset verbose          # Apply verbose preset

Presets

Preset	Read Output	Search Output	MCP Output	Preview Lines	Bash Lines
opencode	hidden	hidden	hidden	8	10
balanced	summary	count	summary	8	10
verbose	preview	preview	preview	12	20

opencode (default) — Minimal inline-only display; tool results stay collapsed
balanced — Compact summaries showing line counts and match totals
verbose — Expanded previews with more visible content by default

Configuration

Runtime configuration is stored at:

~/.pi/agent/extensions/pi-tool-display/config.json

A starter template is available at config/config.example.json.

Configuration Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
registerToolOverrides	object	all true	Per-tool ownership flags (see below)
enableNativeUserMessageBox	boolean	true	Enable bordered user message styling
readOutputMode	string	"hidden"	hidden, summary, or preview
searchOutputMode	string	"hidden"	hidden, count, or preview
mcpOutputMode	string	"hidden"	hidden, summary, or preview
previewLines	number	8	Lines shown in collapsed preview
expandedPreviewMaxLines	number	4000	Max lines when expanded
bashCollapsedLines	number	10	Lines shown for bash output
diffViewMode	string	"auto"	auto, split, or unified
diffSplitMinWidth	number	120	Minimum terminal width for split view
diffCollapsedLines	number	24	Lines shown in collapsed diff
diffWordWrap	boolean	true	Wrap long lines in diff view
showTruncationHints	boolean	true	Show truncation indicators
showRtkCompactionHints	boolean	true	Show RTK compaction hints

Tool Override Ownership

Control which tools this extension overrides:

{
  "registerToolOverrides": {
    "read": true,
    "grep": true,
    "find": true,
    "ls": true,
    "bash": true,
    "edit": true,
    "write": true
  }
}

Set any tool to false to leave rendering ownership to another extension.

Note: Changes to tool ownership require /reload to take effect.

Example Configuration

{
  "registerToolOverrides": {
    "read": true,
    "grep": true,
    "find": true,
    "ls": true,
    "bash": true,
    "edit": true,
    "write": true
  },
  "enableNativeUserMessageBox": true,
  "readOutputMode": "summary",
  "searchOutputMode": "count",
  "mcpOutputMode": "summary",
  "previewLines": 12,
  "expandedPreviewMaxLines": 4000,
  "bashCollapsedLines": 15,
  "diffViewMode": "auto",
  "diffSplitMinWidth": 120,
  "diffCollapsedLines": 24,
  "diffWordWrap": true,
  "showTruncationHints": true,
  "showRtkCompactionHints": true
}

Capability Detection

The extension automatically detects available capabilities:

• MCP Tooling — When no MCP tools are available, MCP-related settings are hidden and MCP output mode is forced to hidden
• RTK Optimizer — When pi-rtk-optimizer isn't installed, RTK compaction hint settings are hidden and hints are disabled

This prevents confusion from settings that have no effect in your environment.

Troubleshooting

Tool Ownership Conflicts

If another extension owns a tool and you see rendering conflicts:

1. Set the corresponding registerToolOverrides.<tool> to false in your config
2. Run /reload in Pi
3. Verify with /tool-display show that the ownership reflects expected off values

Configuration Not Loading

If settings aren't applying:

1. Check the config file exists at ~/.pi/agent/extensions/pi-tool-display/config.json
2. Verify JSON syntax is valid
3. Run /tool-display show to see current effective configuration

Project Structure

pi-tool-display/
├── index.ts                    # Extension entrypoint (Pi auto-discovery)
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts                # Extension bootstrap and registration
│   ├── tool-overrides.ts       # Built-in and MCP renderer overrides
│   ├── diff-renderer.ts        # Edit/write diff rendering engine
│   ├── config-modal.ts         # /tool-display settings UI
│   ├── capabilities.ts         # MCP/RTK capability detection
│   ├── config-store.ts         # Config load/save and normalization
│   ├── presets.ts              # Preset definitions and matching
│   ├── render-utils.ts         # Shared rendering helpers
│   ├── thinking-label.ts       # Thinking block label formatting
│   ├── user-message-box-native.ts  # User message border styling
│   ├── types.ts                # TypeScript type definitions
│   └── zellij-modal.ts         # Modal UI primitives
├── config/
│   └── config.example.json     # Starter config template
└── assets/
    └── pi-tool-display.png     # README screenshot

Development

# Type check
npm run build

# Lint (same as build)
npm run lint

# Run tests
npm run test

# Full check
npm run check

Related Extensions

• pi-rtk-optimizer — RTK optimizer for token-efficient source output

License

MIT