@heyhuynhgiabuu/pi-search

Five research tools for the Pi coding agent: websearch, codesearch, context7, deepwiki, web_fetch.

• Zero-config by default — works with no API key via the Exa MCP server
• Full feature access when configured — set EXA_API_KEY to unlock searchType: deep, recencyFilter, domainFilter, highlights etc. via direct REST
• Disable any tool you don't need via disabledTools config
• Coded errors for reliable model reasoning on failure
• Streaming progress for multi-query research

Install

pi install npm:@heyhuynhgiabuu/pi-search

That's it. No API key required.

Tools

| Tool | Purpose | When to use | | --- | --- | --- | | websearch | Search the open web | Default research tool. recencyFilter: "day" for sitreps. domainFilter: ["reuters.com", "-reddit.com"] to shape source set. searchType: "deep" for thorough coverage. | | codesearch | Code/library search | Looking for API references, library patterns, implementation examples. | | context7 | Up-to-date library docs | Fetch current documentation for a library: libraryName: "react", topic: "hooks". | | deepwiki | Ask about a public GitHub repo | repo: "facebook/react", question: "How does the reconciler work?". | | web_fetch | Extract full text from a URL | Follow-up after websearch to read the best articles. |

Configuration

Optional. Create ~/.pi/pi-search.json:

{
  "exaApiKey": "your-exa-api-key",
  "disabledTools": ["codesearch"],
  "mcpTimeoutMs": 30000
}

Or set environment variables:

export EXA_API_KEY=your-key
export PI_SEARCH_DISABLED_TOOLS=codesearch,deepwiki
export PI_SEARCH_USE_REST=true        # force direct REST (default: false; auto-enabled when EXA_API_KEY is set)
export PI_SEARCH_CONFIG_PATH=/path/to/config.json

Resolution order (highest priority first):

1. environment variables
2. ~/.pi/pi-search.json (or PI_SEARCH_CONFIG_PATH)
3. defaults

Direct REST vs MCP

websearch and codesearch choose their provider at execution time:

• If EXA_API_KEY is set (or PI_SEARCH_USE_REST=true), they call https://api.exa.ai/search directly. This unlocks the full Exa feature surface.
• Otherwise they fall back to https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp (the public MCP server, no key required). Feature set is narrower.

context7, deepwiki, and web_fetch always use their respective providers regardless.

Architecture

src/
├── index.ts          # extension entrypoint, wires the 5 tools
├── config.ts         # env + ~/.pi/pi-search.json resolution
├── errors.ts         # coded errors (validation_error, mcp_error, …)
├── types.ts          # shared types
├── mcp/client.ts     # JSON-RPC 2.0 MCP client
├── exa/client.ts     # direct REST client for api.exa.ai
├── exa/params.ts     # parameter normalization
└── tools/            # one file per tool + shared citations.ts

See AGENTS.md for the change map.

Development

make install        # npm ci
make check          # biome + tsc + vitest --coverage
make test           # vitest
make build          # tsc → dist/
make format         # biome format --write .
make lint           # biome lint
make typecheck      # tsc --noEmit
make release-dry-run
make version-packages
make release

License

MIT