@lazco/pi-rich-model-selector

A model picker for pi. It shows model facts, and it keeps your starred models in the order you set.

The picker in pi shows the model id, the provider, and the name. This extension also shows the context size, the price, the thinking level, and the key state. You can set the thinking level of each model, star a model, hide a model, and sort your starred models.

Table of contents

• Install
• Open the picker
• Keys
• Commands
• What a row shows
• The three views
• Set the thinking level of a model
• Keys the filter box keeps
• Star and sort your models
• Hide a model you do not use
• Set the model pi starts with
• Make Ctrl+P follow your star order
• Hide the built-in /model menu entry
• Where your data goes
• Limits
• FAQ
• License

Install

pi install npm:@lazco/pi-rich-model-selector

[!IMPORTANT] This package was named @lazco-studio/pi-rich-model-selector. That name stopped at 0.4.0 and gets no further release. Every release after it ships under @lazco/pi-rich-model-selector. To switch, uninstall the old name first:

pi uninstall npm:@lazco-studio/pi-rich-model-selector
pi install npm:@lazco/pi-rich-model-selector

To try it for one session only:

pi -e npm:@lazco/pi-rich-model-selector

Open the picker

There are three ways. All three open the same picker.

1. Type /model. This extension takes over the built-in command.
2. Type /models.
3. Press Ctrl+L, or the key you bound to pi's app.model.select action.

To open the picker with a filter, add a word:

/model opus

The picker opens at once on the models pi already knows. It then asks each provider for a fresh catalog in the background, and the list updates when the answer comes. That refresh stops when you close the picker, and it gives up after 15 seconds. Either way you keep the models pi already had.

Keys

| Key | Action | Pi action | Custom bind | |---|---|---|---| | Type text | Filter the list | | | | Up / Down | Move the cursor | tui.select.up / tui.select.down | | | PageUp / PageDown | Move the cursor one page | tui.select.pageUp / tui.select.pageDown | | | Shift+Tab | Move the thinking level up, and start again at the bottom after the top | app.thinking.cycle | | | Shift+Left / Shift+Right | Move the thinking level one step down or up | | levelDown / levelUp | | Ctrl+R | Star the model, or remove the star | | star | | Ctrl+S | Make the model the startup model, or clear it | app.models.save | | | Ctrl+X | Hide the model, or show it again | | hide | | Alt+Up / Alt+Down | Move a starred model up or down | app.models.reorderUp / app.models.reorderDown | | | Tab | Change the view | tui.input.tab | | | Enter | Use the model under the cursor | tui.select.confirm | | | Esc or Ctrl+C | Close the picker and keep the model you use now | tui.select.cancel | |

A key with a pi action is the key pi uses for the same action in its own pickers. It follows your keybindings.json, so a key you rebind moves in the picker and in its key hint too. A key with a custom bind is rebound with /models bind, as in /models bind star alt+s. The key hint follows that bind too. On macOS, Alt is the Option key, and the key hint says Option.

Commands

| Command | What it does | |---|---| | /model | Open the picker | | /model <text> | Open the picker with <text> in the filter | | /models | Open the picker | | /models sync | Copy your star order into the Ctrl+P cycle | | /models unsync | Undo /models sync | | /models hide | Remove the /model line from the command menu | | /models show | Put the /model line back | | /models keys | Show the four custom key binds | | /models bind <action> <key> | Bind star, hide, levelDown, or levelUp to <key>, as in /models bind star alt+s | | /models bind <action> default | Hand one bind back to its default |

What a row shows

→ ★ <model-id>  1.0M $5/$25  xhigh ✓ ·default

• → is the cursor.
• ★ means the model is starred.
• · means the model is not starred.
• ✗ means the model is hidden.
• 1.0M is the context size.
• $5/$25 is the price for 1M input tokens and 1M output tokens.
• xhigh is the thinking level this model runs at. A dot after it, as in xhigh ·, means the level comes from your global default. With no global default set, the dot shows the level pi runs at now, because pi keeps that level when you switch. No dot means you set the level for this model. A - means the model cannot think.
• ✓ means pi uses this model now.
• ·default means pi starts with this model.
• ·no key means there is no API key. Run /login to add one.

The panel on the right shows more facts about the model under the cursor. On a narrow terminal, that panel moves below the list.

╭─ Select a model ── ↵ · ⇧⇥←→ · ^R★ · ⌥↑↓ · ^S · ^X · ⇥ · esc ─╮
│ View: starred | all | hidden  2 starred, 1 hidden, 3 total   │
│ >                                                            │
├───────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┤
│ → ★ <model-id>        │ <model-id>…                          │
│   ★ <other-model-id>  │ Name    …                            │
╰───────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────╯

The three views

Press Tab to go to the next view.

| View | What it lists | |---|---| | starred | Your starred models, in your order | | all | Every model, except the hidden ones | | hidden | Only the hidden models |

Set the thinking level of a model

Press Shift+Tab to move the level of the model under the cursor. It is the key pi itself uses to cycle the thinking level. Press Shift+Left or Shift+Right to move the level one step down or up. The level is saved against the model, so every model can hold its own. Pi applies it when you switch to that model, from the picker or with Ctrl+P. A new level for the model in use applies at once, even when you close the picker with Esc.

A level you set with /thinking for this session only stays when you open the picker and close it. It gives way once you change the level of the model in use, or switch model.

→ · <model-id>  1.0M $5/$25  medium ·      before
→ · <model-id>  1.0M $5/$25  high          after Shift+Tab

Shift+Tab goes up, and starts again at the bottom after the top level. One key reaches every level that way. Shift+Left and Shift+Right stop at the lowest and the highest level, and say so.

The dot tells you where the level came from.

| Row | Meaning | |---|---| | high · | No level set. The model follows your global default, or the level pi runs at now when you have no default. | | high | You set this level. It stays, whatever the default becomes. | | - | The model cannot think. The level keys do nothing. |

Each model offers its own levels. A model may go off, low, medium, high, xhigh, max, and another may only go low, medium, high. A model with one level, or with none, ignores the level keys.

To hand a model back to your global default, step the level onto the default. The dot comes back, and the entry leaves settings.json.

Your global default stays where it is. Use pi's own /thinking command to change that.

A level written into enabledModels in settings.json, as <provider>/<model-id>:<level>, wins over the level you set here when Ctrl+P reaches that model. Pi reads it in that order too.

Keys the filter box keeps

The filter box takes every key the picker does not claim. The picker claims none of the keys pi's editor uses for text, so the box edits the way pi's editor does. That includes any editing key you rebind in keybindings.json.

| Key | What it does | |---|---| | Left / Right | Move the cursor one character | | Ctrl+B / Ctrl+F | Move the cursor one character | | Alt+Left / Alt+Right | Move the cursor one word | | Home / Ctrl+A | Jump to the start | | End / Ctrl+E | Jump to the end | | Ctrl+D | Delete the character under the cursor | | Ctrl+W / Ctrl+U / Ctrl+K | Delete a word, to the start, or to the end |

In fullscreen mode, pi keeps Home and End for the transcript. Use Ctrl+A and Ctrl+E there.

Star and sort your models

1. Move the cursor to a model.
2. Press Ctrl+R to star it (or the key you bound to star).
3. Press Tab until the view shows starred.
4. Press Alt+Up or Alt+Down to move the model.

These are the keys pi's own /scoped-models picker uses to sort models.

The order applies to starred models only.

Hide a model you do not use

Press Ctrl+X to hide the model under the cursor (or the key you bound to hide). A hidden model leaves the all view.

To get it back:

1. Press Tab until the view shows hidden.
2. Move the cursor to the model.
3. Press Ctrl+X (or your hide bind).

Three rules apply:

1. A star wins over a hide. If you star a hidden model, the model becomes visible again.
2. If you hide a starred model, the star goes away.
3. You cannot hide the model you use now. Change to another model first.

Set the model pi starts with

1. Move the cursor to the model.
2. Press Ctrl+S.

The row shows ·default at once. Pi opens with that model the next time it starts.

Ctrl+S saves the startup model in pi's own picker too. Pi's picker also switches to the model and closes. This picker stays open and keeps the model you use now, so you can set the default without leaving the model you are on.

To clear it, move the cursor to the default model and press Ctrl+S again. Pi then goes back to its own defaults. Restart pi to apply the change.

Make Ctrl+P follow your star order

Ctrl+P steps through models in pi. It reads the enabledModels list in settings.json. This extension can write your star order into that list.

1. Star the models you want, in the order you want.
2. Run /models sync.
3. Restart pi.

To undo this, run /models unsync and restart pi.

Warning: enabledModels limits which models pi can reach. After a sync, only your starred models stay available.

Hide the built-in /model menu entry

Pi defines /model inside its own code, so no setting can remove that command. This extension takes the command over, so /model opens this picker.

You can still remove the extra /model line from the command menu.

• Run /models hide to remove it. Only /models stays in the menu. Both commands still work.
• Run /models show to put the line back.

Where your data goes

The extension writes two files in your pi agent directory.

| File | What it holds | |---|---| | ~/.pi/agent/rich-model-selector.json | Your stars, your star order, your hidden models, your custom keys, and the menu setting | | ~/.pi/agent/settings.json | The thinking level of each model, the startup model, and the enabledModels list after a sync |

The thinking levels go into the modelThinkingLevels field, which pi reads by itself. So a level set here works the same as one set any other way.

{
  "modelThinkingLevels": {
    "<provider>/<model-id>": "xhigh"
  }
}

You can edit both files by hand. You can also run more than one pi session at a time. The picker reads both files each time it opens. A write keeps the fields it does not own, because it locks the file first.

Limits

1. An open picker does not follow file changes. Close the picker and open it again to see an edit made somewhere else.
2. Alt+Up and Alt+Down save the order that the picker loaded at open time. A star added by another session after that point can go away.
3. If two sessions write at the same moment, the last write wins.
4. A level you set for the model in use reaches the session when the picker closes, not on each key press.
5. In fullscreen mode, PageUp and PageDown scroll the transcript and do not reach the picker. Pi's own pickers work the same way. See the FAQ to page the list there.

FAQ

How do I change a key?

Two kinds of keys, two ways to change them.

A key with a pi action in the Keys table follows ~/.pi/agent/keybindings.json. Add the action there, then run /reload. The change applies in pi's own pickers too, because they use the same action.

{
  "app.models.reorderUp": "<key>",
  "app.models.reorderDown": "<key>"
}

See pi's keybindings documentation for the key syntax.

A key with a custom bind in the Keys table follows /models bind. Run /models keys to see the four binds. Run /models bind star alt+s to move the star key. Run /models bind star default to hand it back. A bind that names a key the picker already claims never fires, and the command says so.

How do I page the list in fullscreen mode?

Fullscreen mode takes PageUp and PageDown for the transcript before the picker sees them. Bind the page actions to a second key that the transcript leaves alone:

{
  "tui.select.pageUp": ["pageUp", "shift+up"],
  "tui.select.pageDown": ["pageDown", "shift+down"]
}

This pages every list in pi, not only this picker.

Does this break my other editor extensions?

No. Pi runs one editor only, but this extension adds to the editor instead of replacing it. An extension such as @xynogen/pix-display keeps working. The load order in settings.json does not matter.

Why did my level lose its dot, or get one back?

The dot means the row follows your global default. With no global default set, it follows the level pi runs at now.

When you step a level onto the default, the picker removes the entry instead of saving one that only repeats the default. The dot comes back to show that. If the default later changes, that model follows it.

Can I pin a level that equals my global default?

No. A level equal to the default is stored as "follow the default". To pin one model apart from the rest, set the other models instead, or change your global default with /thinking.

I changed a file while pi was running. What happens?

Open the picker again to see the change. A /models hide or /models show in one session reaches the other sessions on the next key press.

License

AGPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE.