e

e is a minimal terminal coding harness, forked from earendil-works/pi (MIT). It is not affiliated with the upstream project.

e keeps the original pi promise, as code: one model, one loop, four tools (read, write, edit, bash). The mcp, codemode, and tool-search built-in extensions are removed, not disabled: there is no setting that brings them back. See the root README for the full fork story and the compatibility scope.

Getting started

Install the command-line interface with npm:

npm install -g --ignore-scripts @subimpact/e

This requires Node.js 22.19 or newer. e does not require dependency lifecycle scripts for a normal npm installation.

Start e in the directory where you want it to work:

cd /path/to/project
e

For a built-in AI provider, run /login inside e to connect a subscription or API key. Then give e a task.

To reuse an existing pi installation's config, point E_CODING_AGENT_DIR (or the legacy PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR) at ~/.pi/agent.

Classical pi packages, extensions, skills, prompt templates, and themes install with e install <package> exactly as before. Packages that require the 0.99 built-in MCP, codemode, or tool-search APIs do not work in e, by design. Extensions that use hidden or deferred tools, tool loadout hooks, or mid-conversation tool changes still install, with a warning: e ignores those features. Why.

The package is one self-contained bundle with two runtime dependencies (jiti, photon-node). import from @subimpact/e loads that same bundle; no TypeScript declarations are published.

See the documentation for full setup and usage instructions.

Development

npm install --ignore-scripts  # Install all dependencies without running lifecycle scripts
npm run build         # Refresh model data, then build all packages
npm run build:offline # Rebuild using existing model data without network access
npm run check         # Lint, format, and type check
./test.sh             # Run tests (skips LLM-dependent tests without API keys)
./pi-test.sh          # Run e from sources (can be run from any directory)

License

MIT. See ../../LICENSE.