pix-optimizer

Token-optimization suite for Pi Coding Agent. Three tools wired into one extension via src/index.ts, fronted by a single /optimizer command and one shared status-bar cell:

• Caveman (Cv) — terse-output system prompt
• RTK (Rk) — prefixes shell commands with rtk + injects RTK prompt
• Ponytail (Pt) — lazy-senior-dev system prompt (minimal code, YAGNI)

TOON guidance lives exclusively in the on-demand toon-json skill bundled by @xynogen/pix-skills; it is no longer optimizer state or prompt injection.

Command

One command opens an interactive overlay that fronts every tool:

/optimizer                 → open the overlay (←→ cycle value, ↑↓ move, esc close)

There is no text-arg form: the overlay is the only UI. Selecting a value calls the tool's run() handler, which persists the new value and repaints the shared status cell. Headless/test fallbacks print a plain status summary.

State persists to ~/.pi/agent/optimizer.json (caveman/rtk/ponytail). Initial values for a new session can be set in the optimizer section of ~/.pi/agent/pix.json — the runtime toggle via /optimizer still persists changes to optimizer.json as before.

Status bar

A single cell always shows all three tool icons in a fixed order, color-coded by state: accent when the tool is enabled, dim when disabled.

Icon style (Nerd Font, Unicode, or ASCII)

The default glyphs (Nerd Font PUA codepoints) are Nerd Font symbols and require a patched font (e.g. MesloLGS NF). Terminals without one render them as missing-glyph “tofu” boxes. Two font-independent fallbacks are available:

| Mode | Glyphs | Needs Nerd Font? | |---|---|---| | nerd (default) | Nerd Font PUA glyphs | yes | | unicode | ♤ ♡ ♧ (outline card suits) | no | | ascii | Cv Rk Pt | no |

Icons follow the global pix-pretty mode. Set it via /pix or the PRETTY_ICONS environment variable; the optimizer has no separate icon toggle.

Features

Caveman Mode (Cv)

Cuts ~75% of output tokens while keeping full technical accuracy.

| Level | Description | |-------|------------------------------| | lite | Professional, no fluff | | full | Classic caveman | | ultra | Maximum compression | | micro | Experimental prompt-minimized |

The /optimizer overlay opens a settings dialog when needed. Default level for new sessions is restored from ~/.pi/agent/optimizer.json.

RTK Tool Rewriting (Rk)

Two layers, both active automatically:

1. Prompt layer — injects the RTK system prompt (tells the model to prefix commands with rtk).
2. Execute layer — rewrites bash tool calls, prefixing known commands (git, gh, cargo, npm, pnpm, docker, kubectl, ls, grep, …) with rtk when the model forgets. Command chains are split on &&, ||, ; and |, and every known segment is prefixed — e.g. git add . && git push becomes rtk git add . && rtk git push. Operators inside quotes are ignored, and unparseable commands are left untouched. Falls back gracefully when the rtk binary is missing (warns once).

Requirement: the rtk binary must be on PATH.

cargo install rtk-ai

Ponytail Mode (Pt)

"Lazy senior dev" mode. Governs what the agent builds (minimal code, YAGNI), orthogonal to Caveman which governs how it talks — they pair. Before writing code the agent stops at the first rung that holds: does this need to exist → stdlib → native platform → installed dep → one line → minimum that works. Validation, error handling, security, and accessibility are never cut.

| Level | Description | |-------|--------------------------------------| | lite | Name the lazier alternative, you pick | | full | The ladder enforced (default) | | ultra | YAGNI extremist |

No install required — pure prompt injection, with no external binary or PATH dependency.

Configuration via pix.json

Set the initial optimizer state for new sessions in ~/.pi/agent/pix.json. These values are applied once at session start; subsequent changes via /optimizer persist to optimizer.json and take precedence.

{
  "optimizer": {
    "caveman": "lite",   // off | lite | full | ultra | micro
    "rtk":     true,
    "ponytail": "off"   // off | lite | full | ultra
  }
}

Installation

pi install npm:@xynogen/pix-optimizer

Also included in @xynogen/pix-core:

pi install npm:@xynogen/pix-core

Architecture

| File | Role | |-------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | src/index.ts | Wires the three tools + shared status, registers /optimizer | | src/opt.ts | The /optimizer overlay UI (keyboard nav + cycling) | | src/status.ts | Shared status-bar cell (toolIcon() → shared pix-pretty catalog) | | src/caveman.ts | Caveman logic, levels, prompt | | src/rtk.ts | RTK prompt + bash command rewriting | | src/ponytail.ts | Ponytail logic, levels, prompt | | src/persist.ts | Disk-backed ~/.pi/agent/optimizer.json persistence; seeds initial state from pix.json | | src/tool-result-filter.ts | Strips model-guidance warnings from tool_result |

Each tool registers its own lifecycle hooks and exposes an OptimizerHandle that /optimizer dispatches to. All three share one OptimizerStatus.

Development

bun test

Origin

This package was built by merging two upstream Pi community packages:

• Caveman mode — merged from npm:pi-caveman. Reimplemented here with multiple compression levels and integration with the shared /optimizer command.

• RTK rewriting — merged from npm:pi-rtk-optimizer. Reimplemented here with a two-layer approach: prompt injection + live bash command rewriting that handles chained commands (&&, ||, ;, |).

• Ponytail mode — ruleset adapted from git:github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail, the "lazy senior dev" skill. Reimplemented here as a native /optimizer tool with three intensity levels — no external hooks or files. The ruleset (the YAGNI ladder + safety carve-outs) is rewritten as a system-prompt fragment.

All upstreams are MIT licensed. No codebase was copied directly — the logic was rewritten and combined into a single extension with a unified /optimizer command and shared status bar. This package does not sync back to any upstream.

Full distro

Source: github.com/xynogen/pix-mono

To install the complete pix suite (all packages + Pi itself):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xynogen/pix-mono/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

License

MIT