pi-btw-cc

/btw side questions for pi: ask about the work in progress without derailing it. The answer lands in a floating overlay instead of the main conversation, and only reaches it if you promote it with f.

/btw what does the retry wrapper do on a 429?

Install

pi install npm:pi-btw-cc
pi install git:github.com/Nouvelle-Lune/pi-btw-cc   # or from GitHub

Needs Node >= 22.19 and pi 0.85.x.

Usage

| Command | | | --- | --- | | /btw <question> | Ask a side question — opens the overlay and starts the request right away | | /btw | Reopen the overlay on the existing side thread (no model call) |

| Key | | | --- | --- | | ↑ ↓ | Scroll the answer | | ⇧← ⇧→ | Browse the side thread | | e | Expand or fold a long side question | | c | Copy the selected answer | | f | Promote the selected exchange into the main conversation | | x | Delete the selected side question | | Esc Enter | Close |

The selected exchange is the one expanded in the body and the one ⇧←/⇧→, e, c, f and x act on. The thread list under it marks the selection with ❯, and the footer shows the position as 2/3.

A question that wraps to more than three rows is folded to its first line plus a … N more lines (e to show) marker, so it does not push the answer — or the spinner while the request runs — out of the body. e unfolds the selected question; opening the overlay again starts folded.

f adds the selected exchange to the main conversation, and the main agent answers it on its next turn:

Notes

• A side request sees the session's conversation (compaction-aware) but has no tools: it answers from context only, in one response, and cannot read files or run commands.
• Side questions stay in the session, so the thread continues across restarts, /reload, /resume and /tree branches.
• Promotion only appends, so the main conversation's cached prompt prefix stays valid. While a side request is still running, f waits instead of aborting it.
• Side requests don't share the main conversation's prompt cache, so their input tokens are billed in full.
• On narrow terminals the key hints wrap onto more rows and the answer area shrinks to keep them visible.
• Depending on the fold, a state change reveals what changed: a folded question keeps the top of the exchange in view, an unfolded one scrolls to the answer (or to the error) below the question. On a terminal too short to show both, the answer or status row wins over the question top.

Development

npm install
npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run docs:images   # regenerate docs/*.svg + docs/*.png (needs rsvg-convert)

License

MIT