pi-editor-picker

Pick and configure external editors for Pi (Ctrl+G).

Why this package?

Pi's built-in externalEditor setting supports $VISUAL, $EDITOR, and commands like code --wait. But on Windows, many popular editors are GUI programs that return immediately after launch — Pi reads back an empty file before you finish editing.

This package fills the gap:

• Wraps Windows GUI editors so Pi waits for the window to close
• Auto-detects editor locations from registry, Start Menu, and common paths
• Sets externalEditor with one command, no manual config editing
• Auto-fallbacks — request an editor not installed, it picks the next best one

Editors Pi can't handle natively (this package can)

| Editor | Why Pi can't handle it | What this package does | |--------|------------------------|------------------------| | Typora | GUI app, no --wait flag | Shortcut + cmd /c start /w | | MarkText | GUI app, no --wait flag | Shortcut + cmd /c start /w | | Notepad++ | GUI app, no --wait flag | Shortcut + cmd /c start /w | | Notepad | Already natively supported | Included for one-click selection |

These GUIs work automatically on Windows. Close the window to return to Pi.

Editors Pi natively supports (also included)

| Editor | Pi native command | This package also provides | |--------|-------------------|----------------------------| | VS Code | code --wait | One-click /editor vscode | | Cursor | cursor --wait | One-click /editor cursor | | Windsurf | windsurf --wait | One-click /editor windsurf | | Sublime Text | subl -w | One-click /editor sublime | | Atom | atom --wait | One-click /editor atom | | Zed | zed --wait | One-click /editor zed | | Neovim | nvim | One-click /editor neovim | | Vim | vim | One-click /editor vim | | Emacs | emacs -nw | One-click /editor emacs |

Platform support

• Windows: Full support — GUI wrappers, registry + Start Menu detection.
• macOS / Linux: CLI editors and --wait editors only. Windows GUI editors are not detected.

Installation

pi install npm:pi-editor-picker

Or add to your ~/.pi/agent/settings.json:

{
  "packages": ["npm:pi-editor-picker"]
}

Then /reload.

Usage

/editor                    Interactive picker
/editor list               List detected editors
/editor auto               Auto-select the first available
/editor typora             Select Typora directly
/editor select typora      Same as above
/editor vscode             Select VS Code directly

After selecting, run /reload to apply, then press Ctrl+G to open the external editor.

License

MIT