pi-output-styles

Switchable response styles for Pi, implemented as a Pi extension. It provides built-in and user- or project-defined instructions for coding-agent work.

Status: release v0.6.2. Compatibility has been verified against Pi 0.87.0 only.

Navigation: Security · Contributing · License · Releases

Problem and scope

Pi does not provide an integrated way to select and persist a response style while keeping project instructions separate. pi-output-styles provides built-in style instructions defined in the extension and loads custom style instructions from user and project Markdown files. It provides a selection command, persists the selected style, and applies it to the system prompt through Pi's extension API.

The extension decides which style instructions to apply. It does not change the model, provider, reasoning, or permissions. It does not integrate other plugins or subagents, and it does not add telemetry or functional network access.

Implemented capabilities

The repository currently includes:

• Ten built-in styles: default, Proactive, Concise, Explanatory, Learning, Reviewer, Diagrams first, STE, Caveman, and ELI5.
• The /output-style command for listing styles, showing status, and selecting a style.
• Injection of the active style into Pi's chained system prompt.
• Persistence of the selected style in the extension-owned <agentDir>/pi-output-styles.selection.json file.
• Turn-start reminders and the keep-coding-instructions behavior.
• Custom styles from the user and project directories, with precedence built-in < user < project.
• A process-local API for temporarily forcing a style, also delivered to other extensions through Pi's shared event bus on pi-response-styles:style-controller (requested via pi-response-styles:style-controller-request).

The waiting-turn reminder is fail-closed: Pi 0.87.0 does not expose a verified hook for waiting-only background work, so the extension does not emulate one with polling, timers, or other substitutes.

Status and compatibility

The extension is executable and covered by the repository's local checks. The verified compatibility baseline is Pi 0.87.0; other Pi versions have not been run. Installation of [email protected] from the npm registry has been verified.

Installation

The npm package pi-response-styles is published as 0.6.2; its first npm version was 0.2.0. The repository and product keep the name pi-output-styles. The current release is v0.6.2 on GitHub and npm.

Security and privacy

See SECURITY.md for the reporting process and the product's security boundaries.

The extension does not collect telemetry or open network connections. User and project styles are text instructions, not executable code. Treat their contents as untrusted input: they can influence responses, but they are not a security boundary and must not contain secrets.

Documentation, support, and contribution

The implementation details and verified compatibility limits are documented in docs/compatibility.md. Issues and pull requests are welcome through the repository's public channels. For questions or non-security problems, use the project's issue tracker. Security reports must follow SECURITY.md.

Credits

Some built-in styles adapt ideas from published work; every style text in this repository is written from scratch:

• Caveman follows the Caveman output style by Carlos Mello (MIT).
• STE implements ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (https://asd-ste100.org).
• ELI5 is inspired by Lydia Hallie's ELI5 style.
• Reviewer and Diagrams first adapt the semantics of styles by LoneExile (MIT).

This is open source collaborative software under the MIT License.

Copyright (c) 2026 Yivas. See LICENSE for the full license text.