timestamp-pi

Show a timestamp under every message in Pi's chat, plus a prompt-cache countdown in the footer.

What it does

• Per-message timestamps with context — a dim line like ⏱ HH:MM:SS (2m ago) · user message appears directly under each message, labeled as user message, ai response, or tool call
• Cache miss countdown — a footer status element shows ⏳ cache 4:32, counting down the 5-minute prompt-cache TTL after each response; turns green while warm, yellow under 1 minute, red (cache expired) once the next request will be a cache miss

Timestamps are stored as custom session entries: they persist across reloads and are rendered TUI-only — they are never sent to the LLM. For paid keep-alive turns that refresh the prompt cache, use cache-warm instead; timestamp-pi does not send warming traffic.

Features

• Zero context pollution — timestamps never reach the model
• Session-persistent — historical timestamps re-render when you resume a session
• Live countdown — countdown refreshes every second while the cache is warm
• Coexists with other footers — adds its own status element instead of replacing Pi's footer (same approach as subagents-pi)
• Toggle on/off — use /timestamp-pi for the TUI menu (or the original toggle behavior outside the TUI); on, off, and toggle are explicit non-menu forms

Usage

After installation, timestamps appear automatically. In the TUI, a bare command opens a compact enable/disable menu; Escape or Close leaves the current state unchanged. Outside the TUI, the bare command keeps its toggle behavior.

/timestamp-pi          # menu in the TUI, toggle elsewhere
/timestamp-pi toggle   # toggle without opening a menu
/timestamp-pi on       # explicitly enable
/timestamp-pi off      # explicitly disable

Compatibility

The menu is shown only when Pi supplies an extension context with mode === "tui" and hasUI. Older host runtimes that omit ctx.mode use the non-TUI fallback instead of opening UI/RPC dialogs: the bare /timestamp-pi command toggles the feature.

Settings persistence

The deliberate /timestamp-pi toggle is stored in the private, validated ~/.pi/agent/timestamp-pi.json file (the path follows Pi's getAgentDir()). The default remains enabled when no preference is present. Message timestamps, prompt-cache timing, and footer timers remain session-only and are never saved as preferences.

Installation

# From npm
pi install npm:timestamp-pi

# From repo (local)
pi -e ./extensions/timestamp-pi

Reload Pi (/reload) after installing.

Requirements

Requires @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent >= 0.84 (uses registerEntryRenderer).

Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | /timestamp-pi | Open the TUI enable/disable menu, or toggle outside the TUI | | /timestamp-pi toggle\|on\|off | Toggle or explicitly set the feature without opening a menu |

Example

Chat:

You
Fix the failing test in auth.spec.ts
⏱ 14:32:05 (2m ago) · user message

Assistant
Fixed — running the tests now.
⏱ 14:32:08 (now) · ai response

Assistant
⏱ 14:32:10 (now) · tool call

Status element (in the footer):

⏳ cache 4:12

License

MIT