Get in Touch

Course Outline

Introduction to Pi

  • Overview of Pi and its philosophy of minimalism and control
  • Comparison with Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Cursor
  • The four built-in tools: read, write, edit, and bash
  • When to choose Pi over heavier agents

Installation and Setup

  • Installing Pi via npm and other package managers
  • Configuring API keys for over 15 supported providers
  • Setting up the working directory and context files
  • Running Pi in local and Docker environments

Core Terminal Workflows

  • Generating code from simple prompts
  • Reading and editing files with precision
  • Executing bash commands safely within the agent
  • Managing session state and resetting context

Building Custom Skills

  • Understanding the TypeScript skill API
  • Writing custom read, write, and edit operations
  • Integrating with bash execution for specialized workflows
  • Testing and debugging skills in isolation

Prompt Templates and Themes

  • Adapting system prompts for different languages and frameworks
  • Creating reusable prompt templates for team consistency
  • Packaging themes as shareable modules

Extending Pi with npm Packages

  • Bundling skills as pi packages
  • Publishing to npm and Git
  • Installing community-contributed packages
  • Managing dependency versions and compatibility

Provider Flexibility

  • Switching between Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and other backends
  • Optimizing for cost, speed, and quality per task
  • Running entirely local models for sensitive code

Practical Use Cases

  • Automated testing and test generation workflows
  • Refactoring legacy code with custom skill chains
  • Documentation generation and maintenance
  • CI integration with minimal agent overhead

Security and Control

  • Understanding the 300-word system prompt boundary
  • Manual approval for write operations
  • Sandboxing bash execution for untrusted environments
  • Audit logging of all agent actions

Summary and Next Steps

  • Recap of minimalism, control, and extensibility principles
  • Community resources and contribution guidelines
  • Advanced topics for experienced Pi users

Requirements

  • Experience with terminal-based development and bash
  • Fundamental knowledge of TypeScript or JavaScript
  • Familiarity with npm package management

Audience

  • Developers looking for a lightweight, customizable coding agent
  • Senior engineers seeking full control over agent internals
  • Teams embracing terminal-first development practices
 14 Hours

Upcoming Courses

Related Categories