Pi Coding Agent: Minimalist Terminal Workflows Training Course

Introduction to Pi

• Understanding what Pi is and its core philosophy of minimalism and control
• Comparing Pi with Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Cursor
• An overview of the four built-in tools: read, write, edit, and bash
• Identifying scenarios where Pi is preferred over more complex agents

Installation and Setup

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

Core Terminal Workflows

• Generating code from simple text prompts
• Precisely reading and editing files
• Safely executing bash commands within the agent
• Managing session state and performing context resets

Building Custom Skills

• Understanding the TypeScript skill API structure
• Writing custom operations for reading, writing, and editing files
• Integrating with bash execution for specialized workflows
• Testing and debugging skills in isolation

Prompt Templates and Themes

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

Extending Pi with npm Packages

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

Provider Flexibility

• Switching between Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and other backend providers
• Optimizing for cost, speed, and quality on a per-task basis
• Running entirely local models for sensitive code handling

Practical Use Cases

• Automated testing and test generation workflows
• Refactoring legacy code using custom skill chains
• Generating and maintaining documentation
• Integrating with CI/CD pipelines with minimal agent overhead

Security and Control

• Understanding the limitations of the 300-word system prompt boundary
• Requiring manual approval for write operations
• Sandboxing bash execution to protect untrusted environments
• Audit logging all agent actions for transparency

Summary and Next Steps

• Recapping principles of minimalism, control, and extensibility
• Overview of community resources and contribution guidelines
• Exploring advanced topics for experienced Pi users