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Course Outline

Introduction to Pi

  • Understanding Pi’s core philosophy of minimalism and control
  • Comparisons with Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Cursor
  • Overview of the four built-in tools: read, write, edit, and bash
  • Evaluating when Pi is the preferred choice over heavier agents

Installation and Setup

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

Core Terminal Workflows

  • Generating code through simple prompts
  • Precise file reading and editing capabilities
  • Safe execution of bash commands within the agent
  • Managing session state and context resets

Building Custom Skills

  • Comprehending the TypeScript skill API
  • Developing custom read, write, and edit operations
  • Integrating with bash execution for specialized workflows
  • Isolated testing and debugging of skills

Prompt Templates and Themes

  • Customizing system prompts for various 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

Provider Flexibility

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

Practical Use Cases

  • Workflows for automated testing and test generation
  • Refactoring legacy code using custom skill chains
  • Documentation generation and maintenance
  • CI integration with minimal agent overhead

Security and Control

  • Understanding the boundaries of the 300-word system prompt
  • Requiring manual approval for write operations
  • Sandboxing bash execution in untrusted environments
  • Maintaining audit logs of all agent actions

Summary and Next Steps

  • Recap of principles regarding minimalism, control, and extensibility
  • Overview of community resources and contribution guidelines
  • Advanced topics tailored for experienced Pi users

Requirements

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

Audience

  • Developers looking for a lightweight, hackable coding agent
  • Senior engineers desiring complete control over agent internals
  • Teams embracing terminal-first development methodologies
 14 Hours

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