[TannerMidd]

What

• Update Pi Durable and the other @earendil-works packages from 1.1.0 to 1.3.0. The built-in tools, tests, docs and examples now return output instead of content. Pi Pocket still reads content from drop-in tools.
• Show what subagents do in peek tiles and on the subagents board. A peek tile lists the subagents at work in its session. The board shows a sub-tile for each subagent. By Steven Goldade (@smgoldade) in Show what subagents are doing in peeks and on the board #108.
• Keep the subagent tiles short when many subagents work. A peek tile shows 3 subagent rows at most (1 in the phone strip). The board shows 6 sub-tiles for each session (3 on a phone). When exactly 1 more subagent is active, the board shows it too. N more opens the board at the first subagent that the tile does not show. The approval box on a tile names the subagent that asks.
• Add a Download button for the LANCET Nano model to the Lancet Guard row in Menu → Extensions. The button uses the verified downloader of the package. It installs the model in the folder where Pi puts it.
• Show the Providers dialog in 2 columns on screens 1000 px wide or more. Phones and narrow screens keep 1 column.
• Fix the blank screen after a system swipe back in the iPhone home screen app. The app now keeps the session list under the current page in the history.
• Add Interrupt to the send modes (Steer, Queue, Interrupt) while Pi works.
  • Interrupt stops the run at once, as Stop does. It also stops a long tool call. Then it sends the message.
  • Like Stop, Interrupt withdraws the queue. After 1 use, the send mode goes back to Steer.
  • On a narrow message box, the model chip hides while Pi works.
  • Suggested by Steven Goldade (@smgoldade).
• Fix a message that a person sends again with the same model. The new session now uses the model that the session uses now, as the message sheet says. Before, the new session used the model from the time of the first send. By wangb (@wangbinyq) in Conversation: a message sent again with the same model takes the model the session runs on now #110.
• Redesign the Extensions hub. Discover and Installed use quiet rows with 1 action. An entry goes through Install, Look it over, and Turn it on. The hub asks in place, not in a browser dialog. An Installed row opens and shows its settings and details.
• Make the corners squarer across the app. Pills and avatars stay round. Themes that set their own corners keep them.
• Let extensions add panels and status items. A panel opens next to the conversation, where Browser and Files dock. On a phone, a panel opens as a new screen. A status item shows in the status line under the message box. With this change, the Spark dashboard in Spark dashboard: a hardware status chip and a right-hand telemetry panel #86 by @benwvlshvm can be a drop-in.
• Make these parts into slots: the top bar, the status line, the places, the buttons next to the message box, and the actions under answers. Extensions can add items to the slots. People can hide and reorder the items in Appearance. The choices of a person win.
• Add pocket.insertText for extensions. It puts text in the message box. It never sends the text.
• Make the app faster:
  • Draw an answer block by block while it streams. The app draws again only the block that changes.
  • Keep the session list still while an answer streams.
  • Send only the changes to the message that Pi writes (protocol 3). Older tabs still get the full message.
  • Send the session list to a tab only when the list changed.
  • Compress text answers and the event stream (brotli, else gzip). Web files get an ETag and a 304 answer.
  • List the modules of the app as modulepreload links on the app page.
  • Store a new base for busy documents every 64 changes. Before the final review, the author measured the startup time on a copy of the live data: 600 ms to 380 ms. The final review did not repeat this measurement, because the live data now has the new bases. On test data with 20,000 changes, the startup time went from 150 ms to 95 ms.
  • Read only new entries for the Changes count.
• Fix nix build (and nix run). The fix changes 2 test checks. They expected old results. Now they expect what the app does today. No app code changed. By Michał Zając (@Quintasan) in Fix nix build: the picker's ~ path, and what a drop-in installs #111.
• Let extensions start a linked session in a different folder. linkedSessions.start takes an optional cwd. Without cwd, the session starts in the folder of the source, as before. By Brian Ketelsen (@bketelsen) in Allow linked sessions to select a working directory #112.
• Remove the line "Do not commit, push, publish, or deploy unless asked" from the base prompt of Pi Pocket. People said that the line was too restrictive.
• Remove the rule "Do not commit, push, or publish unless the person asks." from docs/index.md and docs/self-editing.md. In docs/self-editing.md, the change also removes the sentence "Show the diff instead."
• Remove the message limit between linked sessions. Before, a team stopped after 20 messages between its sessions (10 turns each way) until a person wrote. Now no message count stops them. Also remove the cap of 10 linked sessions for each session. Now no count limits the linked sessions that a session starts. The other limits of a team stay.
• Add a rule block to the rules of PiP. PiP now writes text for other agents in ASD-STE100 (Simplified Technical English), at about 80% adherence. This covers messages to sessions, scheduled messages and the instructions of watches. The answers of PiP to its person do not change.
• Fix the findings of the final review:
  • Tell linked sessions to answer once, and not to reply to thanks. No count limit applies to a team. The spend limit of the top session is the brake.
  • Correct the old team limits in SECURITY.md, docs/map.md and docs/features.md.
  • Show cwd on the stable HumanLinkedSessions.start in the reference, and correct 8 small points in the docs of the extension API.
  • Keep the run when an Interrupt request comes again with the same request id.
  • Start a linked session with a blank cwd in the folder of the source.
  • Refuse a top bar button and a panel with the same id. Redraw an action under answers after update().
  • Set an unused Interrupt back to Steer when Pi stops. Keep Stop inside the message box on screens narrower than 360 px.
  • Raise pocketApi from 1 to 2. A gallery draft now gives the pocketApi that the module exports.
• Fix 2 regressions of the fix round. A chosen Queue stays chosen when Pi stops. The actions under answers do not draw again when a module adds the same action again.
• Make agents write to each other in Simplified Technical English (ASD-STE100):
  • PiP and sessions, both ways. PiP asks each session to answer it in ASD-STE100. A session answers a message that came through PiP in ASD-STE100.
  • Linked sessions. Pi writes team messages in ASD-STE100 and asks for answers in it. A linked message asks for the reply in ASD-STE100, and every session prompt names the [via linked session …] marker.
  • Subagents. Pi writes each task for a subagent in ASD-STE100 and asks for the report in it.
  • The answers to messages from people do not change.
• Make Pi save a lesson only when a person asks for it, or when Pi is sure that the lesson will help in many later sessions. On its own, Pi does not save a one-off fact, a niche detail, a guess, or a lesson for a rare case.
• Set version 0.19.0 in the package, the lock file and the site. The site now tells about the subagent tiles and the model download.

Why

• Pi Durable 1.2 renamed a field of the tool result. Without the shim, a drop-in tool that still returns content gives the model an empty result.
• The peeks and the board must show what each subagent does. A person must not have to open the subagent. The message of the commit 242bbbf says that 20 subagents in 1 session made a tile about 1,300 px tall. Nobody repeated this measurement. For this reason, the follow-up change limits the rows.
• The guard needs its model. Before, only the /lancet-guard setup command of Pi downloaded it.
• The Providers dialog was a long single column on wide screens.
• Before, a Steer message waited for minutes behind a long tool call or a long model turn. Interrupt sends the message at once.
• Without a page under the app, the system swipe back left the home screen app on a blank page.
• A message that a person sends again with the same model must use the model that the sheet names.
• Before, extensions had only these places: pages, sheets, rail buttons, menu rows and launcher actions. A dashboard such as Spark dashboard: a hardware status chip and a right-hand telemetry panel #86 needed a change to the core.
• nix build failed in its test steps. Because of this, Nix users were not able to install Pi Pocket.
• An extension that coordinates work across repositories had to start every linked session in the folder of the source session. A coordinator in project A was not able to start a specialist in project B.
• A team of linked sessions stopped after 10 turns each way. This limit was too low.
• A session started 10 linked sessions at most. This cap was too low.
• PiP writes the messages that start and guide sessions. The new rule gives these messages one clear style.
• Agents read long messages from other agents in many styles. The same plain style keeps the facts clear for each agent.
• The memory tool proposed lessons for small one-off facts. Each lesson waits for the approval of the owner, so the owner had to dismiss many of them.
• A long answer cost its length squared, in the data for each tab and in the time to draw it. Pi Pocket compressed nothing. Each reload fetched about 80 web files (about 2 MB). The 0.18 page loads 80 files with 1,976,318 bytes. A cold read replayed every change that Pi Pocket ever stored for a document.

Fixes #106 (through #111). The commits of #108, #110, #111 and #112 are in this branch.

For extension authors

Packages (A1). Pi Pocket 0.19 pins these packages at 1.3.0. In 0.18, they were at 1.1.0. A drop-in gets the same versions through the node_modules link.

• @earendil-works/pi-durable 1.1.0 → 1.3.0
• @earendil-works/pi-ai 1.1.0 → 1.3.0
• @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent 1.1.0 → 1.3.0
• @earendil-works/pi-codemode 1.1.0 → 1.3.0
• @earendil-works/pi-mcp 1.1.0 → 1.3.0
• @earendil-works/chord 1.1.0 → 1.3.0

Changed. In Pi Durable 1.2, the result of the execute of a tool has output where it had content.

• New code returns { output: [{ type: "text", text }] }. The guides and examples now show this form.
• A drop-in that returns { content: [...] } continues to work. For the tools of a drop-in, Pi Pocket reads content as output. If a result has both fields, output wins. The shim does not change isError, details or image parts.
• The shim covers only the execute of the tools of a drop-in. A hook (afterTool) or a wrap (wrapTool) that reads or returns a result must use output. An old hook or wrap that returns content gives the model an empty result, with no error. For this reason, pocketApi goes to 2.
• A module that returns output needs Pi Pocket 0.19.0 or newer. It exports pocketApi = 2. A gallery entry for it must set minPocket to 0.19.0.
• The shim stays at least until a later minor release. The notes of that release will tell when the shim goes. The removal of the shim is a breaking change, and it raises pocketApi (A18).

Other Pi Durable 1.2 and 1.3 changes that a module can notice:

• bash returns an error result for a command that exits with a nonzero code. It does not throw an error. The result has an exit_code diagnostic.
• A tool that is not replay-safe can make nested calls. After a restart, Pi Durable abandons the unfinished nested calls of that tool.
• ToolHookCall has a new optional field, parent, for nested calls.
• A tool call with malformed JSON arguments fails validation. It does not run with the fields that Pi Durable parsed before the error.
• section, hook, wrapTool, api.memo and api.snapshot work as the docs say. 6 installed drop-ins loaded and ran on 1.3.0. Nobody tested a 7th drop-in (agent-civilization.ts) alone.

Added (experimental, since 0.19.0). All of these members are in pocket, the browser module API. They can change in a minor release (A4). Before you use a member, make sure that it is there (A10). In a gallery entry, set minPocket to 0.19.0.

• pocket.panel(spec), pocket.openPanel(id), pocket.closePanel(): a panel next to the conversation.
• pocket.status(spec): an item in the status line, with a short form for narrow lines.
• pocket.topbar(spec): a button in the top bar.
• pocket.composerButton(spec): a button on the left of the row of the message box.
• pocket.replyAction(spec): an action under the answers of Pi. Its run gets the answer.
• pocket.insertText(text, options): put text in the message box. It never sends the text.
• pocket.arrange(slot, arrangement): hide or reorder the items of a slot.
• An Action can now be { panel }.
• New types: PanelSpec, StatusSpec, Placement, TopbarSpec, ComposerButtonSpec, Reply, ReplyActionSpec, SlotName, Arrangement.
• New theme parts: extension-panel and status-item, each with data-module. data-focus can be extension-panel.
• pocket.topbar and pocket.panel refuse an id that the other already has in the same module. replyAction(...).update() now redraws the actions that show.
• types/pocket.d.ts marks each new member @since 0.19.0 and @experimental. The reference says "Since 0.19.0 · Experimental".

Added (since 0.19.0), on the server. From #112.

• cwd in host.linkedSessions.start(source, { …, cwd }, key): the folder for the new session. It must be a folder that exists. It uses the path rules of the folder picker. It is experimental, as host.linkedSessions is.
• cwd in the human-bound request.linkedSessions.start({ …, cwd }, key) of a conversation route. That interface is stable, so this option is stable too.
• Without cwd, the session starts in the folder of the source, as before. A blank cwd counts as no cwd. A relative cwd resolves against the folder of the server process, not the folder of the source.
• An older Pi Pocket ignores cwd. A gallery entry that needs cwd must set minPocket to 0.19.0.
• The types, the host reference, the linked-sessions guide and the API versions table say "since 0.19.0". No other member of the host or web changed.
• Since 0.19.0, host.linkedSessions.send and start do not stop at 20 messages between the sessions of a team. The stable human-bound request.linkedSessions.start does not stop at 20 messages either: the removal is a higher limit, an addition (A8), not a breaking change. Before, they refused with a 409 error until a person wrote. The limits page now says "no limit". The other limits stay. A linked session starts none. The spend limit of the session that started the team applies.
• Since 0.19.0, host.linkedSessions.start and the stable human-bound request.linkedSessions.start do not stop at 10 linked sessions for each session. Before, the 11th start failed with a 409 error. The removal is a higher limit, an addition (A8), not a breaking change. The limits page now says "no limit".

Themes. The default corner tokens are smaller: --r-mark to --r-float go from 3–20 px to 2–12 px. --r-pill stays at 999 px. The token names do not change. A theme that sets its own corners keeps them.

Deprecated, Removed, Reserved names, Security: no changes.

pocketApi goes from 1 to 2.

• Rule A2: when a package update breaks a use that the guides document, pocketApi goes up (A7). A2 names hook and wrapTool.
• Pi Durable 1.2 renamed content to output. An old afterTool or wrapTool that returns content gives the model an empty result, with no error.
• Modules that export pocketApi = 1, or no pocketApi, continue to load (A9). The oldest supported version is 1.
• A module that returns output can export pocketApi = 2. Then Pi Pocket 0.18 refuses it with a clear message. The guides and examples that return output now export 2.
• A module for a newer version than 2 does not load. The Extensions sheet tells why.
• The panels, status items, slots, cwd, and the higher limits of a team are additions (A8). They alone do not raise pocketApi.
• Protocol 3 and the compression change the events between the server and its tabs. Those events are internal. Drop-ins do not use them.

Tested

• npm run check, npm run format:check and npm run lint pass in a clean clone of the head (fe5899d), after npm ci.
• Full npm test in a clean clone at the head (fe5899d): 384 tests, 384 pass, 0 fail.
• A new test in test/agent-teams.test.ts checks the ASD-STE100 rules of the team tool and the subagent tool, the reply line in a linked message, and the marker rule in the prompt of the linked session. The test fails when any of the 4 texts is reverted.
• The PiP test in test/pip.test.ts now also checks that PiP asks each session to answer in ASD-STE100, that a session sees the [via PiP] marker, and that its prompt has the rule for that answer. The test fails on the old code.
• At f32ecb4, a first full run had 7 failures, all in test/mobile-ui.test.ts ("Timed out waiting for the session list"). Other heavy work ran on the machine at that time. The next full run passed.
• A new test in test/memory.test.ts checks that the prompt of a session and of PiP has the new memory rule and its safety sentences. It also checks that the old words "when you learn something that will help later sessions" are gone, and that the tool description says when to use add. The test fails on the old text.
• At 2af63f9, the full npm test gave 382 tests, 382 pass, 0 fail.
• A first full run of the same commit had 1 failure: "Pi uses the browser tool" in test/browser.test.ts, a known flaky test. That file passed alone 2 times.
• At 4f9f203, the full npm test gave 380 tests, 380 pass, 0 fail.
• New tests of the regression fixes. Each test fails on the old code:
  • test/composer-focus-ui.test.ts: a chosen Queue stays chosen for the next run.
  • test/extension-ui.test.ts: the same action under answers, added again, keeps the key of the slot. This covers the same object and a new object with the same fields and run. A new run changes the key, and the new run runs.
• A check by hand in a copy at 360 px and 1280 px: Queue stays, an unused Interrupt goes back to Steer, and the same action keeps the key.
• The docs site builds 44 pages. npm pack --dry-run passes.
• At f36d9af, a first full run had 1 failure: a browser timeout in test/extension-ui.test.ts. That file passed alone 2 times, and the second full run passed.
• New tests of the fix round. Each test fails on the old code:
  • test/agent-teams.test.ts: the team tool and the linked message tell Pi to answer once and to stop when the work is done.
  • test/app.test.ts: an Interrupt with the same request id does not stop the run that it started.
  • test/linked-sessions.test.ts: a blank cwd starts the session in the folder of the source.
  • test/extension-ui.test.ts: replyAction(...).update() redraws the label and runs the new run.
  • test/extension-ui.test.ts: a top bar button cannot take the id of its panel, and an order with an id 2 times keeps every button.
  • test/composer-focus-ui.test.ts: an Interrupt that a person chose but did not use does not stay for the next run.
  • test/composer-focus-ui.test.ts: at 320 px and at 350 px, Stop stays inside the message box while Pi works.
  • test/dropins.test.ts: a drop-in for API 2, 1, or none loads. Pi Pocket refuses a drop-in for API 3, 0, or 1.5 with a clear error. A gallery draft gives the pocketApi that the module exports.
  • test/extension-ui.test.ts: a browser module for API 2 loads. A browser module for API 3 or 0 tells why it does not load.
• A check by hand in a copy (test/serve.ts) at 320 px, 360 px and 1280 px: Stop fits at 320 px. The layout at 360 px and at 1280 px did not change. The slot fixes work.
• A fresh review of the diff of this round (rules A2, A7, A8 and A9) found 0 blockers, 2 minors and 3 nits. This round fixed the 2 minors and 2 nits. It added a comment for the 3rd nit (2 Interrupt requests with the same id at the same moment).
• A new test starts 12 linked sessions from 1 session. No count refuses one. The test fails on the old code with the cap error.
• A new test in test/pip.test.ts checks that the prompt of PiP has the ASD-STE100 rule, and that the prompt of a session does not. The test fails without the rule block.
• A new test sends 25 messages between 2 linked sessions (12 turns each way after the first message). No count stops them. The test fails on the old code with the 20-message error.
• An earlier run at eada028 had 1 failure: the cleanup step of test/composer-focus-ui.test.ts (a temporary folder was not empty yet). Its tests passed. It did not fail in the later full runs.
• Allow linked sessions to select a working directory #112 adds tests for cwd. They cover the new folder, its project instructions and shell tools, and an unchanged source. They also cover the default folder, bad folders, a repeated start, and the human-bound start.
• New tests cover Interrupt, the same-model send again (Conversation: a message sent again with the same model takes the model the session runs on now #110), live deltas, and the sends of the session list. They also cover compression and ETags, document bases, and the Changes count. Other new tests cover how the app draws an answer while it streams.
• test/back-home-screen.test.ts is a small test of the swipe-back fix.
• The message of each earlier commit tells its test:
  • Pi Durable update: an upgrade check on synthetic data.
  • Lancet model: a live download in a throwaway copy.
  • Subagent tiles: a live check with 20 subagents.
  • Panels and slots: a demo drop-in on a test copy at desktop and phone sizes.
  • Performance: measurements on a copy of the live data.

Notes

• The final review (7 reviewers): ready, 0 blockers. This round fixed M1 (with text, not with a hard limit), minors 2 to 8, 10 and 11, and 10 nits. pocketApi 2 answers minor 1. This round did not fix minors 9 and 12 to 16, or the other nits.
• The final live test: 14 pass, 0 fail, 1 not tested (the server log, which goes only to the terminal of the launcher).
• The post-fix check of 4f9f203: the live checks gave 7 of 7 pass. The 2 reviewers found 0 blockers, 0 majors, 3 minors and 8 nits. The last round fixed 1 minor and 1 nit: the 2 regressions. These stay open:
  • A pocketApi that is a string or null gets a wrong error text. Pi Pocket still refuses the module.
  • A gallery draft reads export const pocketApi: number = 2 as API 1.
  • 7 small points in the docs and the tests.
  • The race of 2 identical Interrupt requests at the same moment.
• A copy of the live data that 0.19 used started again on 0.18 and showed all 252 sessions.
• Nobody can check these points:
  • a swipe back in a real iPhone home screen app;
  • compressed event streams on Safari and through Cloudflare tunnels;
  • nix build;
  • a real download of the LANCET model;
  • long use of 0.19, and then a return to 0.18;
  • how often real models loop in a team.
• The base prompt change and the web/ changes apply without a restart. The Pi Durable update and the server performance changes need a restart. The live server already had this restart.
• Allow linked sessions to select a working directory #112 changes server code (src/server/linked-sessions.ts and src/server/host.ts). The live server runs that code since its restart. Fix nix build: the picker's ~ path, and what a drop-in installs #111 changes tests only.
• The message limit change and the removal of the cap are server code too (src/server/linked-sessions.ts). The live server runs that code since its restart. The new text of the team tool (src/server/extensions/agent-teams.ts) loads without a restart.
• The ASD-STE100 rule of PiP is server code in src/server/extensions/pip.ts. The live server loads a changed file in src/server/extensions/ again by itself. Thus this change needs no restart. Menu → Restart server also loads it.
• The fix round changes these server files: src/server/commands.ts, src/server/linked-sessions.ts, src/server/extension-web.ts, src/server/reload.ts, src/server/gallery/share.ts and src/server/gallery/entry.ts. The live server runs them since its restart. src/server/extensions/agent-teams.ts loads again by itself. The web/ changes load in each browser by themselves.
• The rules for ASD-STE100 between agents are in src/server/extensions/pip.ts, prompt.ts, agent-teams.ts and subagents.ts. The live server loads them again by itself, without a restart.
• The reply line in a linked message is in src/server/linked-sessions.ts. The live server needs Menu → Restart server before it uses that line. The other rules work without it.
• The memory rule is in src/server/extensions/memory.ts. The live server loads it again by itself, without a restart. Sessions get the new text in their next request.
• Restart: the live server restarted at 18:51 on 2026-10-20. It runs the server files of 4f9f203. The round of the 2 regressions changes only web/ files, tests and 1 docs line. Thus it needs no restart.
• An older tab continues to work. It gets the full live message, as before. A 0.18 data folder upgrades. The tests do not cover a return to 0.18 after 0.19 ran on a data folder.
• This PR does not merge, tag or publish anything.