pi-pstack

A native Pi package adapted from Lauren Tan's pstack. The public repository is bnema/pi-pstack.

pstack favors small, well-shaped changes, deliberate parallelism, and proof against the real artifact. poteto-mode routes non-trivial work through focused playbooks and supporting skills.

The package requires Pi 0.82.1 or newer and Node.js 22.19 or newer.

Install

pi install git:github.com/bnema/pi-pstack

For a local checkout:

pi install .

For a temporary local run:

pi -e . --skill ./skills/poteto-mode

The package manifest loads the extension and every bundled skill when installed through pi install.

Start

/setup-pstack
/pstack implement the feature and verify it on the real surface

You can also invoke the skill directly:

/skill:poteto-mode investigate why requests are retried twice

Poteto mode stays active for later rigorous turns in the same session. Run /pstack-off to disable its reminder.

Native Pi integration

extensions/pstack.ts provides:

• /pstack <task> to enable poteto-mode and start a task.
• /pstack-off to disable sticky mode.
• pstack_task to run isolated Pi child agents, including bounded parallel batches, explicit models, tool allowlists, optional poteto-mode, and a child timeout. The default timeout is 10 minutes and the maximum is 30 minutes.
• Session-backed mode state that survives reloads and session resumes.

The adapted skills use Pi paths and concepts:

• Model roles live in ~/.pi/agent/pstack-models.json.
• Project skills live in .pi/skills/; user skills live in ~/.pi/agent/skills/.
• The active transcript is available through PI_SESSION_FILE.
• Parallel workflows call pstack_task instead of a host-specific task primitive.

Skills

poteto-mode is the main entry point. Situational skills include how, why, architect, arena, interrogate, recall, reflect, tdd, and unslop. The original principle skills and playbooks remain bundled under skills/.

See docs/guide/README.md for the longer workflow guide. Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request.

Upstream and scope

This adaptation is based on pstack 0.11.12. It preserves the upstream MIT license and authorship.

Cursor-specific plugin metadata, the poteto-agent manifest, and the dormant Benny automation pack are not copied as inert files. Their useful orchestration is represented by the native extension and Pi skills. Integrations that depend on optional MCP servers or external review tools remain conditional on those tools being available in the active Pi installation.

The extension launches local Pi child processes with the selected working directory and tool permissions. Use a narrow tools allowlist for read-only reviews. Child output is capped at 50 KiB per task. Review the source before installation because Pi extensions run with the user's permissions.