pi-cwd

A pi-coding-agent extension that lets you change the effective working directory without restarting the agent.

Features

• /cwd — show current working directory
• /cwd <path> — change working directory (absolute, relative, or ~ expansion)
• Tab-completion for directory paths
• All tool execution (bash, read, write, edit, grep, find, ls) follows the new cwd
• User ! bash commands also use the new cwd
• Footer indicator shows the active directory when it differs from the original. The status is published via ctx.ui.setStatus("cwd", ...) — a JSON payload containing the display path (with $HOME replaced by ~). Extensions like pi-powerline can read this status to display the effective CWD.
• Session persistence — cwd changes survive /reload and session resume

Install

From npm

pi install npm:@harms-haus/pi-cwd

From GitHub

pi install git:github.com/harms-haus/pi-cwd

Then start pi — the extension will be auto-discovered. Or reload an existing session with /reload.

From source

git clone https://github.com/harms-haus/pi-cwd.git
pi -e ./pi-cwd/src/index.ts

Manual

Copy src/index.ts to ~/.pi/agent/extensions/ (global) or .pi/extensions/ (project-local).

Usage

/cwd                    # show current directory
/cwd /tmp               # absolute path
/cwd ../other-project   # relative path
/cwd ~/Documents        # tilde expansion

How it works

The extension intercepts the tool_call event and mutates tool arguments in-place:

• bash — prepends cd '<cwd>' && to the command (single-quoted for shell safety)
• read / write / edit — resolves relative paths against the effective cwd
• grep / find / ls — defaults to the effective cwd when no path is specified

The system prompt is updated via before_agent_start so the LLM is aware of the active directory.

Integration

Other extensions can read pi-cwd's footer status to discover the effective working directory.

Status API

Property	Value
Key	"cwd" (constant STATUS_KEY in state.ts)
Format	JSON.stringify({ cwd: string }) when CWD differs from original
Clearing	ctx.ui.setStatus("cwd", undefined) when effective CWD matches the original
Display path	$HOME prefix is replaced with ~ before JSON serialization
Events	Status is updated on /cwd command execution and on session_start/session_tree events

Example

// Reading pi-cwd status from another extension
// Note: footerDataProvider is available inside ctx.ui.setFooter() callbacks.
const statuses = footerDataProvider.getExtensionStatuses();
const raw = statuses.get("cwd");
if (raw) {
  const { cwd } = JSON.parse(raw); // cwd: "~/projects/my-app"
}

Compatibility

• pi-powerline — Reads the cwd status to display the effective CWD in the footer. Applies path compression when the terminal width is constrained.

Limitations

• ctx.cwd (the built-in getter) remains the original cwd — this is a read-only property on the ExtensionRunner. Extensions like pi-powerline can instead read the cwd footer status to show the effective CWD.
• Other extension tools that read ctx.cwd directly will see the original value
• Resource discovery (AGENTS.md, project-local extensions/skills) stays bound to the original cwd
• Session files are saved under the original cwd's session directory

Development

npm install          # install dependencies
npm test             # run tests
npm run test:coverage # run tests with coverage report
npm run typecheck    # type-check with TypeScript
npm run lint         # lint with ESLint
npm run format       # format with Prettier
npm run format:check # check formatting

License

MIT