pi-editor-picker

Pick and configure external editors for Pi (Ctrl+G).

Why this package?

Pi's built-in externalEditor setting supports $VISUAL, $EDITOR, and commands like code --wait. But on Windows, many popular editors are GUI programs that return immediately after launch — Pi reads back an empty file before you finish editing.

This package fills the gap:

• Wraps Windows GUI editors so Pi waits for the window to close
• Auto-detects editor locations from registry, Start Menu, and common paths
• Sets externalEditor with one command, no manual config editing
• Auto-fallbacks — request an editor not installed, it picks the next best one

Editors Pi can't handle natively (this package can)

Editor	Why Pi can't handle it	What this package does
Typora	GUI app, no --wait flag	Shortcut + cmd /c start /w
MarkText	GUI app, no --wait flag	Shortcut + cmd /c start /w
Notepad++	GUI app, no --wait flag	Shortcut + cmd /c start /w
Notepad	Already natively supported	Included for one-click selection

These GUIs work automatically on Windows. Close the window to return to Pi.

Editors Pi natively supports (also included)

Editor	Pi native command	This package also provides
VS Code	code --wait	One-click /editor vscode
Cursor	cursor --wait	One-click /editor cursor
Windsurf	windsurf --wait	One-click /editor windsurf
Sublime Text	subl -w	One-click /editor sublime
Atom	atom --wait	One-click /editor atom
Zed	zed --wait	One-click /editor zed
Neovim	nvim	One-click /editor neovim
Vim	vim	One-click /editor vim
Emacs	emacs -nw	One-click /editor emacs

Platform support

• Windows: Full support — GUI wrappers, registry + Start Menu detection.
• macOS / Linux: CLI editors and --wait editors only. Windows GUI editors are not detected.

Installation

pi install npm:pi-editor-picker

Or add to your ~/.pi/agent/settings.json:

{
  "packages": ["npm:pi-editor-picker"]
}

Then /reload.

Usage

/editor                    Interactive picker
/editor list               List detected editors
/editor auto               Auto-select the first available
/editor typora             Select Typora directly
/editor select typora      Same as above
/editor vscode             Select VS Code directly

After selecting, run /reload to apply, then press Ctrl+G to open the external editor.

License

MIT