Experimental /btw side questions for Pi. It snapshots stable main-session messages, makes one tool-free model call, shows the answer outside the transcript, and leaves the main agent thread untouched.
/btw which config file did we discuss?
- no tools or agent loop
- no
sendMessage,sendUserMessage, or appended session entry - no merge into the parent context
- one request at a time
- answer displayed as an overlay in TUI mode or an extension UI notification in RPC mode
- side question and answer are absent from later compaction input
- currently streaming partial main output is intentionally excluded from the stable snapshot
Install by 40-hex commit, which is this package's identity. The remote is public and MIT and carries the released objects, so the command needs no checkout of any sibling repository.
pi install git:github.com/Codeseys-Labs/pi-side-chat@$(git ls-remote https://github.com/Codeseys-Labs/pi-side-chat v0.1.3^{} | cut -f1)The coordinate pi-lab renders in manifests/packages.json and
manifests/profile-recommended.json is the exact 40-hex commit the current
release tag resolves to — git rev-parse 'v0.1.3^{}'. This file deliberately
does not transcribe that sha: a release commit cannot contain its own hash, so a
literal sha written here is stale from the next pin move onward, and an earlier
revision of this section drifted exactly that way by naming v0.1.1 once it was
a version behind. The manifests are the authority; resolve the tag to get the
value they carry.
There is no npm install form. The unscoped registry name pi-side-chat belongs
to a different maintainer (nicopreme, 0.1.4, verified 2026-08-01), so
pi install npm:pi-side-chat fetches a stranger's code — and Pi's own package
docs warn that packages run with full system access and execute arbitrary code.
package.json here carries "private": true so no accidental npm publish
from this checkout can reach for that name. Distribution is unaffected: the git
coordinate above is what installs this package, and private: true does not
touch it.
V0.1 uses the active parent model, disables tools, requests at most 1,200 output tokens, requests no prompt-cache retention, and keeps no side-answer history. Run /btw-cancel to abort an in-flight side request independently. It does not yet provide answer navigation, copy, configurable side models, or explicit promotion into a fork.
This package is experimental. Validate transcript isolation and concurrent behavior in a disposable Pi home before primary installation.
bun install
bun run check