pi-last-model-effort

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A Pi extension that remembers the thinking effort you last used for each model and restores the last active model and effort in new TUI sessions.

Installation

Requires a Pi version that exposes ExtensionContext.mode (tested with Pi 1.4.0).

From npm:

pi install npm:@specode/pi-last-model-effort

From GitHub:

pi install git:github.com/specode/pi-last-model-effort

From a local directory for development:

pi install /path/to/pi-last-model-effort

Restart Pi after installing.

Usage

No configuration is needed. Once installed:

• Changing the thinking effort on a model saves that level for that provider/model.
• Switching to another model and back restores each model's saved thinking effort.
• Starting a fresh pi TUI session or running /new restores the most recently selected model and its saved effort.
• If a saved effort is outside what the target model supports, Pi clamps it through setThinkingLevel() and saves the resulting level.

Session Precedence

Scenario	Behavior
Fresh TUI pi session or /new	Restores the last selected model and its saved effort
Switch or cycle models in-session	Restores the saved effort for the selected model
pi -c, /resume, fork, clone, /reload	Keeps the session's existing model and effort
CLI flags (--model, --provider, --thinking, --models with :thinking)	CLI flags take precedence
Scoped model (--models / enabledModels) with pinned effort	Pinned effort takes precedence
Non-TUI modes (rpc, json, print) or PI_SUBAGENT_CHILD=1	Ignored; does not read, restore, or write state
Saved model unavailable or missing credentials	Keeps Pi's current selection and shows a warning

Configuration

State is stored in ~/.pi/agent/state/last-model-effort.json (following Pi's agent directory). Set PI_LAST_MODEL_EFFORT_STATE to override the state file path in tests or isolated environments.

Privacy and Safety

• Makes no network requests and reads no credentials.
• Does not modify settings.json, modelThinkingLevels, or session files.
• Runs only when ctx.mode === "tui" and ignores PI_SUBAGENT_CHILD=1 subprocesses so non-interactive or subagent runs never overwrite your preferences.
• Uses file locking, timestamp merging, and atomic writes (0600) so multiple Pi terminals can run at the same time without corrupting state.

Development

# Run tests (requires Node.js with native TypeScript support)
npm test

# Check package contents
npm run pack:check

# Load the extension directly in Pi without installing
pi --no-extensions --offline -e ./src/index.ts --list-models

License

MIT.