Pi-Bolt

The installer verifies the release signature and offers three optional extensions by OpenSec:

• opensec-pi-subagents: specialized agents in separate sessions, parallel workflows and scheduled jobs.
• opensec-pi-todo: a todo list for the model, shown as a live panel above the editor.
• opensec-pi-fff: pi-fff's fast fuzzy find, grep and @-mentions, at full speed on the default build.

The default build has no JIT: Pi's own code is compiled machine code, and an extension loaded at run time is interpreted. Light extensions don't notice. For extensions that do heavy work (search, parsing) or use bun:ffi, install the JIT build. Pi itself stays compiled, so it is within about 5% of the default.

# macOS, Linux ARM64, Termux
curl -fsSL https://pi-bolt.opensec.in/install.sh | PIBOLT_VARIANT=arm64-jit sh
# Linux x86-64
curl -fsSL https://pi-bolt.opensec.in/install.sh | PIBOLT_VARIANT=x64-jit sh

On Windows, run $env:PIBOLT_VARIANT = "x64-jit" before the PowerShell command. With npm, keep PIBOLT_VARIANT set in your shell profile; it is read on every run. pi-bolt --version then ends in JIT on, and pi-bolt update keeps the build you chose.

On the default build, an extension that needs the JIT (it calls into a native library through bun:ffi) fails with a line that names the extension and gives the command that switches to the JIT build.

Download a build from the latest release, check it against SHA256SUMS, unpack it and run ./pi (on Windows, pi-bolt.exe).

-jit builds are for heavy use of plugins loaded at run time; the runtime and kit archives are what pi-bolt compile builds with (compiling plugins in). In Termux, use the installer: it sets the executable's loader to Termux's glibc (Android).

In Termux from F-Droid or GitHub (the Google Play version has no glibc packages), run the same curl ... | sh command. Pi-Bolt is a glibc program and Android's libc is not glibc, so the installer first installs Termux's glibc (pkg install glibc-repo && pkg install glibc, after asking), sets it as the executable's loader, and links pi-bolt into $PREFIX/bin.

pi-bolt is a small launcher that starts Pi-Bolt in Android's time zone and without Termux's LD_PRELOAD (a library of Android's libc, which glibc cannot load); the programs Pi-Bolt starts get it back. The installer copies Termux's resolv.conf and hosts to $PREFIX/glibc/etc, where Termux's glibc reads them.

• Linux x86-64 or ARM64 with glibc 2.17 or later (Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 11+, RHEL/Rocky 8+, Amazon Linux 2, Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit). musl is not supported.
• Android 7 or later on 64-bit ARM, in Termux.
• macOS 13 or later on Apple silicon. Install with the installer or npm (Troubleshooting).
• Windows 10 (1809) or later, or Windows 11, on x64. Install with the installer or npm; for problems, see Troubleshooting: Windows.
• Windows on ARM64 runs the x64 build, in Windows 11's x64 emulation.

In Zed's settings.json (other editors):

"agent_servers": {
  "Pi-Bolt": { "type": "custom", "command": "/full/path/to/pi-bolt", "args": ["--acp"], "env": {} }
}

In Claude Code (other clients):

claude mcp add pi-bolt -- /full/path/to/pi-bolt --mcp

Pi-Bolt uses Pi's agent directory (~/.pi/agent) and shared packages list. Ordinary pi-bolt install and pi-bolt remove update that shared list, just as Pi does, and drop Pi-Bolt's own entry for that package, so both load what the shared list declares. Add --pi-bolt to change only Pi-Bolt's overrides. Using fictional package names:

pi-bolt install --pi-bolt npm:@example/bolt-tools
pi-bolt remove --pi-bolt npm:@example/shared-tools

piBolt.packages extends the shared list. A -source entry excludes an inherited package from Pi-Bolt without changing Pi; other shared packages remain inherited. See Configuration.

{
  "packages": ["npm:@juicesharp/rpiv-todo"],
  "piBolt": { "packages": ["-npm:@juicesharp/rpiv-todo", "npm:opensec-pi-todo"] }
}

pi-bolt doctor prints a report of your installation, in plain text to paste into an issue: the build and how it was installed, whether the release's signature verifies, which extensions are compiled in, run at run time or fail to load, how Pi's packages and piBolt.packages differ, the Herdr and editor setup, and the problems it finds, such as another pi-bolt earlier on your PATH. It prints no keys or tokens, and shows your home folder as ~. pi-bolt doctor --offline leaves out the release signature and the check for a newer version.

In a Herdr pane, Pi-Bolt shows up as pi-bolt (idle, working or blocked), and a Herdr restart reopens the same conversation in the same pane. There is nothing to install; "-builtin:herdr" in the extensions setting turns it off. Restoring a session needs Herdr 0.9.2 or later. To start other agents in Herdr panes from Pi-Bolt, install pi-herdr: pi-bolt install npm:@andrewjacop/pi-herdr.

The compiler builds on oven-sh/WebKit#743. Pi-Bolt ports it to x86-64 and macOS and adds its own code generation and runtime work (docs/ARCHITECTURE.md). packages/ is the Pi release named in sources.json with Pi-Bolt's changes on top; the engine changes are in patches/.

git clone https://github.com/opensec-git/Pi-Bolt.git && cd Pi-Bolt
scripts/fetch-runtime.sh            # the released Pi-Bolt runtime (or build it: docs/BUILDING.md)
scripts/prepare-pi.sh               # builds the Pi in this repository
scripts/build-pi.sh                 # out/pi-bolt/pi
tests/aot/run.sh                    # engine tests