Processes

Manage background processes from Pi. Start long-running commands (dev servers, build watchers, log tailers) without blocking the conversation.

@aliou/pi-processes@0.4.2 npm source 
pi install @aliou/pi-processes

Processes Extension

Manage background processes from Pi. Start long-running commands (dev servers, build watchers, log tailers) without blocking the conversation.

Installation

Install via npm:

pi install npm:@aliou/pi-processes

Or via the pi-extensions package:

pi install git:github.com/aliou/pi-extensions

Or selectively in your settings.json:

{
  "packages": [
    {
      "source": "git:github.com/aliou/pi-extensions",
      "extensions": ["extensions/processes"]
    }
  ]
}

Features

  • Tool: processes with actions: start, list, output, logs, kill, clear
  • Command: /processes - interactive panel to view and manage processes
  • Auto-cleanup on session exit
  • File-based logging (logs written to temp files, not memory)
  • Friendly process names (auto-inferred or custom)

Usage

Tool (for agent)

processes start "pnpm dev" name="backend-dev"
processes start "pnpm build" name="build" notifyOnSuccess=true
processes start "pnpm test" notifyOnFailure=true
processes list
processes output id="backend"
processes logs id="proc_1"
processes kill id="backend"
processes clear

Notification parameters (for start action):

  • notifyOnSuccess (default: false) - Get notified when process completes successfully. Use for builds/tests where you need confirmation.
  • notifyOnFailure (default: true) - Get notified when process crashes/fails. Use to be alerted of unexpected failures.
  • notifyOnKill (default: false) - Get notified if killed by external signal. Note: killing via tool never notifies.

Important: You don't need to poll or wait for processes. Notifications arrive automatically based on your preferences. Start processes and continue with other work - you'll be informed if something requires attention.

Note: User always sees notifications in UI. Notification preferences only control whether the agent is informed.

Command (interactive)

Run /processes to open the panel:

  • j/k - select process
  • J/K - scroll logs
  • x - kill selected process
  • c - clear finished processes
  • q - quit

Test Scripts

Test scripts in test/ directory:

./test/test-output.sh          # Continuous output (80 chars/sec)
./test/test-exit-success.sh 5  # Exits successfully after 5s
./test/test-exit-failure.sh 5  # Exits with code 1 after 5s
./test/test-exit-crash.sh 5    # Exits with code 137 after 5s

Future Improvements

  • Expandable log view: Allow toggling between collapsed (current fixed height) and expanded (full height) log view in the /processes panel.

  • Copy log file path: Add keyboard shortcut to copy the stdout/stderr log file path to clipboard for easy access.

  • Open logs in editor: Add keyboard shortcut to open log files directly in the configured editor ($EDITOR or VS Code).