pi-gui — A Native Desktop for the Pi Coding Agent

pi-gui is a "Codex-style" native desktop app for the pi coding agent, in beta for macOS arm64 and Linux (AppImage), installed from GitHub Releases or Homebrew cask. It wraps @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent behind a desktop shell that manages workspaces, runs sessions, and reviews agent work.

Four features define the surface: multi-workspace sessions (each project folder is a workspace with independent session history, so context-switching doesn't lose state); a real-time agent timeline (every tool execution, code change, and reasoning step in a scrollable view with full input and output detail); persistent session history (sessions survive restarts — resume a conversation, review transcripts, continue where you left off); and skills & slash commands (workspace-specific extensions for model switching, thinking levels, settings, and custom workflows).

The architectural claim is durability through decoupling: a SessionDriver interface separates the desktop shell from the agent runtime, keeping the frontend independent of backend changes and "ready for future runtime swaps." Distribution runs the full spectrum — GitHub Releases (DMG), Homebrew cask (brew install --cask pi-gui), and source (pnpm install && pnpm dev). During beta, Homebrew upgrades may require re-confirming macOS permissions or Dock placement after reinstall-style updates.