Delegate a coding task to the Pi coding agent CLI (`pi`) as a background implementer, then review its diff and land it yourself. Use this whenever the user wants to delegate implementation work to Pi - phrasings like "have Pi implement X", "delegate this to pi", "run it through Pi", or "use pi to im

Pi Delegate You are the orchestrator . Delegate a bounded coding task to a separate implementer the Pi coding agent CLI then review what it produced and land it yourself. You write the brief and own the judgment; the implementer makes changes in its own session; you verify and commit. The loop needs only a shell command and file access, so any comparable orchestrator can drive it. When NOT to use this The task is small enough to do inline; delegation overhead is not worth it. The pi CLI is not installed or authenticated. You need a sandboxed implementer. Pi has no sandbox and no permission modes; read only restricts the tool surface, but a write capable run executes without prompts. Prerequisites (check once) 1. Install pi with npm install g @earendil works/pi coding agent . 2. Authenticate: /login inside pi for a subscription provider, or an API key environment variable / pi 's auth file for an API key provider. 3. Confirm pi version succeeds. 4. Work in, or point cd at, the target git repository. Choose the model (optional) Omit model to use pi's configured default. To pick another, choose from pi list models and pass an explicit id or pattern like <provider /<model id or sonnet:high . The relay accepts letters, digits, and . : / only (the value reaches a shell on Windows), so glob patterns with are not forwarded. The loop Run these five steps per task. Steps 1, 4, and 5 require judgment; 2 and 3 are mechanical. 1. Write the brief Pi sees only the text you send plus what it can inspect in the workspace no chat history or shared context. Include the goal, current state, what to change, what to leave untouched, the project's actual gates, and a report contract. Tell pi not to commit. Keep one task per brief. Pi auto loads AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md context files from the workspace and its parents, so repo instructions reach it without inlining. See [references/writing the brief.md](references/writing the brief.md). 2. Dispatch Use the bundled relay. It pipes the brief to pi mode json on stdin, captures the JSON event stream, and writes result.json . ( <skill dir is the installed folder containing this SKILL.md .) The child process's cwd pins the workspace. The relay writes artifacts under the system temp dir by default and never commits. See [references/dispatch and poll.md](references/dispatch and poll.md). 3. Wait for completion The relay blocks until pi finishes. Run it with the orchestrator's background command facility, or background it in the shell and poll for result.json . A pre run usage error exits 2 and writes no result; a missing pi exits 127 and writes status: "pi unavailable" . Trust process state and the working tree over a progress display. Completion means the process exited and result.json exists. Pi's full report is the finalMessage field in result.json (also printed in full on stdout between the report markers). 4. Review do not trust the self report Treat pi's final message and gate claims as claims: Re run the project's gates yourself. Read the diff against the brief, starting with touchedFiles . Run relevant guard skills if installed. Round trip migrations and grep for dangling references after removals or renames. See [references/review and land.md](references/review and land.md). 5. Land it The implementer edits the working tree; the orchestrator commits. Commit only after the gates pass and the diff holds. If rework is needed, send a delta brief with resume last or session <id , then review again. Autonomy and permissions Pi has no sandbox and no permission modes . A default headless run reads, writes, edits, and executes shell commands with no prompts the controls are: 1. read only restricts pi's callable tools to tools read,grep,find,ls across built in, extension, and custom tools. Installed extension code still runs with the user's host permissions. 2. The relay passes no approve by default, so project .pi settings, extensions, and skills stay untrusted. approve is the explicit opt in for a repository the user trusts. 3. touchedFiles and the diff are the record of what changed. Inspect them after every run. Authorization model Delegation is something the human opts into. Once they have ("run this queue", "proceed"), committing verified, gate passing work is the agreed contract. Two limits remain: surface, don't absorb (report pi's design decisions, defensible but unasked turns, and non blocking nitpicks) and stop for scope changes (if correct completion needs going beyond the brief, ask instead of expanding the mandate). See [references/review and land.md](references/review and land.md). References [references/writing the brief.md](references/writing the brief.md) structure, report contract, real gates, stdin delivery, and delta briefs. [references/dispatch and poll.md](references/dispatch and poll.md) flags, artifacts, result.json , polling, and failure recovery. [references/review and land.md](references/review and land.md) review checklist, commit boundary, and rework through pi sessions. [references/multi task queues.md](references/multi task queues.md) sequential queues, constraint carry forward, progress tracking, and the final coherence pass.

pi-delegate