A pi extension for opening Neovim from inside pi. Pi's TUI suspends, nvim takes over the terminal, and pi comes back when nvim exits. In a git repo with uncommitted changes, it opens the snacks.nvim git_status picker directly, so you land on a changed file instead of the dashboard.

There's also an optional bridge for sending text back the other way: if your nvim setup writes a JSON payload to the path pi-nvim passes in, the text field ends up in pi's prompt editor when nvim exits. Pairs well with agent-review.nvim, which speaks this protocol out of the box and lets you leave line/range/file comments in nvim and send them back as a prompt.

• /nvim slash command and Ctrl+Shift+E shortcut to open nvim from pi.
• In a dirty git repo, nvim starts on Snacks.picker.git_status() instead of the dashboard.
• Clean TUI handoff. Pi stops, the screen is cleared, nvim runs with full terminal control, and pi restarts on exit without leftover escape sequences.
• Optional agent-review handoff. Three env vars (AGENT_REVIEW_EXPORT_PATH, AGENT_REVIEW_EXPORT_TOKEN, AGENT_REVIEW_EXPORT_ROOT) are passed to nvim. Write a JSON payload with the matching token and pi-nvim drops the text into your input editor on return.

• pi
• neovim on PATH
• snacks.nvim, only if you want the auto git picker. Without it, nvim still opens on dirty repos; you just get a harmless error from the unknown lua call.
• agent-review.nvim, optional, for the review-notes-to-prompt bridge.

From npm:

pi install npm:pi-nvim

From git:

pi install git:github.com/joelazar/pi-nvim

Or try it without installing:

pi -e git:github.com/joelazar/pi-nvim

Inside pi, type /nvim and hit enter, or press Ctrl+Shift+E. Pi suspends and nvim launches in the current working directory.

When you quit nvim, pi's TUI restores and re-renders.

Every time pi-nvim spawns nvim, it creates a per-session temp directory and sets three environment variables in nvim's environment:

Install the plugin and you're done. It already reads these env vars and flushes the export on VimLeavePre:

{
  "joelazar/agent-review.nvim",
  dependencies = { "folke/snacks.nvim" },
  opts = {},
}

Workflow: open nvim from pi, drop comments with :AgentReviewComment / :AgentReviewFileComment, quit nvim. Pi comes back with the generated prompt already in the input editor.

The extension doesn't care who writes the file. Any nvim command that produces JSON like this works:

{
  "version": 1,
  "token": "<value of AGENT_REVIEW_EXPORT_TOKEN>",
  "root": "<value of AGENT_REVIEW_EXPORT_ROOT>",
  "text": "Prompt or review comments to send back to pi"
}

When nvim exits, pi-nvim:

1. Reads the file.
2. Checks that the token matches. If it doesn't, the payload is dropped.
3. Calls ui.setEditorText(text) so the content lands in the pi input editor, ready to send.
4. Shows a toast: "Loaded agent-review comments into the input editor".
5. Removes the temp directory.

If no file is written, or the token doesn't match, pi-nvim does nothing. Nvim was just an editor in that case.

-- inside your nvim config
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command("AgentReviewDump", function(opts)
  local path  = vim.env.AGENT_REVIEW_EXPORT_PATH
  local token = vim.env.AGENT_REVIEW_EXPORT_TOKEN
  local root  = vim.env.AGENT_REVIEW_EXPORT_ROOT
  if not path or not token then
    vim.notify("Not running under pi-nvim", vim.log.levels.WARN)
    return
  end
  local text = opts.args ~= "" and opts.args
    or table.concat(vim.api.nvim_buf_get_lines(0, 0, -1, false), "\n")
  local payload = vim.fn.json_encode({
    version = 1,
    token   = token,
    root    = root,
    text    = text,
  })
  local f = assert(io.open(path, "w"))
  f:write(payload)
  f:close()
  vim.cmd("qa!")
end, { nargs = "?" })

Run :AgentReviewDump (or :AgentReviewDump some prompt) inside nvim. Pi will pick up the text on return.

The extension uses pi's ui.custom overlay to take over the screen:

/nvim or Ctrl+Shift+E
  → ui.custom(...)
    → tui.stop()                    -- suspend pi TUI
    → clear screen
    → spawnSync("nvim", args, { stdio: "inherit", env: { + AGENT_REVIEW_* } })
    → readAgentReviewExport()       -- if the export file exists & token matches
    → tui.start()                   -- restore pi TUI
    → ui.setEditorText(text)        -- if there was an export
    → tui.requestRender(true)

The temp dir and token are created fresh for each invocation and removed in a finally block, so nothing leaks between sessions.

npm install
npm run typecheck

Test locally without publishing:

pi -e ./index.ts

MIT. See LICENSE.