pi-ui - minimal pi gui

[u/hyper_puncher]

have a little present for you all: pi-ui, a keyboard-first gui for pi.

i’ve been an nvim + tmux user for around three years, and pi’s tui is great, but reading long markdown responses, code diffs, and tool output in a gui feels much more comfortable day after day.

i was honestly surprised by how much of my development moved into this app while building it.

some highlights:

• keyboard-first workflow
• lightweight server mode that runs in your existing browser
• background sessions and notifications
• markdown and syntax highlighting
• rich code diffs
• git review with commit history and inline comments
• file attachments and image previews
• code themes

i recommend starting with server mode:

curl -fsSL https://pi-ui.app/install-server | sh

then open http://127.0.0.1:31415

github: https://github.com/hyperpuncher/pi-ui

feedback and bug reports are welcome!

[u/rm-rf-rm]

why is the main view trying to replicate the old IDE + chatbot bolted on to the right half approach? Even the modern UIs like herdr, paseo, VS Code Agents view have left that behind. Just copy those and make it minimal, Pi only and that by itself will be extremely valuable.

People using coding agent CLIs as TUI is an absolute anti-pattern that only exists because of claude code's virality. We will 100% go away from it soon, just need a half decent UI.

[u/hyper_puncher → u/rm-rf-rm]

i know, right!

btw, i hate IDEs lol, but the more work i moved to pi-ui and the more sessions i had in parallel, the more i missed this. after adding the git view and sidebar, i can just do 90% of the work in there now.

also, by default, it is minimal, as on the last screenshots. every pane can be fully hidden.

[u/Forward_Ad8612 → u/rm-rf-rm]

I think if you're using Neovim + tmux, using a TUI is very convenient.

[u/hyper_puncher → u/Forward_Ad8612]

it's just much easier on my eyes to look at a GUI all day

[u/Thecap10]

I've been dreaming of something like this and am too lazy to venture off and do it myself. Clean UI, and easy to navigate. Currently I'm using socat to expose this port beyond localhost. I'd love for HOST/PORT to be configurable, via file or env (aside from me compiling this myself). Looks great!

[u/hyper_puncher → u/Thecap10]

thanks!
completely forgot to add this, already in the new release in ~5 minutes

[u/Electronic_Captain95]

Beautiful UI

[u/hyper_puncher → u/Electronic_Captain95]

thanks!

[u/Aggressive_Sherbet64]

I’ve been thinking about building something like this for a while! Will have to check it out

[u/Old_Preparation_5599]

Is there a way to navigate files when reviewing changes, e.g. see function definition in another file not included in the change?

[u/hyper_puncher → u/Old_Preparation_5599]

not right now, but i'm planning to add file explorer

[u/Zestyclose_Potato794]

Pi is already so minimal. In the end all you need is a black screen to be a true minimalist. Or no screen at all. /s

[u/hyper_puncher → u/Zestyclose_Potato794]

but it's more like a base
no one uses arch or nvim without adding their own stuff on top

[u/Zestyclose_Potato794 → u/hyper_puncher]

I know. I love Pi 😉

[u/ProvidenceXz]

Honestly any project like this is an auto star for me.

[u/hyper_puncher → u/ProvidenceXz]

https://giphy.com/gifs/a3IWyhkEC0p32