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+0.09 Pi – a minimal terminal coding harness (pi.dev)
141 points by kristianpaul 3 hours ago | 59 comments on HN | Neutral Product · vv3.4 · 2026-02-24
Article Heatmap
Preamble: +0.20 — Preamble P Article 1: 0.00 — Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood 1 Article 2: +0.03 — Non-Discrimination 2 Article 3: 0.00 — Life, Liberty, Security 3 Article 4: 0.00 — No Slavery 4 Article 5: 0.00 — No Torture 5 Article 6: 0.00 — Legal Personhood 6 Article 7: 0.00 — Equality Before Law 7 Article 8: 0.00 — Right to Remedy 8 Article 9: 0.00 — No Arbitrary Detention 9 Article 10: 0.00 — Fair Hearing 10 Article 11: 0.00 — Presumption of Innocence 11 Article 12: 0.00 — Privacy 12 Article 13: +0.09 — Freedom of Movement 13 Article 14: 0.00 — Asylum 14 Article 15: 0.00 — Nationality 15 Article 16: 0.00 — Marriage & Family 16 Article 17: 0.00 — Property 17 Article 18: +0.16 — Freedom of Thought 18 Article 19: +0.30 — Freedom of Expression 19 Article 20: +0.14 — Assembly & Association 20 Article 21: +0.12 — Political Participation 21 Article 22: 0.00 — Social Security 22 Article 23: 0.00 — Work & Equal Pay 23 Article 24: 0.00 — Rest & Leisure 24 Article 25: -0.09 — Standard of Living 25 Article 26: +0.07 — Education 26 Article 27: +0.35 — Cultural Participation 27 Article 28: +0.17 — Social & International Order 28 Article 29: +0.06 — Duties to Community 29 Article 30: +0.10 — No Destruction of Rights 30
Negative Neutral Positive No Data
Aggregates
Weighted Mean +0.09 Unweighted Mean +0.06
Max +0.35 Article 27 Min -0.09 Article 25
Signal 31 No Data 0
Confidence 51% Volatility 0.10 (Low)
Negative 1 Channels E: 0.5 S: 0.5
SETL +0.03 Editorial-dominant
Evidence: High: 2 Medium: 6 Low: 5 No Data: 18
Theme Radar
Foundation Security Legal Privacy & Movement Personal Expression Economic & Social Cultural Order & Duties Foundation: 0.08 (3 articles) Security: 0.00 (3 articles) Legal: 0.00 (6 articles) Privacy & Movement: 0.02 (4 articles) Personal: 0.05 (3 articles) Expression: 0.19 (3 articles) Economic & Social: -0.02 (4 articles) Cultural: 0.21 (2 articles) Order & Duties: 0.11 (3 articles)
Domain Context Profile
Element Modifier Affects Note
Privacy
No privacy policy observable on-domain
Terms of Service
No terms of service observable on-domain
Accessibility -0.05
Article 2 Article 25 Article 26
No WCAG compliance indicators, alt text, or accessibility statements visible; interactive elements present without documented accessibility features
Mission +0.08
Article 27 Preamble
Open-source philosophy with MIT license and community focus; extensibility promotes user autonomy and participation
Editorial Code 0.00
No editorial code of conduct or journalism standards applicable; product documentation
Ownership +0.05
Article 27
Attribution to Mario Zechner & contributors with MIT license indicates transparent authorship and open contribution model
Access Model +0.12
Article 19 Article 27
Free open-source distribution via npm and git; low barrier to access and modification; no paywall or account requirement for source
Ad/Tracking 0.00
No tracking pixels or advertising observed on-domain
HN Discussion 17 top-level comments
arjie 2026-02-24 22:31 UTC link
Has anyone used an open coding agent in headless mode? I have a system cobbled together with exceptions going to a centralized system where I can then have each one pulled out and `claude -p`'d but I'd rather just integrate an open coding agent into the loop because it's less janky and then I'll have it try to fix the problem and propose a PR for me to review. If anyone else has used pi.dev or opencode or aider in this mode (completely non-interactive until the PR) I'd be curious to hear.

EDIT: Thank you to both responders. I'll just try the two options out then.

jmorgan 2026-02-24 22:33 UTC link
I've been using Pi day to day recently for simple, smaller tasks. It's a great harness for use with smaller parameter size models given the system prompt is quite a bit shorter vs Claude or Codex (and it uses a nice small set of tools by default).
rcarmo 2026-02-24 22:40 UTC link
My current fave harness. I've been using it to great effect, since it is self-extensible, and added support for it to https://github.com/rcarmo/vibes because it is so much faster than ACP.
infruset 2026-02-24 22:46 UTC link
Note there is a fork oh-my-pi: https://github.com/can1357/oh-my-pi of https://blog.can.ac/2026/02/12/the-harness-problem/ fame. I use it as a daily driver but I also love pi.
himata4113 2026-02-24 22:47 UTC link
ge96 2026-02-24 22:55 UTC link
Is that an official term "coding harness"

Wondering if you wanted a similar interface (though a GUI not just CLI) where it's not for coding what would you call that?

Same idea cycle through models, ask question, drag-drop images, etc...

fred_tandemai 2026-02-24 23:14 UTC link
Anyone managed to run pi in a completely sandboxed environment? It can only access the cwd and subdirectories
ramoz 2026-02-24 23:23 UTC link
The way you’re able to extend the harness through extension/hook architecture is really cool.

Eg some form of comprehensive planning/spec workflow is best modeled as an extension vs natively built in. And the extension still ends up feeling “native” in use

mongrelion 2026-02-24 23:24 UTC link
Pi ships with powerful defaults but skips features like sub-agents and plan mode

Does anyone have an idea as to why this would be a feature? don't you want to have a discussion with your agent to iron out the details before moving onto the implementation (build) phase?

In any case, looks cool :)

EDIT 1: Formatting EDIT 2: Thanks everyone for your input. I was not aware of the extensibility model that pi had in mind or that you can also iterate your plan on a PLAN.md file. Very interesting approach. I'll have a look and give it a go.

mccoyb 2026-02-24 23:26 UTC link
Pi has made all the right design choices. Shout out to Mario (and Armin the OG stan) — great taste shows itself.
rahimnathwani 2026-02-24 23:31 UTC link
Hugging Face now provides instructions for using local models in Pi:

https://x.com/victormustar/status/2026380984866710002

lukasb 2026-02-24 23:35 UTC link
But I can't use my Codex plan with it, right? I have to use an API key?
suralind 2026-02-24 23:39 UTC link
I’ve been testing it for a few days on pretty much clean install (no customizations/extensions) and it’s ok. Not sure if I like it yet.
muratsu 2026-02-24 23:53 UTC link
I’m working with a friend to build an ui around Pi to make it more user friendly for people who prefer to work with a gui (ala conductor). You can check out the repo: https://github.com/philipp-spiess/modern
elyase 2026-02-25 00:22 UTC link
there is also pz a drop-in replacement for pi rewritten in Zig. 1.7MB static binary, 3ms startup, 1.4MB RAM idle. Find more at:

https://github.com/elyase/awesome-personal-ai-assistants?tab...

tmustier 2026-02-25 00:38 UTC link
I haven’t met a single person who has tried pi for a few days and not made it their daily driver. Once you taste the freedom of being able to set up your tool exactly how you like, there’s really no going back.

and you can build cool stuff on top of it too!

thevinter 2026-02-25 00:43 UTC link
Pi was probably the best ad for Claude Code I ever saw.

After my max sub expired I decided to try Kimi on a more open harness, and it ended up being one of the worst (and eye opening experiences) I had with the agentic world so far.

It was completely alienating and so much 'not for me', that afterwards I went back and immediately renewed my claude sub.

https://www.thevinter.com/blog/bad-vibes-from-pi

Score Breakdown
+0.20
Preamble Preamble
Medium A: community and open participation F: human dignity through tool autonomy
Editorial
+0.15
Structural
+0.08
SETL
+0.10
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

Open-source philosophy and community engagement support foundational human rights values of participation and agency

0.00
Article 1 Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing freedom and equality in dignity or rights

+0.03
Article 2 Non-Discrimination
Low F: open access regardless of status
Editorial
+0.10
Structural
+0.05
SETL
+0.07
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

Free and open-source distribution with no discrimination in access; accessibility gaps noted structurally

0.00
Article 3 Life, Liberty, Security
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing life, liberty, or security of person

0.00
Article 4 No Slavery
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing slavery or servitude

0.00
Article 5 No Torture
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing torture or cruel treatment

0.00
Article 6 Legal Personhood
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing right to recognition before the law

0.00
Article 7 Equality Before Law
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing equality before the law

0.00
Article 8 Right to Remedy
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing effective remedies

0.00
Article 9 No Arbitrary Detention
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing arbitrary arrest or detention

0.00
Article 10 Fair Hearing
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing fair and public hearing

0.00
Article 11 Presumption of Innocence
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing criminal procedure or presumption of innocence

0.00
Article 12 Privacy
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing privacy, family, home, or correspondence

+0.09
Article 13 Freedom of Movement
Low P: free movement through open-source distribution model
Editorial
0.00
Structural
+0.08
SETL
-0.08
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

Global distribution via npm and git without geographic restrictions supports freedom of movement and residence implicitly

0.00
Article 14 Asylum
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing asylum or political persecution

0.00
Article 15 Nationality
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing nationality

0.00
Article 16 Marriage & Family
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing marriage or family

0.00
Article 17 Property
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing property

+0.16
Article 18 Freedom of Thought
Medium A: freedom of thought through extensibility F: user choice in system design
Editorial
+0.12
Structural
+0.10
SETL
+0.05
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

Philosophy of extreme extensibility and customization supports freedom of thought and conscience; users can build or modify system behavior

+0.30
Article 19 Freedom of Expression
High A: open-source code sharing P: distribution via GitHub and npm F: information accessibility
Editorial
+0.20
Structural
+0.15
SETL
+0.10
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

MIT license and open-source model enable freedom of expression and information sharing; GitHub and npm are transparent distribution channels

+0.14
Article 20 Assembly & Association
Medium P: community forum structure A: explicit community engagement
Editorial
+0.08
Structural
+0.10
SETL
-0.04
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

Discord community, GitHub issues, and collaborative development model support freedom of peaceful assembly

+0.12
Article 21 Political Participation
Medium P: open contribution model F: decentralized decision-making
Editorial
+0.06
Structural
+0.08
SETL
-0.04
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

MIT license and contributor attribution suggest open participation in governance; extensibility enables user agency in decision-making

0.00
Article 22 Social Security
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing social security, social services, or welfare

0.00
Article 23 Work & Equal Pay
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing work, employment, or fair wages

0.00
Article 24 Rest & Leisure
Editorial
0.00
Structural
0.00
SETL
ND
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable content addressing rest and leisure

-0.09
Article 25 Standard of Living
Low P: no accessibility provisions mentioned
Editorial
0.00
Structural
-0.08
SETL
+0.08
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

No observable commitments to accessibility or inclusive design; lack of accessibility features may exclude users with disabilities

+0.07
Article 26 Education
Medium P: open-source education model F: documentation emphasis
Editorial
+0.05
Structural
+0.10
SETL
-0.07
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

Free and open documentation, examples, and packages support education; extensibility encourages learning and skill development

+0.35
Article 27 Cultural Participation
High A: cultural and intellectual freedom P: MIT license and open-source model F: creator attribution
Editorial
+0.25
Structural
+0.20
SETL
+0.11
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

MIT license enables participation in cultural life; open-source distribution protects intellectual property while enabling access; clear attribution to creators

+0.17
Article 28 Social & International Order
Medium F: social and international order P: global distribution infrastructure
Editorial
+0.10
Structural
+0.08
SETL
+0.04
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

Open-source model and international distribution via npm support social order based on rights; low barriers to global participation

+0.06
Article 29 Duties to Community
Low F: community responsibilities acknowledged
Editorial
+0.06
Structural
+0.05
SETL
+0.02
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

Community guidelines and GitHub conduct implicitly reference responsibilities; no explicit statement on duties to community

+0.10
Article 30 No Destruction of Rights
Low F: no interpretation limiting rights
Editorial
+0.08
Structural
+0.05
SETL
+0.05
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND

MIT license restricts use only to maintain license terms; philosophy emphasizes user choice and agency over restriction

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build fc56cf0+0q5s · 2026-02-25 01:32 UTC