Commands and status

1. Choose how to operate

Use /delegate in Pi’s TUI to open the keyboard-first editor. Alt+G opens the same editor when the shortcut is available. The editor requires TUI mode; these command arguments remain available in other modes:

Command	Effect
/delegate	Open the keyboard-first selector.
/delegate off	Disable policy injection for the current session branch.
/delegate normal	Enable balanced delegation guidance.
/delegate aggressive	Enable delegation-first guidance.
/delegate status	Show the effective session state.
/delegate reset	Reset the current session branch to off.

There is no separate off shortcut: run /delegate off or choose off in the editor. Quick commands write the session branch directly. The editor’s Reset draft to off is different: it only changes the draft until you apply it.

2. Edit the panel

The panel starts with a compact Effective policy preview. It summarizes the effective intensity, that task fit comes before preference, the preference tie-break, the exact Small/Medium/Large model bases when configured, and the requirement to choose thinking for each launch. It also shows each setting’s effective value and its built-in, global, and session sources. Short explanations describe when to consider delegation, what each preference does, and the intended fit of each role.

Move with Up and Down; press Enter or Space to edit.

For model fields, the presentation matches Pi’s /model selector: the model ID comes first and [provider] comes last. Type to fuzzy-search provider, model ID, or display name. At most 10 model rows are visible; use Page Up and Page Down to move through longer results. Use global default remains pinned while searching, and Visual Design also offers Disable for this session.

When Pi supplies public model metadata for the selected row, the panel displays it temporarily: model name, API, reasoning support, context window, and maximum output. These details describe the catalog entry; they are not saved in global defaults or session entries.

The panel keeps one explicit draft while you move between fields:

• Choose Apply changes or press A to write the draft to the current branch.
• Save effective configuration as defaults updates the global file without applying the session draft.
• Reset draft to off sets an off draft and returns other draft fields to their global defaults; it remains local until Apply.
• Escape returns from a field editor. Closing a modified draft asks for explicit confirmation to Keep editing or Discard changes.

3. Keep the terminal large enough

The editor blocks editing below 24 columns or 9 rows and displays:

Terminal too small.
Resize to continue editing.

Resize the terminal, then reopen or continue in the panel. It does not silently fall back to an unbounded or alternate editor.

4. Apply and use the next run

Applied changes affect the next agent run. Pi rebuilds the system prompt for each run, so turning the policy off excludes a policy block from later runs; an agent that is already running keeps the prompt it started with.

Active modes require exact, available, in-scope, authenticated Small, Medium, and Large references. An optional Visual Design reference is validated when configured. Before every delegated launch, use the selected role’s exact provider/model base and choose thinking for that task. With pi-subagents, append the selected level as model: "provider/model:LEVEL"; use a separate per-run thinking field when another launcher provides one. The extension never substitutes a different model, role, or thinking level. Thinking remains dynamic, advisory, and unpersisted.

5. Read the footer and status output

Pi keeps its own footer while the extension adds one textual status label:

Label	Meaning	What to do
D:OFF	Delegation is disabled. Incomplete defaults do not change this label.	Choose an active intensity only when your roles are ready.
D:NORM	A valid normal configuration is active.	Delegate only with clear expected benefit; keep borderline work with the main agent.
D:AGG	A valid aggressive configuration is active.	Delegate suitable substantial work by default unless coupling or overhead clearly dominates.
D:ERR	An active configuration has an invalid required role. No policy is injected.	Inspect /delegate status, correct the affected role, scope, availability, or authentication.

/delegate status reports exact effective references and provenance, for example:

small=provider/example-small (global) | medium=provider/example-medium (session)

The source in parentheses is default, global, or session. The same output reports the exact reference for Large and Visual Design when configured, plus any runtime diagnostic. The stable status token remains ui-design= for compatibility even though the panel and diagnostics say Visual Design. A footer label alone is not a role reference.

6. Diagnose D:ERR

1. Run /delegate status and read the reported role and detail.
2. In /delegate, check that Small, Medium, and Large each have the exact provider and model ID required by the current Pi scope. Check Visual Design too if it is configured.
3. Confirm the provider is authenticated and the model is available and in scope; the extension has no fallback.
4. Apply the corrected draft, run /delegate status again, and wait for the next agent run.

See configuration for inheritance and policy meanings, and limits and privacy for the fail-closed boundary.