Pi as your coding agent

Pi is an open-source terminal coding agent. It works like Claude Code or Codex: you point it at a project folder and it reads, edits and runs code for you, switching between many AI providers as you like. This guide installs Pi in a workspace so it runs on your server, not your laptop, and keeps working after you close the terminal.

You need: a workspace — see getting started.

Before you start: machine, skills, workspace

curl -fsSL https://mydevmachine.sh/install.sh | sh
devmachine setup
devmachine skills add
devmachine workspaces new acme
devmachine sync

Already have a machine? Skip setup. Already have the workspace? Skip the last two. See getting started for what each command does.

By hand

1. Add the package

devmachine packages add pi --workspace acme
devmachine sync

sync installs Pi’s standalone release, not the npm package: one native program in ~/.local/share/pi, linked from ~/.local/bin/pi. It needs no Node, and a Node upgrade cannot break it. It also runs as a process called pi, which is how the Devmachine app tells a Pi session from any other.

2. Sign in, once

devmachine login pi --workspace acme

This starts pi in a real terminal. Pi has no separate login command: type /login inside it to connect a subscription or an API key. Pi supports many providers — Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and others — and you can switch models later with /model.

3. Start working

devmachine ssh acme
cd ~/dev/my-project
pi

Pi reads any AGENTS.md in the project for instructions, the same way other agents do. Close the terminal any time — devmachine ssh acme brings you back to the same tmux session, with Pi still running.

Teach Pi the devmachine CLI

devmachine skills add also teaches Pi how to run devmachine commands, on your own computer:

devmachine skills add --agent pi

This helps in a session on your computer where you ask Pi to manage your machines and workspaces — not inside the workspace where Pi itself runs.

With your agent

Open a session on your own computer (devmachine skills add --agent pi, or the plain devmachine skills add, taught it the CLI) and say:

Install the Pi coding agent in my devmachine workspace acme.

The agent adds the pi package and runs sync. Signing in with /login is yours to do — that is your own account.

Check it: devmachine run --workspace acme -- pi --version prints a version. Then start pi in a project folder and ask it a question about the code there.

Source: pi.dev, Pi coding agent on GitHub