pi-interview Package

Source: https://pi.dev/packages/pi-interview

Interactive interview forms: the agent collects structured user responses through a form with single/multi-select, text input, image upload, and info panels, plus rich media (code, diffs, Markdown, images, Chart.js charts, Mermaid diagrams, tables, HTML).

pi install npm:pi-interview
pi install npm:glimpseui   # optional: native macOS window; browser fallback otherwise

Requires Pi v0.82.1 or later. Restart Pi after installing.

Invocation

await interview({
  questions: '/path/to/questions.json',
  timeout: 600,    // optional, seconds (default 600)
  verbose: false   // optional, debug logging
});

Lifecycle: the tool starts a local server and opens a Glimpse window (macOS), an Orca tab, or a browser tab → the user answers at their own pace with auto-save and timeout reset on any activity → the session ends by Submit (⌘+Enter), timeout (warning overlay with an option to stay), or Escape twice → the window closes and the agent receives responses, or null if cancelled.

Remote and Moshi sessions: when the session looks remote (ssh/mosh env, or an active remote login on the host), the tool skips or supplements the local window and prints the form URL with access hints — a Moshi tip when the moshi-hook gateway is running (tap the preview button in the terminal title bar and pick the interview server), and an exact ssh -L command for plain SSH (mosh cannot forward ports). The server binds low ports (8377+, scanning forward on collision) and answers tokenless loopback opens with a landing page that hops to the form, so Moshi's browser preview reaches it in one tap. Requests with a non-loopback Host header are rejected.

With multiple concurrent interviews, only the first auto-opens; the rest are queued and surfaced as URLs in tool output, plus a top-right toast with a dropdown to open queued sessions. Submitting the active interview redirects the window to the next queued one. A status bar shows project path, git branch, and session ID.

Question Schema

{
  "title": "Project Setup",
  "description": "Review my suggestions and adjust as needed.",
  "questions": [
    { "id": "context", "type": "info", "question": "Architecture context",
      "context": "This project needs SSR and edge deployment support." },
    { "id": "framework", "type": "single", "question": "Which framework?",
      "options": ["React", "Vue", "Svelte"],
      "recommended": "React", "conviction": "strong", "weight": "critical" },
    { "id": "features", "type": "multi", "question": "Which features?",
      "options": ["Auth", "Database", "API"], "recommended": ["Auth", "Database"] },
    { "id": "notes", "type": "text", "question": "Additional requirements?" },
    { "id": "mockup", "type": "image", "question": "Upload a design mockup" }
  ]
}

Question types: single (radio), multi (checkbox), text, image (upload), info (non-interactive panel).

Single/multi questions also support an "Other" custom-text option, per-question image attachments (button or drag & drop), "✦ Generate more" and "↻ Review options" LLM actions, an "Ask about an option" inline assistant panel with prompt chips and provider/model overrides, and an optional per-option clarification field.

Response Format

interface Response {
  id: string;
  value: string | string[];
  attachments?: string[];  // image paths attached to non-image questions
}

Settings

~/.pi/agent/settings.json:

{
  "interview": {
    "timeout": 600,
    "port": 19847,
    "snapshotDir": "~/.pi/interview-snapshots/",
    "autoSaveOnSubmit": true,
    "generateModel": "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5",
    "launcher": "browser",
    "browser": "Firefox",
    "glimpseFloating": false,
    "theme": {
      "mode": "auto",
      "name": "default",
      "lightPath": "/path/to/light.css",
      "darkPath": "/path/to/dark.css",
      "toggleHotkey": "mod+shift+l"
    }
  }
}

Timeout precedence: function parameter > settings > default 600s. A fixed port keeps the URL stable across sessions. generateModel drives the generate/review option actions, defaulting to the agent's current model then a cheap available model; if an explicitly configured model fails and the session uses a different one, it retries once with the session model. glimpseFloating keeps the native macOS window above others (browser fallback unaffected).

launcher chooses where the form opens; omit it for the default (Glimpse on a local macOS session with glimpseui installed, otherwise a browser tab):

• "glimpse" — native macOS Glimpse window; requires a local macOS session with glimpseui, and reports why the window could not open instead of falling back to a browser.
• "browser" — browser tab even when Glimpse is installed.
• "orca" — a browser tab in the current Orca-managed worktree, or Orca's focused worktree when the cwd is outside one; the tab is focused when that worktree is visible, otherwise staged in its tab bar. Needs orca on PATH.

browser names the application used for browser tabs ("Firefox", "Brave Browser", …). It applies to launcher: "browser" and to an omitted launcher when Glimpse is unavailable; it has no effect under "glimpse" or "orca".

Themes: built-ins are default (monospace) and tufte (serif); modes are dark (default), light, and auto (follows the OS, user override persists in localStorage). Custom themes are CSS files overriding variables such as --bg-body, --bg-card, --bg-elevated, --bg-selected, --fg, --fg-muted, --accent, --border, --success, --warning, --error, --focus-ring.

Keyboard

↑/↓ navigate options, ⌘+←/⌘+→ navigate questions (Ctrl off macOS), Tab cycles, Enter/Space selects, ⌘+V pastes into the focused input, ⌘+Enter submits, Esc shows the exit overlay (twice to quit), ⌘+Shift+L toggles the theme when enabled.

Recovery and Snapshots

Abandoned or timed-out interviews save their questions to ~/.pi/interview-recovery/{date}_{time}_{project}_{branch}_{sessionId}.json, auto-deleted after 7 days. Snapshots (manual Save button, or automatic on submit with autoSaveOnSubmit) land in ~/.pi/interview-snapshots/{title}-{project}-{branch}-{timestamp}[-submitted]/ as index.html plus an images/ subfolder. Resume either by passing the recovery JSON or the snapshot index.html path as questions — the form reopens with answers pre-populated.

Limits

Max 12 images per submission, 5 MB per image, 4096×4096 pixels, types PNG/JPG/GIF/WebP.