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name: extending-pi description: Guide for extending Pi — decide between skills, extensions, prompt templates, themes, context files, or custom models, then create and package them. Use when someone wants to extend Pi, add capabilities, create a skill, build an extension, or make a Pi package.

Extending Pi

Help the user decide what to build and where to find guidance.

What to build

Goal	Build a…	Where
Teach Pi a workflow or how to use a tool/API/CLI	Skill	Read skill-creator/SKILL.md for detailed guidance
Give Pi a new tool, command, or runtime behavior	Extension	Read Pi docs: docs/extensions.md
Reuse a prompt pattern with variables	Prompt template	Read Pi docs: docs/prompt-templates.md
Set project-wide coding guidelines	Context file	AGENTS.md in project root or .pi/agent/ — just markdown
Change Pi's appearance	Theme	Read Pi docs: docs/themes.md
Add a model or provider	Custom model	Read Pi docs: docs/models.md (JSON) or docs/custom-provider.md (extension)
Share any of the above	Package	Read Pi docs: docs/packages.md

Skill vs Extension — the fuzzy boundary

If bash + instructions can do it, prefer a skill (simpler, no code to maintain). If you need event hooks, typed tools, UI components, or policy enforcement, use an extension.

Examples:

• "Pi should know our deploy process" → Skill (workflow instructions)
• "Pi should confirm before rm -rf" → Extension (event interception)
• "Pi should use Brave Search" → Skill (instructions + CLI scripts)
• "Pi should have a structured db_query tool" → Extension (registerTool)