pi-elixir

pi-elixir

pi-elixir is the pi bridge for BEAM-native, verifiable Elixir development.

It gives pi a live connection to the running Elixir system, structural Elixir AST tools, supervised BEAM sessions, and resumable eval state. The emphasis is on callable capabilities and verifiers, not only instructions: the agent can inspect runtime state, make syntax-aware changes, and validate them from formatter/compile/test checks up through duplication, static analysis, and architecture/smell checks.

This follows the broader Vibe direction: few model-facing tools outside, rich composable Elixir APIs inside, structured BEAM payloads rendered by pi, and verification through runtime state plus structural analysis.

Real pi TUI output looks like this — compact tool calls, real BEAM status, and session trees rendered in the transcript/widget:

iex case Pi.Agent.parallel(["Reply only: child A ok", "Reply only: child B ok"], name: :review_smoke, timeout: 60000) d…
(70000ms)

%{status: :ok, kind: :parallel, results: ["child A ok", "child B ok"]}

Took 6.8s

✓ review_smoke
  2 done
  ├─ ✓ review_smoke  child A ok
  └─ ✓ review_smoke  child B ok
  (ctrl+o to expand)

~/my_app
↑37k ↓156 $0.190 (sub) 6.9%/272k (auto)                                                                      (openai-codex) gpt-5.5 • medium
⬡ BEAM (embedded)

Why this is different

Instructions are included, but they are not the foundation. The foundation is executable capability: iex into the live app, ExAST-backed structural tools, OTP sessions, project-local plugins/skills, and strict verification gates.

pi-elixir gives the agent concrete operations and checks:

• Live runtime inspection — evaluate trusted Elixir inside the loaded app with project modules, config, deps, application env, processes, ETS, logs, and IEx helpers available.
• Stateful IEx-like eval — bindings, aliases, imports, and requires persist across elixir_eval calls. The state is stored as sidecar snapshots next to the pi session, so resume and branch navigation keep the right context.
• Structural code intelligence — elixir_ast_search and elixir_ast_replace use ExAST patterns, so the agent searches and edits Elixir syntax instead of playing regex roulette.
• OTP-native subagents — Pi.Session and Pi.Agent run logical child sessions inside the embedded BEAM. Active work renders as a pi widget; completed trees land in transcript once.
• Active-model LLM from BEAM — Pi.LLM and optional Pi.ReqLLM route BEAM calls through pi's current model. pi owns provider/model selection, credentials, streaming, cancellation, usage, and transcript UI; the BEAM side sends structured completion/stream requests over the active bridge.
• Project-local skills and plugins — trusted Elixir code can teach the agent your app's workflows, guardrails, slash commands, UI widgets, and tool hooks.
• Hard quality gates — the repo itself is checked with JS lint/typecheck/tests, BEAM compile/test/Credo/Dialyzer, ExDNA clone detection, and Reach architecture/smell checks.

The philosophy is the same as Vibe: compact agent APIs, structured BEAM payloads, runtime state, and Elixir/OTP idioms first. The implementation is pi-native: TypeScript owns tool registration/TUI rendering, while BEAM owns Elixir semantics.

What you can do every day

Debug a Phoenix/Ecto issue in the running app

The agent uses iex (elixir_eval) to inspect the live BEAM. Calls render as compact pi tool rows, not giant JSON blobs:

iex alias MyApp.Repo; alias MyApp.Billing.Invoice; stale = Repo.all(...); length(stale)

14

Took 0.1s

The next eval continues from the same IEx-like state:

iex stale |> Enum.group_by(& &1.customer_id) |> Enum.map(fn {id, xs} -> {id, length(xs)} end)

[{"cust_123", 5}, {"cust_456", 9}]

Took 0.1s

That continuity is real state, not prompt memory. On resume/branch navigation, pi-elixir restores the newest matching sidecar eval snapshot.

Inspect OTP instead of guessing

The agent can ask the live system about supervisors, queues, process state, ETS, logs, and application config:

iex Supervisor.which_children(MyApp.Supervisor)

[
  {MyApp.Repo, #PID<0.421.0>, :worker, [MyApp.Repo]},
  {MyAppWeb.Endpoint, #PID<0.422.0>, :supervisor, [MyAppWeb.Endpoint]}
]

Took 0.1s

For Elixir bugs, this is the daily win: pi does not have to infer runtime truth from files alone.

Search and edit by Elixir syntax shape

ExAST-backed tools show pi-style compact calls and semantic results. The agent can search for code shape instead of text:

Real captured ast grep output:

ast grep defmodule _ do _ end lib/pi/ast.ex · limit 2 · allow broad

1 match  defmodule _ do _ end
  lib/pi/ast.ex:1  defmodule Pi.AST do @moduledoc "Structured ExAST helpers for bridge tools." ali…
  (ctrl+o to expand)

Real captured ast edit dry-run/no-match output:

ast edit Logger.debug(_) → Logger.info(_) lib/pi/eval/snapshot.ex · limit 2 ·…

No matches found.

The structure is Elixir AST. Captures, partial structs/maps, nested expressions, and broad-pattern guards are handled by ExAST, not a regex pretending to know Elixir. When a replacement matches, the same tool row renders syntax-aware edit summaries before textual patch details. For ordinary code review, use AST.diff(changed: true) from eval to orient on changed modules/functions before reading large git diff output.

Run OTP-backed child agents without spawning more pi processes

BEAM sessions render as real pi session trees. This is captured from tmux; names/strings are sanitized only:

iex {:ok, root} = Pi.Session.start(name: :showcase); ...; :ok

:ok

Took 0.1s

○ showcase
  3 done
  └─ ✓ tests done · done  70 passed
  └─ ✓ review done · done  LGTM
  └─ ✓ research done · done  notes ready
  (ctrl+o to expand)

~/my_app
↑17k ↓223 R16k CH96.4% $0.102 (sub) 6.3%/272k (auto)                                                                   (openai-codex) gpt-5.5 • medium
⬡ BEAM (embedded)

For real model-backed BEAM agents, the transcript shape is the same:

iex case Pi.Agent.parallel(["Review API", "Review tests"], name: :review_smoke, timeout: 60000) d…
(70000ms)

%{status: :ok, kind: :parallel, results: ["API ok", "tests ok"]}

Took 6.8s

✓ review_smoke
  2 done
  ├─ ✓ review_smoke  API ok
  └─ ✓ review_smoke  tests ok
  (ctrl+o to expand)

Active/running BEAM snapshots are widget-only. Completed root trees are sent once as transcript messages, so you do not get repeated live snapshot artifacts.

Add project-specific Elixir knowledge

The startup screen shows elixir-dev / elixir-new-project as normal pi skills:

[Skills]
  ... context-management, elixir-dev, elixir-new-project, ...

[Extensions]
  ... src, webfetch, websearch, ...

Your project can add executable Elixir skills and plugins. The main UX effect is that pi gets your release checklist, Oban conventions, Ecto rules, UI widgets, and slash commands as local trusted project behavior — not as generic prompt text.

The model-facing tool surface

pi-elixir deliberately exposes only three model tools:

Tool	Label	Purpose
elixir_eval	iex	Trusted eval inside the running app. Stateful by default for pi session branches; sandbox mode available for untrusted snippets.
elixir_ast_search	ast grep	ExAST structural search over Elixir code.
elixir_ast_replace	ast edit	ExAST structural rewrite with dry-run diffs.

Everything else is regular Elixir API reachable through eval:

Pi.project()
Pi.logs(tail: 50)
Pi.Bridge.Info.runtime_apis()

Pi.Eval.bindings()
Pi.Eval.forget(:huge_result)
Pi.Eval.reset()

Pi.LLM.complete("Summarize this module")
Pi.LLM.stream("Draft a migration plan")
Pi.ReqLLM.install()
ReqLLM.generate_text(Pi.ReqLLM.current_model(), "Summarize this module")

Pi.Session.start(name: :reviewer)
Pi.Agent.parallel(["Review API", "Review tests", "Review OTP risks"])

{:ok, job} = Pi.Agent.start("Review this module", role: :reviewer)
{:ok, done} = Pi.Agent.await(job, 60_000)
{:ok, text} = Pi.Agent.result(done)

Eval also preloads token-efficient aliases for QuackDB session analytics:

# preloaded: import Ecto.Query; use QuackDB.Ecto
# preloaded: alias Pi.Self, as: Self
# preloaded: alias Pi.CodeMap, as: CodeMap
# preloaded: alias Pi.Quack, as: Q; require Q
# preloaded: alias Pi.Quack.Event, as: E; alias Pi.Quack.SessionFile, as: SF

Self.status()
Self.context("why did sync crash?", limit: 5)

# After non-trivial Elixir edits, reflect before finalizing.
CodeMap.reflect(changed: true)

q = "function_clause"

from(e in Q.errors(),
  where: Q.matches(e.id, ^q),
  order_by: [desc: Q.score(e.id, ^q)],
  limit: 20,
  select: %{s: Q.score(e.id, ^q), tool: e.tool_name, content: Q.json_text(e.payload_json, "$.content")}
)
|> Q.table()

This keeps the transcript understandable: the model writes Elixir to control Elixir.

Stateful eval and session-tree resume

elixir_eval behaves like an IEx/Livebook cell runtime scoped to the current pi execution path:

• variables persist across calls;
• alias, import, and require persist through Macro.Env;
• errors do not replace the previous good state;
• Pi.Eval.bindings/0, forget/1, and reset/0 manage state from inside eval;
• snapshots are stored as sidecar blobs, not in the JSONL transcript.

Physical storage:

<session.jsonl>.pi-elixir/
  eval-state/
    <toolCallId>.term
    <toolCallId>.term.meta.json

When you navigate or resume a pi branch, the extension walks the session branch, finds the newest ancestor eval snapshot, and starts the next eval from that state. New evals write a new immutable checkpoint keyed by the tool call id, so old branch state is not overwritten.

Large or unsafe bindings are handled defensively:

• PIDs, ports, refs, functions, and containers containing them are not persisted.
• Live evaluator memory can hold runtime values while the bridge is active.
• Sidecar snapshots have a size budget and drop largest serializable bindings first.
• Metadata JSON contains only names/types/bytes, never the full state.

Architecture

pi Node/TUI
  ├─ TypeScript extension
  │  ├─ registers tools and skills
  │  ├─ starts embedded stdio by default, with explicit/discovered HTTP MCP escape hatches
  │  ├─ owns TUI rendering and sidecar eval-state paths
  │  └─ forwards lifecycle/tool events
  │
  └─ embedded or external BEAM
     ├─ Pi.Transport.Stdio / MCP endpoint
     ├─ Pi.Eval.Supervisor
     ├─ Pi.LLM.Broker
     ├─ Pi.Session.Supervisor
     ├─ Pi.Plugin.Manager
     ├─ Pi.Skill.Loader
     └─ project modules, deps, processes, Repo

The BEAM side emits structured protocol payloads. The TS side renders them in pi style. For example, eval can return an ordered, typed table while staying plain Elixir until the final output helper:

Path.wildcard("lib/pi/**/*.ex")
|> Enum.map(&%{path: &1, bytes: File.stat!(&1).size})
|> Enum.sort_by(& &1.bytes, :desc)
|> Enum.take(8)
|> Pi.table(columns: [:path, :bytes])

Final eval values auto-render when their shape is known (tables for lists of maps/keywords, trees for maps, text for strings). Use Pi.output(value, opts) only when you want to force rendering options such as column order:

Path.wildcard("lib/pi/**/*.ex")
|> Enum.map(&%{path: &1, bytes: File.stat!(&1).size})
|> Enum.sort_by(& &1.bytes, :desc)
|> Enum.take(8)
|> Pi.output(columns: [:path, :bytes])

Use Pi.table(rows, columns: [...]) when you explicitly want to construct table output; otherwise columns are inferred from row keys.

Docs discovery is Enum-friendly for installed modules:

Pi.Docs.entries(Pi.Output)
|> Enum.filter(&(&1.kind == :function and &1.name == :table))

Pi.Docs.get(Pi.Output, :table, 2)

Use source slices when you want read-tool-like context for installed modules:

Pi.Docs.module(Pi.Output)
|> Pi.Docs.function(:table, 2)
|> Pi.Docs.source(context: 25)

Bounded web fetches return structured values and do not expose raw Req:

Pi.Web.fetch!("https://example.com", format: :text)

Install

pi install npm:pi-elixir

Check the bridge from inside pi:

/elixir:status

Use full diagnostics when something looks wrong:

/elixir:doctor

In each Mix project that should use BEAM tools, install the dev-only bridge dependency:

/elixir:install

That adds an exact-versioned dependency such as:

{:pi_bridge, "== <pi-elixir-version>", only: :dev}

The exact version matters: npm pi-elixir and Hex pi_bridge are released together and must speak the same protocol. If you skip /elixir:install, the first Elixir tool call can still prompt to add the dependency.

Recommended project stack

For new web applications, use Phoenix with Igniter and VibeKit, then add pi-elixir in the project:

mix archive.install hex phx_new
mix archive.install hex igniter_new
mix phx.new my_app
cd my_app
mix igniter.install vibe_kit --agents-md
pi install npm:pi-elixir

For non-web Elixir projects and packages, use Igniter with VibeKit as the baseline:

mix archive.install hex igniter_new
mix igniter.new my_lib --install vibe_kit --agents-md
cd my_lib
pi install npm:pi-elixir

VibeKit provides the project quality baseline (mix ci, Credo strict with ExSlop, Dialyzer, ExDNA, and Reach). pi-elixir provides the live BEAM tools used by agents while they work inside that project. In each generated project, run /elixir:install once to add the exact matching dev-only :pi_bridge dependency.

For local development:

git clone https://github.com/dannote/pi-elixir
cd pi-elixir
pnpm install
cd packages/bridge && mix deps.get && cd ../..
pi install "$PWD"

If you also have npm:pi-elixir installed globally, remove it before dogfooding a checkout to avoid duplicate tool registration:

pi remove npm:pi-elixir
pi install "$PWD"

From an already-running local checkout, /elixir:dogfood performs that switch for you.

Troubleshooting setup

Use /elixir:status first for a short bridge summary. Use /elixir:doctor when setup looks wrong; it reports the resolved Mix project, Elixir/Mix availability, pi_bridge dependency status, connection state, embedded startup failures, and a suggested next step.

Common cases:

Symptom	What to do
Mix cwd: not found	Start pi from a Mix project directory, or from a supported repo root with a known nested Mix project.
Elixir is not installed or not available on PATH	Start pi from a shell where Elixir/Mix are available. If you just changed mise/asdf versions, restart pi.
Stale mise PATH warning	Restart the shell/pi process so removed tool install paths disappear from PATH.
pi_bridge dependency: missing	Run /elixir:install in the Mix project.
Embedded BEAM exited before ready	Fix the Mix/Elixir error shown in doctor, then run /elixir:restart. Wrong Elixir versions surface here as the real Mix error.
pi_bridge version mismatch	Update the Mix dependency to the exact version expected by the installed pi-elixir, then run mix deps.get.
Tool registration conflicts with another pi-elixir path	Remove the duplicate install, usually pi remove npm:pi-elixir, then install only the checkout or only the npm package.

For setup-flow regression testing in this repository:

scripts/manual-setup-flow.sh

It runs tmux/asciinema playground scenarios for non-Mix directories, missing bridge dependency, explicit install, wrong Elixir startup failure, happy path tools, and duplicate package conflicts.

Connection model

The normal connection path is an embedded stdio bridge started inside the Mix project with Pi.Transport.Stdio.start(). HTTP MCP endpoints are escape hatches for advanced/debug setups.

Resolution order:

• PI_MCP_URL, only when explicitly configured for a manually exposed HTTP MCP endpoint.
• Discovered local HTTP MCP endpoint matching the Mix app name.
• Embedded stdio transport inside the project.

# Advanced/debug only: bypass embedded stdio and use your own HTTP MCP endpoint.
export PI_MCP_URL=http://localhost:4001/mcp
export PI_DISABLE_EMBEDDED=1

Status is transport-focused and actionable: external/embedded/starting/missing/incompatible/offline. Project-specific recommendations live in prompts/skills, not status-bar integrations.

Feature flags are escape hatches for noisy, sensitive, or experimental environments:

Capability	Default	Escape hatch
Stateful elixir_eval	on	PI_ELIXIR_STATEFUL_EVAL=0
Eval sidecar snapshots	on	PI_ELIXIR_EVAL_SIDECAR=0
BEAM LLM / ReqLLM	on	PI_ELIXIR_LLM=0
BEAM sessions/widgets/control	on	PI_ELIXIR_SESSIONS=0
Project plugins/hooks/UI/commands	on	PI_ELIXIR_PLUGINS=0
Executable Elixir skills	on	PI_ELIXIR_SKILLS=0
Extra-short eval previews	off	PI_ELIXIR_COMPACT_EVAL_PREVIEW=1

Included Elixir development skill

The package ships pi skills for Elixir work:

• elixir-dev — use BEAM eval for runtime introspection, ExAST tools for structural search/edit, LSP for editor semantics, and Mix only for build/test/format gates.
• elixir-new-project — bootstrap new Elixir packages/projects with strict VibeKit/Igniter-style quality setup.

The skill tells the agent how to work idiomatically: prefer runtime truth, inspect installed docs with h/1, exports/1, Pi.Docs.entries/1, and Pi.Docs.get/3, use ExAST patterns for Elixir search/refactors before grep/regex, keep changes verified, and avoid inventing framework behavior.

Quality stack

The release gate is intentionally strict. pnpm run check runs:

• TypeScript lint/typecheck/format/tests/duplication checks.
• BEAM compile with warnings as errors.
• ExUnit.
• Credo strict.
• Dialyzer.
• ExDNA clone detection with zero clone budget.
• Reach architecture and smell checks in strict mode.
• Hex package build validation.
• npm pack validation.

Reach and ExAST are not decorative dependencies. They are the direction: agentic Elixir coding should be semantic, structural, and architecture-aware.

Debugging

Hidden pi command:

/elixir:debug

Writes extension diagnostics to ~/.pi/agent/pi-elixir-debug.log by default.

For event-loop/embedded bridge investigations:

export PI_ELIXIR_DEBUG=1
export PI_ELIXIR_DEBUG_LOG=/tmp/pi-elixir-debug.json

Repository shape

packages/
  extension/   # npm/pi package: TS extension, tools, skills, embedded stdio launcher
  bridge/      # Hex/Mix package: Pi runtime facade, protocol, eval, plugins, sessions

The npm package is the user-facing pi package. The Hex package is installed into target Mix projects as a dev-only bridge.

Relationship to Vibe

Vibe is a BEAM-native coding-agent runtime. pi-elixir ports the most useful ideas into pi:

• minimal model-facing Elixir tools;
• Livebook-style eval state;
• structured BEAM payloads rendered by pi;
• executable Elixir skills;
• project-local plugins;
• OTP-backed child sessions;
• BEAM-first runtime inspection.

pi-elixir keeps pi's UI and tool model, but moves Elixir-specific work into the running BEAM: eval state, AST operations, sessions, skills, plugins, and runtime checks.

Development

Prerequisites:

• pnpm
• Elixir ~> 1.20 with OTP 28+
• pi installed globally

Common commands:

pnpm run fmt
pnpm run check
pnpm run check:js
pnpm run check:beam
pnpm run test:integration
pnpm run pack:check

pnpm run check is the release-readiness gate.

Part of Elixir Vibe

pi-elixir gives the pi coding agent a live door into the BEAM: stateful eval, AST tools, and composable runtime APIs.

It is one building block of a larger stack — tools that make AI-generated software checkable: structural search, dependence analysis, duplication and slop detection, session replay, and ecosystem-wide code search. See the Elixir Vibe organization for the rest, and Building Blocks for the Future Web for the thesis, architecture, and roadmap that tie them together.