Agent skill

Pi Subagent

Delegate tasks to specialized subagents for parallel or sequential execution.

Install Pi Subagent

skills CLI

$ npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill pi-subagent -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install espennilsen/pi pi-subagent --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent .claude/skills/pi-subagent && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "pi-subagent" agent skill from https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent into .claude/skills/pi-subagent/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "pi-subagent", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill pi-subagent -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install espennilsen/pi pi-subagent --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent .agents/skills/pi-subagent && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "pi-subagent" agent skill from https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent into .agents/skills/pi-subagent/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "pi-subagent", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill pi-subagent -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install espennilsen/pi pi-subagent --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent .cursor/skills/pi-subagent && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "pi-subagent" agent skill from https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent into .cursor/skills/pi-subagent/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "pi-subagent", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git --path extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill pi-subagent -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install espennilsen/pi pi-subagent --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent .gemini/skills/pi-subagent && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "pi-subagent" agent skill from https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent into .gemini/skills/pi-subagent/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "pi-subagent", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install espennilsen/pi pi-subagent

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill pi-subagent -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent .github/skills/pi-subagent && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "pi-subagent" agent skill from https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent into .github/skills/pi-subagent/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "pi-subagent", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill pi-subagent -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install espennilsen/pi pi-subagent --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent .opencode/skills/pi-subagent && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "pi-subagent" agent skill from https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent into .opencode/skills/pi-subagent/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "pi-subagent", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: pi-subagent
GitHub stars: 122
Token cost: ~1.2k tokens
SKILL.md length: 364 words
Files: 1
Skills in repo: 36
Repo updated: Sep 21, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: MIT

At a glance

Delegate tasks to specialized subagents for parallel or sequential execution.

Tasks that involve Subagents
SKILL.md covers When to use subagents, Modes, Per-task options and Extension isolation, plus 3 more sections
Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Pi Subagent is an agent skill from espennilsen/pi. Delegate tasks to specialized subagents for parallel or sequential execution.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.2k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Agent Workflows, covering Subagents. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

Tasks that involve Subagents

Example prompts

“/pi-subagent”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 79d019b. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are json and yaml).
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Pi Subagent loads about 1.2k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 22 tokens; SKILL.md has 364 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~22
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~1.2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from espennilsen/pi at commit 79d019b, republished under its MIT licence (© espennilsen). 364 words, ~1,177 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/pi-subagent/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).

name: pi-subagent
description: Delegate tasks to specialized subagents for parallel or sequential execution.

Subagent Orchestration

Use the subagent tool to delegate tasks to isolated pi subprocesses. Each subagent gets a fresh context window — no shared state with the parent session.

When to use subagents

A task can be split into independent pieces that run in parallel
You need a chain of specialists (scout → planner → worker)
A subtask benefits from a clean context window (no accumulated noise)
You want crash isolation (failed subtask doesn't corrupt main session)

Modes

Single — one agent, one task

json

{ "agent": "scout", "task": "Find all REST endpoints in " }

Parallel — multiple agents concurrently (streams progress as each completes)

json

{ "tasks": [
    { "agent": "scout", "task": "Audit auth module" },
    { "agent": "scout", "task": "Audit API routes" },
    { "agent": "scout", "task": "Audit database queries" }
  ]
}

Chain — sequential pipeline, use `{previous}` for prior step's output

json

{ "chain": [
    { "agent": "scout", "task": "Find all TODO comments in the codebase" },
    { "agent": "planner", "task": "Categorize and prioritize these TODOs:\n{previous}" },
    { "agent": "worker", "task": "Fix the top 3 critical TODOs:\n{previous}" }
  ]
}

Per-task options

Every task (single, parallel item, chain step) supports these overrides:

Option	Type	Description
`model`	string	Model override (e.g. `"claude-haiku-4-5"` for fast, `"claude-sonnet-4-5"` for complex)
`thinking`	string	Thinking level: `off`, `minimal`, `low`, `medium`, `high`, `xhigh`
`extensions`	string[]	Extension paths to load (subagents run with `-ne` — only whitelisted)
`skills`	string[]	Skill files/dirs to load via `--skill`
`noTools`	boolean	Disable all built-in tools (`--no-tools`) — for analysis-only agents
`noSkills`	boolean	Disable skill discovery (`-ns`)
`cwd`	string	Working directory override

Priority: per-task item > top-level params > agent .md frontmatter > global settings

Examples

Fast recon with cheap model, no thinking overhead:

json

{ "agent": "scout", "task": "Map the auth module", "model": "claude-haiku-4-5", "thinking": "off" }

Research task needing web search:

json

{ "agent": "worker", "task": "Find pricing for Vercel Pro", "extensions": ["extensions/pi-brave-search"] }

Parallel with different models per task:

json

{ "tasks": [
    { "agent": "scout", "task": "Map the codebase", "model": "claude-haiku-4-5" },
    { "agent": "reviewer", "task": "Review the PR diff", "model": "claude-sonnet-4-5", "thinking": "high" }
  ]
}

Chain with escalating capability:

json

{ "chain": [
    { "agent": "scout", "task": "Map the auth module", "model": "claude-haiku-4-5", "thinking": "off" },
    { "agent": "planner", "task": "Plan a refactor based on: {previous}", "thinking": "high" },
    { "agent": "worker", "task": "Implement the plan: {previous}", "thinking": "medium" }
  ]
}

Show full SKILL.md (156 more words)Show less

Extension isolation

Subagents always run with --no-extensions (-ne). They cannot:

Spawn further subagents (pi-subagent is always blocked)
Send messages via channels, cron, or heartbeat
Access the web dashboard or webserver

Whitelist only what a specific task needs via the extensions parameter.

Agent scope

"user" (default) — loads from ~/.pi/agent/agents/*.md
"both" — also includes .pi/agents/*.md (prompts for confirmation)
"project" — only project-local agents

Creating agents

Place .md files in ~/.pi/agent/agents/ with YAML frontmatter:

yaml

---
name: scout
description: Fast codebase reconnaissance
tools: read, grep, find, ls, bash
extensions: extensions/pi-dotenv
model: claude-haiku-4-5
---
System prompt for the agent goes here...

Frontmatter	Description
`name`	Agent name (required)
`description`	What the agent does (required)
`tools`	Comma-separated tool whitelist
`model`	Default model
`extensions`	Comma-separated extension paths to load

Tips

Scout first: use scout (haiku, fast) for recon, then hand results to planner/worker
Parallel for independence: only parallelize truly independent tasks
Chain for pipelines: scout → planner → worker is the classic pattern
Model matching: use haiku for simple recon, sonnet for analysis/implementation
Thinking levels: off for fast tasks, high/xhigh for complex reasoning
Keep extensions minimal: only whitelist what's actually needed per task

Files

Just SKILL.md in extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent of espennilsen/pi.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 79d019b

Compare with similar skills

Pi Subagent next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Pi Subagent compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
Pi Subagent this skillespennilsen/pi	122	—	~1.2k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	17 days ago
Claude Code Agent Developmentanthropics/claude-plugins-official	38k	7 repos	~2.8k	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	today
Subagent Driven DevelopmentAsvarox/allkaraoke	261	37 repos	~1.2k	Automated safety check: Pass	None	today
Dispatching Parallel Agentsultralisp/ultralisp	258	40 repos	~1.5k	Automated safety check: Pass	None	25 days ago
Paseo Advisor Second Opiniongetpaseo/paseo	20k	1 repos	~756	Automated safety check: Pass	Custom licence	today
Task Observerrebelytics/one-skill-to-rule-them-all	3.2k	1 repos	~12k	Automated safety check: Pass	CC-BY-4.0	6 days ago

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Questions about Pi Subagent

What does Pi Subagent do?

Delegate tasks to specialized subagents for parallel or sequential execution. Pi Subagent is an agent skill from espennilsen/pi. Delegate tasks to specialized subagents for parallel or sequential execution.

When should I use Pi Subagent?

Pi Subagent fits situations like: tasks that involve Subagents.

How do I install Pi Subagent in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill pi-subagent -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent in espennilsen/pi) into .claude/skills/pi-subagent in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Pi Subagent in Codex?

Run `npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill pi-subagent -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (extensions/pi-subagent/skills/pi-subagent in espennilsen/pi) into .agents/skills/pi-subagent in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Pi Subagent in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill pi-subagent -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/pi-subagent, .gemini/skills/pi-subagent, .github/skills/pi-subagent and .opencode/skills/pi-subagent in your project.

What does Pi Subagent need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Pi Subagent is instructions for the agent only.

Does Pi Subagent access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Pi Subagent safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Pi Subagent use?

Pi Subagent is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Pi Subagent use?

About 1.2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.7k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Pi Subagent?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Pi Subagent: Claude Code Agent Development (anthropics/claude-plugins-official, 38k stars), Subagent Driven Development (Asvarox/allkaraoke, 261 stars), Dispatching Parallel Agents (ultralisp/ultralisp, 258 stars) and Paseo Advisor Second Opinion (getpaseo/paseo, 20k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Pi Subagent?

espennilsen (a GitHub user) maintains it in espennilsen/pi, which has 122 GitHub stars. The repository holds 36 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 21, 2026.

Source: espennilsen/pi on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.

Install Pi Subagent

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

Subagent Orchestration

When to use subagents

Modes

Single — one agent, one task

Parallel — multiple agents concurrently (streams progress as each completes)

Chain — sequential pipeline, use {previous} for prior step's output

Per-task options

Examples

Extension isolation

Agent scope

Creating agents

Tips

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from espennilsen/pi

Related

Questions about Pi Subagent

Chain — sequential pipeline, use `{previous}` for prior step's output