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Pi uses local pi. Auth and models stay in ~/.pi/. Open Settings → CLI configuration → PI CLI to detect the version, install, and configure credentials.

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How to connect

  1. Override the pi executable path on that page (optional)
  2. In Provider auth, enter an API key, or click Log in for subscription auth
  3. If it is not installed, click Install on that page, or install with the terminal commands below
Config stays on this computer. The app does not upload keys to a CC GUI server.

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Provider auth

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API key

Writes ~/.pi/agent/auth.json (mode 0600). That file wins over environment variables. Common entries include Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, xAI, OpenRouter, Groq, Mistral, Zhipu, Kimi For Coding, Qwen, and MiniMax. Other providers are folded under Show all.

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Subscription auth

Click Log in: the app opens the built-in terminal, starts pi, then sends a command such as /login anthropic. You can also run pi /login in a system terminal. The app does not run OAuth for you. It only reads auth.json. Supported:
  • Claude Pro / Max (pi /login anthropic)
  • ChatGPT Plus / Pro (Codex) (pi /login openai)
  • GitHub Copilot
  • xAI
  • OpenRouter
  • Radius

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Resolve order

--api-key → auth.json → environment variables → models.json

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Install

Alternative:
In-app Install previews the fallback npm install -g @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent. Docs: https://pi.dev/docs/latest/usage

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Capability differences

Compared with Claude Code:
  • No plan mode
  • Does not use desktop MCP
  • Supports reasoning strength, session continue, and image input
  • Stop ends the pi child process
  • History is isolated per runtime

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When detect fails

See Detect and install.

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Next steps