Imported from RyderAsKing/PiChamber (AGENTS.md). Install upstream with npx skills add RyderAsKing/PiChamber. Copyright stays with the author.

PiChamber Agent Guide

Purpose

PiChamber provides web, desktop, hosted-mobile, and native-mobile UI surfaces for Pi Coding Agent.

PiChamber is a community fork of OpenChamber, now running through its Pi-native session daemon.

This file contains only always-on repository rules and routing. Detailed workflows belong to project skills and module documentation.

Instruction Order

These steps are mandatory. Before editing, you MUST:

1. Follow this root guide.
2. Load every matching project skill and every task-required reference from those skills.
3. Read the nearest DOCUMENTATION.md and package README.md when present.
4. Follow local code and test precedent.

If these sources materially conflict, stop and resolve the conflict instead of silently choosing one. Do not start editing when a matching skill or required reference has not been read. Skill loading is a required part of the task, not optional guidance.

Runtime Boundaries

• packages/ui: shared React UI, state, sync, and runtime contracts.
• packages/web: web surfaces, PiChamber server, Pi session-daemon lifecycle, and CLI.
• packages/electron: native desktop shell and privileged Electron boundary.
• packages/mobile: Capacitor iOS/Android shell; bundles the mobile web surface and connects to an existing PiChamber server.
• packages/docs: product documentation; not a Bun workspace.

Shared UI calls Pi through /api/pi/* using runtimeFetch and shared browser/realtime transport helpers. Runtime-specific PiChamber capabilities use RuntimeAPIs.

Electron starts the PiChamber backend in-process, never as a sidecar. Development may load loopback/HMR UI; packaged builds load staged assets through pichamber-ui:// while the loopback server remains the API backend. Keep domain backends in web/runtime modules unless behavior is inherently native.

Shared contracts must define intentional behavior for every applicable runtime: web, desktop, hosted mobile, and Capacitor mobile.

Always-On Constraints

• Do not modify ../opencode; it is a separate repository.
• Do not run git or GitHub commands unless the user explicitly asks.
• Do not add dependencies unless explicitly requested.
• Never add or log secrets, bearer tokens, pairing credentials, or sensitive user data.
• Keep changes minimal and preserve unrelated worktree changes.
• Enforce security and correctness in core/runtime logic, not only UI visibility or prompts.
• Keep entrypoints and bridges thin; place domain logic in focused owning modules.
• Update owning documentation when module ownership, contracts, or invariants change.

Correctness Invariants

• Prefer authoritative state over heuristics.
• Derive live activity from live channels, not persisted history.
• Scope temporary fallbacks narrowly and clear them when authoritative state arrives.
• Never let fetch failure masquerade as authoritative empty success.
• Make partial results, rollback, cleanup, and stale-data behavior explicit.
• One failed entity must not erase or block unrelated complete entities.
• Runtime-specific differences must be intentional and visible in code.

Documentation Discovery

Before changing a module, search for the nearest DOCUMENTATION.md; before package-level work, read its README.md. Discover docs dynamically under packages/**/DOCUMENTATION.md rather than relying on a static exhaustive map.

High-value anchors:

• Sync: packages/ui/src/sync/DOCUMENTATION.md
• Stores: packages/ui/src/stores/DOCUMENTATION.md
• CLI: packages/web/bin/lib/DOCUMENTATION.md
• Performance measurement tooling: scripts/perf/DOCUMENTATION.md
• Electron: packages/electron/README.md
• Mobile: packages/mobile/README.md

Project Skills

Project skills live under .agents/skills/*/SKILL.md. You MUST load every skill matching the character of the change before editing; multiple skills may apply, including companion skills required by another skill. Read every task-required reference named by those skills. Skills are canonical for their detailed workflows and checklists. Treating this table as optional advice is a process violation.

Pure code-reading or explanation does not require implementation skills unless needed to interpret a specialized subsystem.

Validation

• Use package.json scripts as the command source of truth.
• Prefer focused tests and package-scoped type-check/lint for executable source changes.
• bun run test runs every unit suite (web, ui, electron) and must pass before handoff. UI tests run under bun test --isolate (per-file isolation) because bun's mock.module() is process-global; keep new UI test files self-contained and avoid partial mocks of shared modules.
• Use workspace-wide checks for cross-workspace contracts, root tooling, dependencies, or shared generated assets.
• Run bun run dead-code when source files are added/deleted/renamed or exports, types, entrypoints, or import shape change; inspect its report because it is non-blocking.
• Do not assume TypeScript/lint covers server JS, CLI JS, Electron helpers, or native behavior; run focused tests, syntax checks, builds, or runtime validation for the touched surface.
• For docs-only or isolated config changes, run the narrowest relevant validation.
• Report exactly what was and was not validated. Static checks alone do not prove runtime, relay, performance, or platform correctness.

Pull Request Handoff

Before creating or updating a pull request, read CONTRIBUTING.md and .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md. Complete the template with concrete, current evidence for the final PR HEAD; do not make the reviewer reconstruct intent, affected surfaces, applicable guidance, validation, visual behavior, or failure and rollback considerations from the diff alone.