pi-custom-model

name	pi-custom-model
description	Register custom Pi Agent model slugs so saved OpenRouter variants resolve correctly.
category	operations
risk	critical
source	community
source_repo	davidondrej/skills
source_type	community
date_added	2026-07-07
author	davidondrej
tags	["pi-agent","models","openrouter"]
tools	["claude","codex"]
license	MIT
license_source	https://github.com/davidondrej/skills/blob/main/LICENSE
disable-model-invocation	true

Pi custom / variant model

When to Use

Pi's saved default only loads if the exact provider/id exists in its model registry. Pi ships a static bundled list per provider — so OpenRouter routing-shortcut variants (:nitro = sort by throughput, :floor = cheapest, :exacto = quality tool-use) and any brand-new slug are NOT in it. When the default doesn't resolve, Pi silently falls through to its built-in per-provider default (for openrouter that's moonshotai/kimi-k2.6) — looking like Pi "reset" your model. Fix = register the slug as a custom model so find(provider, id) matches.

Files (global)

• ~/.pi/agent/settings.json — defaultProvider, defaultModel, defaultThinkingLevel
• ~/.pi/agent/models.json — custom models, keyed by provider
• ~/.pi/agent/auth.json — provider credentials (check the provider key exists)

Steps

1. Confirm the slug is real before adding it (e.g. check the OpenRouter model/variant exists). A typo'd id also silently falls back.
2. Confirm auth. The provider must have a key in auth.json (or an env var like OPENROUTER_API_KEY). No auth → the model is registered but unavailable → still falls back.
3. Add the model to models.json under providers.<provider>.models. For a built-in provider (openrouter, anthropic, etc.) you only supply metadata — api, baseUrl, and auth are inherited from the bundled defaults. Example:

   {
     "providers": {
       "openrouter": {
         "models": [
           {
             "id": "z-ai/glm-5.2:nitro",
              
              
                 
              
                       
              
              
                   
           
         
       
     
   
   

   Copy // from the base model (the variant shares them) — find the bundled entry in . Don't hardcode generic 128k/16k if the real model is bigger.