| name | pickbrain |
| description | Recall and semantic search over previous Pi coding sessions. Use when the user wants to find, remember, or reference prior Pi work — e.g. "what did we discuss about X", "find the session where we fixed Y", "search my history for Z". |
Pickbrain — Recall for Pi
Search previous Pi sessions semantically and use the results to answer the user with citations/excerpts. Pickbrain can also search Claude Code, Codex, and Slack when explicitly requested, but in Pi it should default to Pi history.
Preferred Pi Usage
If the pickbrain_search tool is available, use it first. It automatically:
- defaults to
type: "pi"
- passes the current Pi session to pickbrain
- suppresses ingest progress noise
- limits results to a small useful set unless asked otherwise
Examples:
- Search Pi history:
{ "query": "auth middleware fix" }
- Search current Pi session:
{ "query": "install target", "current": true }
- Exclude current Pi session:
{ "query": "dropbox witchcraft", "excludeCurrent": true }
- Search all coding agents:
{ "query": "extension api", "type": "pi,claude,codex" }
- Search everything, including Slack:
{ "query": "launch plan", "allSources": true }
- Dump a session:
{ "dump": "<session-id>", "turns": "2-4" }
Slash Command
The Pi extension also registers:
/pickbrain <query>
This searches Pi sessions by default. Pass flags to override:
/pickbrain --type pi,claude,codex auth middleware
/pickbrain --dump <session-id> --turns 2-4
Bash Fallback
If the tool is unavailable, run pickbrain via Bash:
pickbrain -q --type pi "$ARGUMENTS"
Pickbrain automatically ingests new sessions before each search. First run can take longer while building the local database.
Interpreting Results
Each result includes:
- timestamp and project directory
- source: usually
pi, or claude, codex, slack if requested
- session ID and turn number
- relevant matching text
Present results as a concise summary and quote the most relevant excerpts. To dig deeper:
pickbrain -q --dump <session-id> --turns <start>-<end>
Useful CLI Filters
pickbrain -q --type pi "<query>"
pickbrain -q --current "<query>"
pickbrain -q --exclude-current "<query>"
pickbrain -q --session <session-id> "<query>"
pickbrain -q --since 7d "<query>"
pickbrain -q -n 20 "<query>"
Notes
- The database lives at
~/.pickbrain/pickbrain.db.
- Results are ranked by semantic similarity and may not contain exact query words.
- For best Pi integration, keep the Pi extension installed in
~/.pi/agent/extensions/pickbrain/.
