The Pi coding agent, compiled ahead of time to native code.
One executable for Linux x86-64 and ARM64, macOS on Apple silicon and Windows x64. No JIT, no Node.js or Bun required.
Pi-Bolt is the Pi you already use, with the same commands, sessions, settings, providers and extensions. Every function is compiled to machine code when the executable is built, so nothing is parsed or JIT-compiled at launch. It starts two to three times sooner than Pi on Bun and uses about a third of its CPU over a session; against Pi on Node it streams long answers and writes large files 18 to 100 times more cheaply.
GitHub's Linux x86-64 runner, one CPU. Pi-Bolt 0.9.2 against Pi 1.2.0 on stock Bun 1.4.2 and Node 24; lower is better. See Benchmarks.
Note
Pi-Bolt is an independent fork of Pi, not affiliated with Pi's authors or with Oven.
curl -fsSL https://pi-bolt.opensec.in/install.sh | shThe same command installs Pi-Bolt on Linux x86-64 and ARM64, on macOS, and on Android in Termux. On Arch Linux there is also
a community package in the AUR, pi-bolt-avx2-bin-release-git
(the x86-64 AVX2 build, signature checked): paru -S pi-bolt-avx2-bin-release-git.
On Windows, in PowerShell:
irm https://pi-bolt.opensec.in/install.ps1 | iexor in Command Prompt:
powershell -c "irm https://pi-bolt.opensec.in/install.ps1 | iex"or npm install -g --allow-scripts=pi-bolt pi-bolt, or bun add -g --trust pi-bolt. Then run pi-bolt in your project. Your
Pi configuration in ~/.pi/agent is used as is; new to Pi? Run /login to connect a provider. pi-bolt update installs the
latest release, pi-bolt update --rollback puts back the build it replaced, and pi-bolt update --channel beta takes
pre-releases too.
The installer verifies the release signature and offers three optional extensions by OpenSec:
| Extension | What it does |
|---|---|
opensec-pi-subagents |
Specialized agents in separate sessions, parallel workflows and scheduled jobs |
opensec-pi-todo |
A todo list for the model, shown as a live panel above the editor |
opensec-pi-fff |
pi-fff's fast fuzzy find, grep and @-mentions, at full speed on the default build |
The default build has no JIT: Pi's own code is compiled machine code, and an extension loaded at run time is interpreted. Light
extensions don't notice. For extensions that do heavy work (search, parsing) or use bun:ffi, install the JIT
build. Pi itself stays compiled, so it is within about 5% of the default.
curl -fsSL https://pi-bolt.opensec.in/install.sh | PIBOLT_VARIANT=arm64-jit sh # macOS, Linux ARM64, Termux
curl -fsSL https://pi-bolt.opensec.in/install.sh | PIBOLT_VARIANT=x64-jit sh # Linux x86-64On Windows, run $env:PIBOLT_VARIANT = "x64-jit" before the PowerShell command. With npm, keep PIBOLT_VARIANT set in your
shell profile; it is read on every run. pi-bolt --version then ends in JIT on, and pi-bolt update keeps the build you chose.
On the default build, an extension that needs the JIT (it calls into a native library through bun:ffi) fails with a line that
names the extension and gives the command that switches to the JIT build.
Manual download
Download a build from the latest release, check it against
SHA256SUMS, unpack it and run ./pi (on Windows, pi-bolt.exe).
| Download | For |
|---|---|
pi-bolt-linux-x64.tar.xz |
Linux, CPUs with AVX2 (Intel Haswell, AMD Zen and later) |
pi-bolt-linux-x64-baseline.tar.xz |
Linux, any x86-64 CPU |
pi-bolt-linux-arm64.tar.xz |
Linux ARM64, any 64-bit ARM CPU (Raspberry Pi 3 and later, AWS Graviton, Ampere) |
pi-bolt-darwin-arm64.tar.xz |
macOS, Apple silicon |
pi-bolt-win32-x64.zip |
Windows x64; compiled code on CPUs with AVX2, bytecode on others |
-jit builds are for heavy use of plugins loaded at run time; the runtime and kit archives are what pi-bolt compile builds
with (compiling plugins in).
In Termux, use the installer: it sets the executable's loader to Termux's glibc (below).
In Termux from F-Droid or GitHub (the Google Play version has no glibc packages), run the same curl ... | sh command. Pi-Bolt is a glibc program and Android's libc is not
glibc, so the installer first installs Termux's glibc (pkg install glibc-repo && pkg install glibc, after asking), sets it as
the executable's loader, and links pi-bolt into $PREFIX/bin. pi-bolt is a small launcher that starts Pi-Bolt in Android's
time zone and without Termux's LD_PRELOAD (a library of Android's libc, which glibc cannot load); the programs Pi-Bolt starts
get it back. The installer copies Termux's resolv.conf and hosts to $PREFIX/glibc/etc, where Termux's glibc reads them.
- Linux x86-64 or ARM64 with glibc 2.17 or later (Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 11+, RHEL/Rocky 8+, Amazon Linux 2, Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit). musl is not supported.
- Android 7 or later on 64-bit ARM, in Termux.
- macOS 13 or later on Apple silicon. Install with the installer or npm (Troubleshooting).
- Windows 10 (1809) or later, or Windows 11, on x64. Install with the installer or npm; for problems, see Troubleshooting: Windows.
- Windows on ARM64 runs the x64 build, in Windows 11's x64 emulation.
Pi-Bolt installs next to Pi as pi-bolt, so both can stay installed. Running the installer again updates, reinstalls or
uninstalls it.
Pi-Bolt 0.9.2 against Pi 1.2.0 on stock Bun 1.4.2 and on Node 24, on GitHub's Linux x86-64 runner, one CPU each; lower is better.
| Benchmark | Pi-Bolt | Pi on Bun | Pi on Node 24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ready to type | 38 ms | 84 ms | 277 ms |
CPU, one prompt (pi -p) |
51 ms | 128 ms | 385 ms |
| CPU, interactive session | 142 ms | 383 ms | 790 ms |
| CPU, streaming a 60,000-character answer | 1.6 s | 1.7 s | 28.9 s |
| CPU, writing a 400 KB file through a tool call | 1.5 s | 1.9 s | 150 s |
Peak memory, one prompt (pi -p) |
107 MB | 114 MB | 138 MB |
| Memory of a session in tmux | 24 MB | 77 MB | 212 MB |
| Memory after 40 prompts | 101 MB | 164 MB | 520 MB |
Against 0.8.5, 0.9.2 streams long answers and large files with 16–37% less CPU, and starts with up to a quarter less memory. Linux ARM64, macOS, Windows, other Pi builds (PiG, oh-my-pi, OpenCode) and the method: docs/BENCHMARKS.md.
Pi extensions work unchanged. The default build has no JIT, so an extension loaded at run time is interpreted; compile the ones you use every day into Pi-Bolt, where they run as machine code:
pi-bolt compileIt compiles the extensions installed on this machine into your Pi-Bolt (Linux and macOS) with the release's own compiler, and
pi-bolt update compiles them into each new release. See docs/PLUGINS.md.
Pi-Bolt's grep and find tools are on by default and search in-process, following .gitignore, with nothing to install.
With opensec-pi-fff or @ff-labs/pi-fff loaded, FFF's search tools are used
instead.
Pi-Bolt uses Pi's agent directory (~/.pi/agent) and shared packages list. Ordinary pi-bolt install and pi-bolt remove
update that shared list, just as Pi does, and drop Pi-Bolt's own entry for that package, so both load what the shared list
declares. Add --pi-bolt to change only Pi-Bolt's overrides. Using fictional package names:
pi-bolt install --pi-bolt npm:@example/bolt-tools
pi-bolt remove --pi-bolt npm:@example/shared-toolspiBolt.packages extends the shared list. A -source entry excludes an inherited package from Pi-Bolt without changing Pi:
{
"packages": ["npm:@juicesharp/rpiv-todo"],
"piBolt": { "packages": ["-npm:@juicesharp/rpiv-todo", "npm:opensec-pi-todo"] }
}Other shared packages remain inherited. A piBolt.packages list copied from packages by Pi-Bolt before 0.9.1 is converted
once into exclusions and differing entries, so Pi-Bolt keeps loading what it did. See
Configuration.
In a Herdr pane, Pi-Bolt shows up as pi-bolt (idle, working or blocked), and a Herdr restart reopens
the same conversation in the same pane. There is nothing to install; "-builtin:herdr" in the extensions setting turns it
off. Restoring a session needs Herdr 0.9.2 or later.
To start other agents in Herdr panes from Pi-Bolt, install pi-herdr:
pi-bolt install npm:@andrewjacop/pi-herdr.
pi-bolt --acp speaks the Agent Client Protocol, so Pi-Bolt runs in the agent panel of Zed,
JetBrains IDEs, VS Code (through an ACP extension), Neovim and other ACP editors, with your Pi settings, extensions, skills and
sessions. In Zed's settings.json:
"agent_servers": {
"Pi-Bolt": { "type": "custom", "command": "/full/path/to/pi-bolt", "args": ["--acp"], "env": {} }
}Other editors, and what the editor gets: docs/ACP.md.
pi-bolt --mcp is a Model Context Protocol server, so other agents give Pi-Bolt a task with
its prompt tool and continue the session in later calls. In Claude Code:
claude mcp add pi-bolt -- /full/path/to/pi-bolt --mcpOther clients, and what the tools do: docs/MCP.md.
pi-bolt doctor prints a report of your installation, in plain text to paste into an issue: the build and how it was installed,
whether the release's signature verifies, which extensions are compiled in, run at run time or fail to load, how Pi's packages
and piBolt.packages differ, the Herdr and editor setup, and the problems it finds, such as another pi-bolt earlier on your
PATH. It prints no keys or tokens, and shows your home folder as ~. pi-bolt doctor --offline leaves out the release
signature and the check for a newer version.
- Bun bundles Pi and compiles it to JavaScriptCore bytecode.
- An ahead-of-time compiler turns every function into optimized x86-64 or ARM64 machine code, through B3, the back end of JavaScriptCore's top-tier JIT.
- A prebuilt heap holds Pi's modules already loaded, and is mapped from the executable at launch.
- A training profile orders the code so that startup touches as few pages as possible.
The compiler builds on oven-sh/WebKit#743. Pi-Bolt ports it to x86-64 and macOS
and adds its own code generation and runtime work (docs/ARCHITECTURE.md). packages/ is the Pi release named
in sources.json with Pi-Bolt's changes on top; the engine changes are in
patches/.
| Architecture | What the executable contains, how it is built, what happens at launch |
| Building | Building the runtime and Pi from source, training profiles, tests |
| Benchmarks | Method, results and raw data |
| Plugins | Porting Pi extensions and writing them for AOT |
| Editors | Pi-Bolt in Zed, JetBrains IDEs, VS Code and other ACP editors |
| Other agents | Pi-Bolt as a tool of other agents and MCP clients |
| Troubleshooting | Diagnostics, environment variables, known limitations |
| Releasing | CI, releases, signing |
git clone https://github.com/opensec-git/Pi-Bolt.git && cd Pi-Bolt
scripts/fetch-runtime.sh # the released Pi-Bolt runtime (or build it: docs/BUILDING.md)
scripts/prepare-pi.sh # builds the Pi in this repository
scripts/build-pi.sh # out/pi-bolt/pi
tests/aot/run.sh # engine testsSee CONTRIBUTING.md. Report security issues privately, as described in SECURITY.md.
MIT. Release executables include Bun (MIT), JavaScriptCore (LGPL-2.0 and BSD), ICU (Unicode License) and Pi (MIT); see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.
Built on Pi by Mario Zechner and contributors, and Bun by Oven.