@henryqw/pi-herdr-btw

v2.0.1

Open a focused Pi side thread in a Herdr pane. Then merge its transcript and follow-up prompt into Main.

Why

Created for: Ask quick side questions in a dedicated Pi thread without derailing Main’s conversation or context.
Advantage: /btw merge returns the side transcript and follow-up to Main without manually copying context.
Inspired by: Claude Code and its /btw side-question mode. This package adds transcript merge back into Main.

Install

pi install npm:@henryqw/pi-task-models
pi install npm:@henryqw/pi-herdr-btw

Requires Herdr 0.7.4+ and a Herdr-managed pane.

With

Package	Why
`@henryqw/pi-memory`	Improves. Marks side-thread children for pi-memory, suppressing parent-only memory injection and dream advice.
`@henryqw/pi-task-models`	Required. Shared model profiles for side-thread routes.

Use

Use /btw to open a side thread, set its defaults, or recover a pending merge.

/btw                              open an empty side pane
/btw <question...>                open side pane with draft question
/btw ask <question...>            escape reserved first words
/btw config [...]                 show or change launch defaults
/btw merge <prompt...>            merge side thread into Main and continue
/btw help                         show grammar

Launch

ask, config, merge, and help route only when they are exact first words. Other input is a question.
A provided question is an editable draft by default.
/btw snapshots Main’s compaction-aware context and inherits its working directory.
The consumer-owned pi-herdr-btw/btw task defaults to fast.
Before pane launch, it selects the first authenticated viable effective profile route.

~/.pi/agent/config/pi-task-models/config.json is shared and owned by @henryqw/pi-task-models. A task entry is an explicit user override, and routes resolve before pane launch. BTW warns once per session if this file is missing.

Merge delivery

In the side pane, /btw merge <prompt> sends the user/assistant text transcript to Main, refocuses Main, and closes the side pane.
Main appends the transcript without starting a turn, then submits the prompt.
Bare /btw merge opens the prompt editor.
Pending delivery waits for Main to settle and for current model authentication. It survives side-pane shutdown until consumed or 24-hour stale cleanup.

Limits and privacy

The side pane gets static parent context and shares Main’s working directory. Enabled tools can change parent-visible files.
Large parent contexts can exceed child context limits.
Launch data stays in a private temporary directory.

Config

Package-owned: ~/.pi/agent/config/pi-herdr-btw/config.json

{
  "autoSubmit": false,
  "tools": "inherit",
  "split": "right"
}

Field	Required	Possible values	Default
`autoSubmit`	No	`true`, `false` — submit the draft question automatically instead of leaving it editable in the side pane	`false`
`tools`	No	`inherit` (parent’s active tools), `all`, `read-only` (built-in read-only tools), `none`	`inherit`
`split`	No	`right`, `down` — side-pane placement	`right`

All fields are optional.
Unknown keys and non-object files are rejected.
/btw config show prints effective values.
/btw config reset saves the defaults.
The config file is optional. Missing config uses defaults.
Malformed config fails visibly and remains unchanged.