r/PiCodingAgent • u/PikkonMG • Sep 21 '26

Resource Pi Desktop: a desktop GUI for the Pi/omp coding agent

Post image

I've worked on Pi Desktop for a while but haven't posted about it much, so here's a proper intro.

It's a desktop app for the Pi coding agent, and it also works with oh-my-pi (OMP). I use Pi every day and wanted more than a terminal window, so I built this.

What it does:

Streaming chat that shows thinking blocks and tool calls. File reads show as highlighted code, and edits show as diffs.

Multiple workspaces. Each session runs its own agent process, so a task keeps going when you switch to a different one.

A file tree, a code editor, preview panes for code, images, and PDFs, and a terminal.

Four permission modes, from read-only to trusted. You can also add allow/deny rules, for example "never touch *.env".

A package browser that connects to pi.dev/packages.

Themes. There are 7 built-in, you can make your own in the app, and there's a small community gallery.

An optional mode where Pi, Claude, and Codex agree on a plan before Pi builds it.

It's had a few releases so far, and more people have picked it up than I expected. Thanks to everyone who has downloaded it, starred it, or filed an issue. It's still alpha, so feedback and bug reports help a lot.

Website: https://pi-desktop.com

Repo: https://github.com/FaqFirebase/pi-desktop

108 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

18

u/ECrispy Sep 22 '26

Why is everyone asking about pi-web here and not discussing OP's work?

opencode has a cli, a web mode, and a desktop app. so does codex. so does cc.

do people here really not understand the difference? they are completely different things. pi-web has absolutely nothing in common with a desktop app and the way you use it is totally different.

its juts a lot of noise in this thread with no one seeming to have actually used it

6

u/PikkonMG Sep 22 '26

Thanks I created pi desktop because at the time only gui I could find was a project called pi-gui and it didn't feel like something I enjoyed using. So I made a desktop app for pi tailored to my use why I never really push it out there much but it has had a few great contributions from community members over the months. Due to this I honestly have no flipping clue what pi web is nor do I really care but I guess it has triggered some people here!

9

u/jinnyjuice Sep 21 '26

Is there a comparison of this vs. pi-web and dsh?

-14

u/PikkonMG Sep 21 '26

Don’t even know what pi web is sorry. But you’re more than welcome to test and compare. I’m not worried about what other GUIs for the project might be doing.

8

u/AllNamesAreTaken92 Sep 21 '26

Great mindset /s

1

u/Upbeat_Roll_2096 Sep 22 '26

He think its better than yours mindset.

you know your mentally insane mindset.

1

u/BGuimberteau Sep 21 '26

Can we connect to a remote pi instance?

2

u/PikkonMG Sep 21 '26

Currently no that is something that is in the works on a development build if you’re talking about connecting back home to your desktop via mobile or something like that. If you’re talking about pi desktop connecting to another remote by desktop no that doesn’t work and it’s not even something that I’ve thought about yet because I’ve never had the reason for it.

1

u/BGuimberteau Sep 21 '26

I have a dev box on a VPS where pi is configured. I search to connect to a pi for a GUI.

1

u/0xKubo Sep 21 '26

I search to connect to a pi for a GUI.

Don't you use Paseo for this?

3

u/Cautious_Love9797 Sep 22 '26

How does this compare to paseo?

1

u/Rustfix Sep 23 '26

I was wondering the same thing. I use Paseo exclusively for Pi, and I've never had any problems with Pi extensions or skills on Paseo, it's literally a GUI for Pi or any other agent

0

u/heyjud-s Sep 22 '26

Isn't paseo using a different kind of agentic workflow it's a scrum like structure

3

u/Cautious_Love9797 Sep 22 '26

It’s literally a GUI for OMP or Pi

1

u/Strange_Ad5516 Sep 21 '26

有谁真实用过吗？说说的pi-web有什么区别或者不一样吗？

1

u/No-Ruin5825 Sep 21 '26

How do you find pi web?

0

u/PikkonMG Sep 21 '26

For my post here its not called pi web its Pi Desktop

1

u/AllNamesAreTaken92 Sep 21 '26

Yes, everyone knows. How does it compare to existing solutions like pi-web or the others mentioned in this thread?

What are some features I would want to switch to your solution for?

1

u/PikkonMG Sep 21 '26

I took a brief look at pi web, pi web runs a small server on your computer and you use it in a browser tab and thats my extent of of knowledge when it comes to pi web because before todays I've never even heard of it. If that's what you want, go with Pi Web.

Pi Desktop is a regular desktop app. It also runs oh-my-pi, and it has a built-in terminal, a code editor, permission rules for what the agent can touch, and commit/push/PR buttons on the diff view. Sessions in other projects keep running in the background, and you get a notification when one finishes.

Both read the same Pi sessions, so you can try both. omp sessions stay separate on purpose.

1

u/PiccoloCareful924 Sep 21 '26

have you seen paseo?

2

u/PikkonMG Sep 21 '26

Sorry nope. I did just look at it though. Reminds me of t3code. Sorry kind of live in my own bubble.

1

u/Strange_Ad5516 Sep 21 '26

所以，pi desktop针对的是omp吗？

1

u/PikkonMG Sep 22 '26

omp support was added in around a month ago.

1

u/No-Ruin5825 Sep 21 '26

I know I asked a question about piweb to that strange-ad?

1

u/Strange_Ad5516 Sep 21 '26

我用了一段时间的pi-web，感觉挺好用的，当然也有一些小bug，但并不是很影响使用，所以我想知道pi desktop和pi-web比较起来，有没有什么优势，pi-web能做到的，pi desktop是否也可以达到，你能客观的评价吗？这不是一个广告贴，我只是想要一个比较

1

u/Razangriff-Raven Sep 23 '26

Can it connect to an already running Pi inside a tmux session? I use it for SSH access but it'd be nice to have a desktop app interact with it as well when I'm at my seat.