> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://you.com/docs/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://you.com/docs/_mcp/server.

# Pi

Give Pi real-time web search, content extraction, and citation-backed research through the [You.com agent skills](/docs/build-with-agents/skills). [Pi](https://pi.dev/) is a minimal terminal coding harness from Earendil Inc. that uses [skills](https://agentskills.io/specification) — not MCP — for capability extension, so the same You.com skills that power Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex work in Pi too.

## Quick setup

## Install the You.com skills

From your Pi project root:

```bash
npx skills add youdotcom-oss/agent-skills
```

This installs the full You.com skill set from [github.com/youdotcom-oss/agent-skills](https://github.com/youdotcom-oss/agent-skills). The skills follow the [agentskills.io specification](https://agentskills.io/specification), which Pi reads natively — no Pi-specific package needed.

Only want one skill? Pin to a specific one:

```bash
npx skills add youdotcom-oss/agent-skills --skill youdotcom-cli
```

## Set your API key

The You.com skills read the `api_key` environment variable. Set it before launching Pi:

```bash
export api_key="YDC-YOUR-API-KEY"
```

Get a key at [you.com/platform](https://you.com/platform).

## Start Pi

```bash
pi
```

## Try it

Inside a Pi session:

```text
Search the web for the latest TypeScript 5.5 release notes and summarize the breaking changes.
```

Pi activates the relevant skill automatically when a task involves search or page extraction.

## Keyless tier

Want to try it without signing up? The `you-search` tool runs on a free tier (100 queries/day, no auth) when no API key is set — leave `api_key` unexported and Pi will fall back to the keyless endpoint. Page extraction and deep research require a key.

## Quick demo

```text
Research the trade-offs between Pi's skill model and MCP for capability extension. Cite sources.
```

```text
Extract the install methods from https://pi.dev/docs/latest and turn them into a checklist.
```

## SDK users: OpenClaw

Building agents with an SDK rather than running them in a terminal harness? The same skills work with [OpenClaw](https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/skills) — see the [agent-skills repo](https://github.com/youdotcom-oss/agent-skills) for SDK-side integration.

## Troubleshooting

* **`pi: command not found`** — install Pi from [pi.dev](https://pi.dev/docs/latest) and confirm with `pi --version`.
* **Skill doesn't activate** — confirm the skill files are present in your project (the `npx skills add` step writes them to disk). See [pi.dev/docs/latest](https://pi.dev/docs/latest) for Pi's skill-discovery rules.
* **401 errors** — confirm `api_key` is exported in the shell that launched Pi (not just in a sub-shell) and starts with `YDC-`.
* **Hit the keyless rate limit** — set an `api_key` to lift the cap and unlock `you-contents` and `you-research`.