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Pi chat: ask_user from @eko24ive/pi-ask shows no prompt card, answerable only in the terminal #1202
Description
What happened
- In a pi pane with the
@eko24ive/pi-askextension installed, the agent calls theask_usertool. - In the terminal, pi shows the interactive question form (options, multi-select, preview pane).
- In the web UI chat view, only the tool call line
> ask_userappears. No prompt card is shown, and the question can't be seen or answered from the browser. I have to switch to the terminal to answer.
Expected: a prompt card with the question and its options, like for pi's built-in select/confirm/input dialogs or OmO's ask_user_question.
Likely cause: server/prompt.ts parsePiDialog only recognizes pi's built-in dialogs by their hint line (↑↓ navigate enter select escape/ctrl+c cancel / enter submit …). pi-ask renders its own component through ctx.ui.custom() with a different layout and hint line, so the parser never matches. Support could come from parsing pi-ask's form, or from reading the open ask_user tool call from the pi session file (the way omo-ask.ts does for OmO).
How often
Every time
herdr web ui version
0.4.5 (5d18c53)
How it runs
herdr plugin
Server PC
macOS (Apple Silicon), herdr 0.9.3
Agent and PC
pi 1.3.0 (@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent) + @eko24ive/pi-ask 1.2.0, local PC
Screenshots or logs
The chat view shows only the tool call line above the composer:
> ask_user
[ Message Pi... ]
Activity
bstu-j-yang commentedon Oct 16, 2026
devswha commentedon Oct 23, 2026
Triage notes (2026-10-23). Deferred from this fix wave; no code change yet.
Cause confirmed.
@eko24ive/pi-askdraws its own form throughctx.ui.custom(). No dialog reader recognizes it:parsePiDialogonly knows pi's built-in dialogs. So the chat shows only theask_usertool line.What a fix can rely on (checked in the 1.2.0 source):
Pending call.
src/pending-ask.tstreats anask_usercall as open when all of these hold:stopReason: "toolUse".toolResultwith thattoolCallIdfollows it.customentry of typeask:pending-dismissednames it.The arguments are
{ title?, questions: [{ id, label?, prompt, type?: "single"|"multi"|"preview", options: [{ value, label, description?, preview?, recommended? }] }] }. Every question also gets an internalType your ownoption.Answer channel.
docs/remote-events.mdsays: "Do not use terminal keystroke automation." The supported way to answer ispi.eventsfrom an extension in the same pi process:@eko24ive/pi-ask:startedcarriesflowId,toolCallIdand the questions.@eko24ive/pi-ask:submittakes answers by question id and option value.Its keymaps are user-configurable (
src/constants/keymaps.ts).Why it is not a small change:
server/dialogs/shared.tsand a reader inserver/dialogs/index.ts.ask_user_question). That PR changes the samereadKnownPromptpath inserver/prompt.ts,server/dialogs/shared.tsandserver/dialogs/index.ts. It also already usesserver/dialogs/pi-ask.tsfor rpiv and adds the pi transcript lookup (piTranscriptPath+OmoAskReader).Two possible directions:
server/dialogs/pi-ask-user.ts, reusing fix(prompt): support Pi rpiv question cards and safe navigation #1714's transcript plumbing. Users install nothing extra, but this goes against pi-ask's stated contract, and remapped keys break it.pi.events, installed the wayscripts/install-gjc-integration.tsinstalls the GJC extension. This is the path pi-ask supports and the sturdier one, but it is a larger feature.perf(prompt): read pi-ask's open calls only where a fallback card cou…
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