Open source · MIT · Unofficial Pi desktop shells

The Pi agent harness, at home on the desktop.

Pi Desktop runs the upstream Pi Web UI — untouched — inside native shells for Windows, macOS, Linux and HarmonyOS. The Pi host and its Next.js server run inside the app itself, and the window loads that UI from the same origin: no cloud relay, no CORS, no login page, and no pi binary needed on your PATH. Your existing sessions, credentials and extensions come along.

  • Windows
  • macOS
  • Linux
  • HarmonyOS
Get Pi Desktop HarmonyOS edition How it works

Desktop v0.11.1 · packaged end-to-end verified on Windows; macOS & Linux pending
HarmonyOS(1) v0.11.1 · versionCode 1101 · built, signed and verified on device
Built on pi v1.1.0 + pi-web v0.11.1 · zero upstream changes · installers are unsigned
(1)Verified on a HUAWEI MateBook Pro (HAD-W32), HarmonyOS API 26; 2-in-1 and tablet.

Pi Desktop running the upstream Pi Web UI in light theme, in Simplified Chinese Pi Desktop running the upstream Pi Web UI in dark theme, in Simplified Chinese

Pi Desktop running the upstream Pi Web UI. Captured on Windows; the interface itself is Simplified Chinese.

$ why a native shell

Why a native shell

The whole Pi experience — none of the browser tab.

100% upstream Pi & Pi Web — zero upstream changes.

The Pi SDK and the Pi Web UI run unmodified; the shell only assembles them. This release ships zero required patches, so upstream improvements land without a fork to rebase.

Local-first, in-process.

The Pi host and its Next.js server run inside the app's own main process — no sidecar, no orphaned Node processes — and the UI loads from that same origin. Nothing is relayed through the cloud, and there is no login page to paste a password into.

A desktop citizen.

System tray, native notifications driven by tailing the session log, single-instance focus, a remembered window size and position, and external links handed to your system browser.

Shares your pi CLI environment.

Defaults to ~/.pi/agent, so sessions, credentials, extensions and MCP configuration are the same ones your terminal already uses. Switch to an app-private directory in settings when you want isolation.

$ choose your desktop

Choose your desktop

Pi Desktop

Electron · Windows · macOS · Linux
  • Electron 43.7.9 (Node 24.21.0 / Chromium 150): pi-web's Next.js server runs in the main process, not as a sidecar.
  • Random loopback port with a host-generated random password — credentials are injected, so the login page never appears.
  • Ships pi-dist.tar.gz, extracted into userData on first launch and skipped afterwards (SHA-256 marker).
  • Installers: Squirrel (Windows), DMG (macOS), deb / rpm / zip (Linux) — unsigned, so SmartScreen and Gatekeeper will ask.
  • Status: v0.11.1 · packaged end-to-end verified on Windows; macOS and Linux pending.
View on GitHub

Pi Desktop · HarmonyOS

Electron-on-HarmonyOS · 2-in-1 & tablet
  • Electron 37.2.3 / Node 22.17.0 on the harmonypc-electron runtime, packaged as a HAP.
  • Built, signed and verified on device — HUAWEI MateBook Pro (HAD-W32), HarmonyOS API 26.
  • The full upstream Pi Web UI; sessions persist inside the app sandbox.
  • Binds 0.0.0.0 and the window connects over the LAN IP, since HarmonyOS isolates loopback the other way.
  • Known limitations: no terminal / PTY, no git, no ripgrep or fd binaries, plugin installs are local-source only.
  • Status: v0.11.1 · versionCode 1101.
View on GitHub

Together, both editions cover four desktop platforms — Windows, Linux and macOS (Electron) plus HarmonyOS. Two independent, unofficial open-source shells built on Pi and Pi Web with zero upstream changes; not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Pi or Pi Web authors. Nothing is code-signed yet, so expect a SmartScreen prompt on Windows and Gatekeeper on macOS.

$ how it works

One host. One origin. Zero friction.

  1. In-process host

    The shell starts pi-web's Next.js server inside the Electron main process.

  2. Same-origin UI

    The window loads http://127.0.0.1:<port>/ from that very server.

  3. Upstream data plane

    The standard Pi Web UI drives it: fetch('/api/*') up, SSE down.

No CORS · No custom protocol · No login page · Zero upstream changes.