Pi Dashboard Control

Interact with the pi-dashboard server from any pi session via its REST API.

Typed bus client (preferred for commands)

Session/flow COMMAND verbs now ride the SAME WebSocket bus the web client uses, via scripts/dashboard-bus.ts — a thin CLI wrapping @blackbelt-technology/pi-dashboard-bus-client. It discovers the port itself (config.json / DASHBOARD_PORT / 8000) and resolves an id-prefix to a full session id from the live subscription snapshot, so command prose no longer needs to teach BASE-URL derivation or GET /api/sessions id-resolution.

Canonical example:

npx tsx ./scripts/dashboard-bus.ts spawn /path/to/proj --prompt "/opsx-explore add-auth"
npx tsx ./scripts/dashboard-bus.ts until <id> idle
npx tsx ./scripts/dashboard-bus.ts prompt <id> "run the tests"

LLM authors can also write an ordinary type-checked .ts script importing { connect } from @blackbelt-technology/pi-dashboard-bus-client for multi-step orchestration (spawn → prompt → until idle → read → plugin) using connect(), spawn(), prompt(), until(), read.sessions(), and plugin("goal", …).

Tier split

• COMMAND verbs → bus (dashboard-bus.ts): abort, send_prompt, spawn, resume, flow_control, set_model, set_thinking_level, rename, hide/unhide, attach/detach_proposal, plugin goal.
• READ-ONLY + no-WS-twin → REST (dashboard-api.sh): session / health / config reads, git ops, grep/browse, plugin_config_write, tunnel, peer scan, openspec archive/toggle. REST remains a supported compatibility shell.

Setup — Discover the Dashboard URL

Read the port from config, defaulting to 8000:

PORT=$(cat ~/.pi/dashboard/config.json 2>/dev/null | grep '"port"' | grep -o '[0-9]*' || echo 8000)
BASE="http://localhost:$PORT"

Verify the server is running:

curl -s "$BASE/api/health" | jq .
# Expected: { "ok": true, "pid": ..., "uptime": ... }

Authentication

By default, auth is disabled and all localhost requests work without tokens.

When auth is enabled (remote/tunnel access), include the JWT cookie:

# Check auth status
curl -s "$BASE/auth/status" | jq .

# If auth is enabled, include token in requests:
curl -s -b "pi_dash_token=YOUR_JWT" "$BASE/api/sessions" | jq .

Quick Reference

Monitor

Action	Command
List sessions	curl -s "$BASE/api/sessions" | jq .
Server health	curl -s "$BASE/api/health" | jq .
Session file diff	curl -s "$BASE/api/session-diff?sessionId=ID" | jq .
Read file	curl -s "$BASE/api/file?cwd=CWD&path=REL" | jq .
List pinned dirs	curl -s "$BASE/api/pinned-dirs" | jq .

Control Sessions

The /dashboard:session-* and /dashboard:flow-* MUTATION commands now route through the bus CLI (scripts/dashboard-bus.ts). The REST rows below stay as a supported compatibility shell.

Action	Command
Send prompt	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/ID/prompt" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"text":"your message"}'
Abort	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/ID/abort" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{}'
Shutdown session	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/ID/shutdown" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{}'
Rename	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/ID/rename" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"name":"my-name"}'
Hide	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/ID/hide" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{}'
Unhide	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/ID/unhide" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{}'
Spawn new	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/spawn" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"cwd":"/path"}'
Resume/Fork	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/ID/resume" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"mode":"continue"}'

Flow Control

Action	Command
Abort flow	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/ID/flow-control" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"action":"abort"}'
Toggle autonomous	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/ID/flow-control" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"action":"toggle_autonomous"}'

Model / Thinking

Action	Command
Set model	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/ID/model" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"provider":"anthropic","modelId":"claude-sonnet-4-20250514"}'
Set thinking	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/ID/thinking-level" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"level":"high"}'

Git Operations

Action	Command
List branches	curl -s "$BASE/api/git/branches?cwd=CWD" | jq .
Checkout	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/git/checkout" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"cwd":"CWD","branch":"main"}'
Init repo	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/git/init" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"cwd":"CWD"}'
Stash pop	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/git/stash-pop" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"cwd":"CWD"}'

OpenSpec

Action	Command
Attach proposal	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/ID/attach-proposal" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"changeName":"change-name"}'
Detach proposal	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/session/ID/detach-proposal" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{}'
Archive listing	curl -s "$BASE/api/openspec-archive?cwd=CWD" | jq .

Configuration

Action	Command
Read config	curl -s "$BASE/api/config" | jq .
Update config	curl -s -X PUT "$BASE/api/config" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"autoShutdown":false}'

Tunnel

Action	Command
Tunnel status	curl -s "$BASE/api/tunnel-status" | jq .
Connect tunnel	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/tunnel-connect"
Disconnect tunnel	curl -s -X POST "$BASE/api/tunnel-disconnect"

Helper Script

A convenience wrapper is available at scripts/dashboard-api.sh:

# Usage:
./scripts/dashboard-api.sh GET /api/sessions
./scripts/dashboard-api.sh POST /api/session/ID/prompt '{"text":"hello"}'
./scripts/dashboard-api.sh POST /api/session/spawn '{"cwd":"/path/to/project"}'

Slash Commands

The /dashboard:* namespace wraps common operations as one-shot slash commands. Files live in commands/ and are auto-discovered by the bridge's prompt-expander (/dashboard:session-list resolves dashboard-session-list.md).

Two classes:

• LLM-free (executable: bash frontmatter) — body runs as bash, output renders in chat, the LLM is never invoked (chat shows an "ℹ ran locally" footer). Read-only / zero-blast-radius ops. Example:

  /dashboard:session-list          # table of every session, no token cost
  /dashboard:session-info abc123   # all fields for a session by id-prefix
  /dashboard:server-health         # pid + uptime
  

• LLM-bound (no executable frontmatter) — body expands into a user message the LLM interprets. Mutations needing judgment or free-form text. Example:

  /dashboard:session-tell abc123 please run the tests
  /dashboard:session-abort-all     # asks which sessions before aborting
  

LLM-free bodies get PI_DASHBOARD_PORT / PI_DASHBOARD_BASE injected, so they curl the running dashboard without re-deriving the port. Full list: references/slash-commands.md. Convention + frontmatter: commands/README.md.

Detailed References

• Slash Commands — every /dashboard:* command, args, LLM-free vs LLM-bound
• API Reference — Complete endpoint documentation with request/response schemas
• Recipes — Multi-step orchestration workflows