pi-custom-model

Pi custom / variant model

When to Use

Pi's saved default only loads if the exact provider/id exists in its model registry. Pi ships a static bundled list per provider — so OpenRouter routing-shortcut variants (:nitro = sort by throughput, :floor = cheapest, :exacto = quality tool-use) and any brand-new slug are NOT in it. When the default doesn't resolve, Pi silently falls through to its built-in per-provider default (for openrouter that's moonshotai/kimi-k2.6) — looking like Pi "reset" your model. Fix = register the slug as a custom model so find(provider, id) matches.

Files (global)

• ~/.pi/agent/settings.json — defaultProvider, defaultModel, defaultThinkingLevel
• ~/.pi/agent/models.json — custom models, keyed by provider
• ~/.pi/agent/auth.json — provider credentials (check the provider key exists)

Steps

1. Confirm the slug is real before adding it (e.g. check the OpenRouter model/variant exists). A typo'd id also silently falls back.
2. Confirm auth. The provider must have a key in auth.json (or an env var like OPENROUTER_API_KEY). No auth → the model is registered but unavailable → still falls back.
3. Add the model to models.json under providers.<provider>.models. For a built-in provider (openrouter, anthropic, etc.) you only supply metadata — api, baseUrl, and auth are inherited from the bundled defa