pi-web as Your Personal Assistant

pi-web isn't just for coding — you can turn it into a personal AI assistant that lives on your computer, like having your own OpenClaw or Hermes.

How it works

You create a dedicated folder on your machine — that's where your assistant lives. Inside, you drop in an APPEND_SYSTEM.md file that defines who your assistant is, what it knows, and how it behaves. pi-web gives you a beautiful chat interface to talk to it from any device.

Step by step

1. Create your assistant folder

Pick a folder on your computer. Something like:

~/my-assistant/

2. Define your assistant

Create an APPEND_SYSTEM.md file inside that folder. This is where you tell pi who your assistant is:

# My Personal Assistant

You are Jarvis, my personal AI assistant. You help me with:

- Daily planning and reminders
- Research and summarization
- Drafting emails and messages
- Brainstorming ideas
- Keeping track of things I mention

## About me

- I'm a software engineer who works remotely
- I have a cat named Pixel
- I prefer short, direct answers
- My timezone is PST

## Rules

- Be concise — I value brevity
- If you don't know something, say so
- Proactively remind me of things I asked you to track

pi automatically appends this to every conversation's system prompt, so your assistant always knows who you are and how to help.

3. Start a session in that folder

In pi-web, create a new session pointed at ~/my-assistant/ (or whatever you named it). That's it — you're talking to your personal assistant.

4. Use it from anywhere

Install pi-web as a PWA on your phone, tablet, or laptop. Your assistant is always there — ask it anything, anytime.

Ideas for your assistant

Role	What to put in APPEND_SYSTEM.md
🧠 Life coach	Your goals, habits you're working on, journaling prompts
🏠 Home manager	Grocery list format, family members' preferences, meal planning
💼 Work buddy	Your role, current projects, meeting note format, company context
📚 Study partner	What you're learning, preferred explanation style, quiz me mode
✍️ Writing assistant	Your writing style, tone preferences, common formats you use

Add more context

You can put anything in your assistant folder that helps pi be more useful:

• notes/ — reference files your assistant can read
• context.md — background information about your life or work
• projects.md — current projects and their status

pi can read files in the folder, so the more context you give it, the better it gets.

Ask pi-web to do things

After pi install npm:@ygncode/pi-web@beta, sessions can talk to pi-web itself. Try:

• “Add a schedule at 2am Singapore time to summarize my inbox”
• “List my pi-web schedules”
• “Pause the inbox schedule”
• “Write this down in the notes”
• “Switch pi-web to dark mode / turn auto-title off”

The bundled /skill:pi-web-schedule skill turns that into a real pi-web schedule (same ones you edit at /schedules). Each firing starts a new session, so the instructions have to stand alone — “summarize unread mail in ~/inbox” works; “continue what we were doing” does not.

Schedules only run while pi-web is running.

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💡 Tip: Start simple. Just a few lines about who you are and how you want the assistant to behave. Iterate over time as you learn what works.