# Pi Agent + Tabstack

> Give the Pi coding agent reliable web access. Schema-enforced extraction, research, generation, and browser automation as native Pi tools.

Category: Agent Frameworks
Language: TypeScript
Package: `@tabstack/pi-agent`
Canonical URL: https://tabstack.ai/integrations/pi-agent

## Why Pi + Tabstack

Wiring web access into a coding agent usually means hand-rolled fetches, HTML parsing, and prompt gymnastics to coax structured data out of messy text. [`@tabstack/pi-agent`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@tabstack/pi-agent) replaces that with a hosted API registered as native Pi tools through a Pi extension: schema-enforced output, server-side rendering of JS-heavy pages, and one key for extraction, research, generation, and automation.

## Quickstart

Install the adapter and set your key:

```bash
npm install @tabstack/pi-agent @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent typebox zod

export TABSTACK_API_KEY="your-key-here"
```

`@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent` (v0.82 or later), `typebox` (v1), and `zod` (v4) are peer dependencies.

A Pi extension is a `.ts` file with a default export that Pi calls with its extension API. Re-export this package's default extension and Pi registers all five tools:

```ts
// tabstack.ts
export { default } from "@tabstack/pi-agent";
```

Then load it with the `pi` CLI:

```bash
pi -e ./tabstack.ts
```

Pi also auto-discovers extensions dropped into `~/.pi/agent/extensions/*.ts` (global, every project) or `.pi/extensions/*.ts` (project-local, checked into the repo), with no `-e` flag needed. The tools resolve `TABSTACK_API_KEY` lazily on first call, so loading the extension never requires a key.

## Registering a subset

You often do not want every tool. A coding agent that should read and research but never drive a browser can register just those two, in the order given:

```ts
// tabstack.ts
import { createTabstackPiExtension } from "@tabstack/pi-agent";

// Read-and-research only, no browser automation.
export default createTabstackPiExtension({
  tools: ["extract_page_content", "research_question"],
});
```

For full control, register individual tools in a hand-written extension. Every tool is exported as a Pi `ToolDefinition`, and `createTabstackPiTools(config)` returns them keyed by name for a custom client:

```ts
import { extractPageContentTool, researchQuestionTool } from "@tabstack/pi-agent";

export default function (pi) {
  pi.registerTool(extractPageContentTool);
  pi.registerTool(researchQuestionTool);
  // ...and your own tools alongside them.
}
```

## The tools

| Tool name | Label | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `extract_structured_data` | Extract Structured Data | Pull specific fields from a URL into a JSON shape you define. |
| `extract_page_content` | Extract Page Content | Fetch a page as clean markdown. |
| `research_question` | Research Question | Synthesized answer with cited sources across multiple pages. |
| `generate_structured_data` | Generate Structured Data | Fetch a page, then AI-transform it into derived or reshaped JSON. |
| `automate_browser_task` | Automate Browser Task | Run a multi-step, natural-language browser task. |

The names stay in lockstep with the `@tabstack/langchain`, `@tabstack/openai-agents`, `@tabstack/eve`, and Python `langchain-tabstack` packages.

## Good to know

- **Cancellation works.** Pi's abort signal is threaded into the Tabstack request, so cancelling a tool call, for example a long `research_question` or `automate_browser_task`, aborts the request and stops billing rather than just the agent loop.
- **`automate_browser_task` runs non-interactively.** It does not pause for human-in-the-loop form input, so it never blocks. It returns the final answer plus the data it extracted and the pages it visited.
- Failed calls throw `TabstackToolError`, a normalized message plus an HTTP `status` for API errors. Pi surfaces the failure to the model as a tool result rather than aborting the session.
- **Requires Zod 4.** The adapter uses Zod 4's native `z.toJSONSchema` to derive each tool's Typebox parameters.

## Common use cases

- Give a coding agent cited research without leaving the terminal.
- Read a page as clean markdown mid-task, with no browser to install.
- Register a read-only subset so the agent can research but never act.
- Check the extension into `.pi/extensions/` so the whole team gets the tools.

## Next steps

- [Adapter on GitHub](https://github.com/Mozilla-Ocho/tabstack-integrations-typescript)
- [@tabstack/pi-agent on npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@tabstack/pi-agent)
- [Pi extensions](https://pi.dev/docs/latest/extensions)
- [Get an API key](https://console.tabstack.ai/signup)

---

- All integrations: https://tabstack.ai/integrations
- Agent quickstart, every endpoint in one file: https://tabstack.ai/agents.md
- Full documentation: https://docs.tabstack.ai/