pi-auto: Token Usage and Provider Switching

Prerequisite

The pi-auto must be configured in pi's MCP config (e.g. ~/.pi/agent/mcp.json) so the following tools are available:

• pi_get_usage — Current usage (tokens/cost) per backend (Claude Code, Codex, CursorAI) for the given period (e.g. daily). Uses @ccusage/pi CLI.
• pi_suggest_provider — Recommends provider and model from current strategy and priority: load-balancing picks lowest-usage backend; HA uses the priority order.
• pi_set_provider — Writes pi's defaultProvider and defaultModel (global or project scope). Merges into existing settings.
• pi_get_provider — Reads pi settings (global or project) and returns current defaultProvider and defaultModel.
• pi_get_strategy — Returns current strategy: load-balancing or high-availability (from server config).
• pi_set_strategy — Sets strategy to load-balancing or high-availability. Persisted to server config.
• pi_get_priority — Returns current HA priority: ordered list of backend ids (e.g. codex, claude-code, cursorai). Used when strategy is high-availability.
• pi_set_priority — Sets HA priority to an ordered array of backend ids. Valid ids: claude-code, codex, cursorai. Persisted to server config.

Observe current state

1. Usage — Call mcp_pi-auto_pi_get_usage. Optional input: period (default daily). Returns tokens and cost per backend.
2. Current provider — Call mcp_pi-auto_pi_get_provider. Optional: scope (global/project), projectPath. Returns pi's current defaultProvider and defaultModel.
3. Strategy — Call mcp_pi-auto_pi_get_strategy. Returns load-balancing or high-availability.
4. Priority (HA only) — Call mcp_pi-auto_pi_get_priority to see the ordered list of backends used when strategy is high-availability.

Decide and switch

1. Call mcp_pi-auto_pi_suggest_provider (optional input: period). It returns recommended provider and model for the current strategy.
2. If the user wants to apply that recommendation (e.g. "switch" or "balance"): call mcp_pi-auto_pi_set_provider with the suggested provider and model. Optional: scope (global/project), projectPath.
3. If the user wants to change strategy or priority: call mcp_pi-auto_pi_set_strategy with load-balancing or high-availability, and/or mcp_pi-auto_pi_set_priority with an array of backend ids (e.g. ["codex", "claude-code", "cursorai"]). Then optionally call pi_suggest_provider and pi_set_provider again.

When the user asks to switch provider but does not specify a model, use these default models per provider:

Strategies

• Load-balancing — Picks the backend with the lowest current usage (tokens). Use to equalize cost across Claude Code, Codex, and CursorAI.
• High-availability — Uses the first backend in the priority list. Use when you prefer a fixed order (e.g. Codex first, then Claude, then CursorAI).

Strategy and priority are stored in ~/.pi/agent/pi-auto.json. Valid backend ids: claude-code, codex, cursorai.