VerifiedPlugin
pi-mcp-adapter
Use MCP servers with Pi without burning your context window.
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@nicobailonDocumentation
Plugin
visual-explainer-marketplace
An agent skill that turns complex terminal output into styled HTML pages you actually want to read. Ask your agent to explain a system architecture, review a diff, or compare requirements against a plan.
Plugin Signal76/100Solid
maintained88
capable43
documented100
adopted85
Install on Claude Code
> /plugin marketplace add nicobailon/visual-explainer> /plugin install visual-explainer@visual-explainer-marketplace
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MIT
License
23d ago
Last commit
7mo ago
Created
Repo: nicobailon/visual-explainer
What's inside
README
visual-explainer
An agent skill that turns complex terminal output into styled HTML pages you actually want to read.
Ask your agent to explain a system architecture, review a diff, or compare requirements against a plan. Instead of ASCII art and box-drawing tables, it generates a self-contained HTML page and opens it in your browser.
> draw a diagram of our authentication flow
> /diff-review
> /plan-review ~/docs/refactor-plan.md
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/55ebc81b-8732-40f6-a4b1-7c3781aa96ec
Why
Every coding agent defaults to ASCII art when you ask for a diagram. Box-drawing characters, monospace alignment hacks, text arrows. It works for trivial cases, but anything beyond a 3-box flowchart turns into an unreadable mess.
Tables are worse. Ask the agent to compare 15 requirements against a plan and you get a wall of pipes and dashes that wraps and breaks in the terminal. The data is there but it's painful to read.
This skill fixes that. Real typography, dark/light themes, interactive Mermaid diagrams with zoom and pan. Normal skill use has no build step and no dependency beyond a browser; optional MCP and PPTX utilities use small Node dependencies.
Install
| Harness | Support | Install path / behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | Marketplace plugin | Preserved marketplace shape with source at plugins/visual-explainer/ |
| Pi | Package metadata plus installer | package.json advertises the skill, prompts, and native visual_explainer tool with prepare and render actions; install-pi.sh installs copied skill/prompt resources for legacy manual installs |
| MCP hosts | Local stdio MCP server | visual-explainer-mcp exposes render tools, prompt templates, and read-only skill resources without starting an HTTP server |
| PPTX export | Best-effort static utility | visual-explainer-pptx converts simple HTML slide decks to .pptx; HTML remains the source of truth |
| Antigravity CLI | Native Agent Skills path | Copy plugins/visual-explainer/ to ~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/skills/visual-explainer for global use or .agents/skills/visual-explainer for one workspace |
| Codex CLI | Native skill path plus optional prompts | Copy to ~/.codex/skills/visual-explainer; optional prompts go in ~/.codex/prompts/ if your Codex build supports them |
| OpenCode/opencode | Observed skill/command paths | Copy to ~/.config/opencode/skill/visual-explainer; optional commands go in ~/.config/opencode/command/ |
| Cursor | Native Agent Skills path | Copy plugins/visual-explainer/ to ~/.cursor/skills/visual-explainer globally or .cursor/skills/visual-explainer per workspace; optional legacy rule in configs/cursor/ |
| OpenClaw | Lightweight AGENTS/rules guidance | Use the supplied AGENTS guidance with the canonical skill directory |
| VS Code Copilot / Copilot CLI | Custom instructions or rules guidance | Add the supplied AGENTS guidance to your supported workspace instruction or rules setup |
Claude Code (marketplace):
/plugin marketplace add nicobailon/visual-explainer
/plugin install visual-explainer@visual-explainer-marketplace
Note: Claude Code plugins namespace commands as /visual-explainer:command-name.
Pi:
pi install git:github.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer
Or from a local checkout:
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer.git
pi install ./visual-explainer
The package manifest advertises the canonical skill, command templates, and Pi tool:
"pi": {
"extensions": ["./plugins/visual-explainer/extension.ts"],
"skills": ["./plugins/visual-explainer"],
"prompts": ["./plugins/visual-explainer/commands"],
"image": "./banner.png"
}
The Pi extension registers one native visual_explainer tool. Use action: "prepare" to plan a visual explanation after generating or reviewing a substantial plan, architecture, diff, or implementation, and action: "render" to write complete HTML pages to ~/.agent/diagrams/. The opt-in action: "render_quick" validates a compact JSON spec and renders it with the bundled local renderer. Render actions can open with viewer: "browser" by default, viewer: "glimpse" when glimpseui is installed, or viewer: "auto" to try Glimpse and fall back to the browser. /generate-web-diagram remains the bundled prompt template command.
If you previously used the old curl/manual installer, remove those copied files before using pi install; otherwise Pi will report skill and prompt conflicts because the user-level copies shadow the package resources:
rm -rf ~/.pi/agent/skills/visual-explainer
rm -f ~/.pi/agent/prompts/{diff-review,fact-check,generate-slides,generate-visual-plan,generate-web-diagram,plan-review,project-recap}.md
rm -f ~/.pi/agent/prompts/s[h]are*.md
The legacy installer still works if you prefer copied skill and prompt files over package management, but it does not install the native Pi tool:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer/main/install-pi.sh | bash
MCP:
Use visual-explainer-mcp from a package install, or run npm install --no-package-lock before pointing your host at plugins/visual-explainer/mcp/server.mjs from a checkout. Some hosts need an absolute path to the binary. The MCP server is local stdio only. It does not call an LLM, start an HTTP listener, handle credentials, or write outside its configured output directory (default ~/.agent/diagrams/). Set VISUAL_EXPLAINER_OUTPUT_DIR to move that jail to another directory on the same machine; unset keeps the default path byte-identical. A configured jail must resolve to itself, so symlinked jail paths are rejected. Render targets reject existing symlinks and are written through a temporary file rename. Point the jail at a directory only your user can write; avoid world-writable or group-writable shared folders so another local user cannot replace render targets between validation and write.
Example package configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"visual-explainer": {
"command": "visual-explainer-mcp"
}
}
}
Example checkout configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"visual-explainer": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["/absolute/path/to/visual-explainer/plugins/visual-explainer/mcp/server.mjs"]
}
}
}
The server exposes three tools: visual_explainer_prepare, visual_explainer_render_html, and visual_explainer_render_quick. Render tools default to open: false; set open: true only when you want the server to request a browser or Glimpse window. It also exposes the bundled command templates as MCP prompts and the canonical SKILL.md, command markdown, quick README, and quick schema as read-only resources.
Antigravity CLI:
Antigravity CLI is the supported Google successor path for consumer Gemini CLI workflows. It loads Agent Skills from .agents/skills/ at the workspace level or ~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/skills/ globally.
Global install:
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer.git /tmp/visual-explainer
mkdir -p ~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/skills
cp -R /tmp/visual-explainer/plugins/visual-explainer ~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/skills/visual-explainer
rm -rf /tmp/visual-explainer
PowerShell (global):
$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
$tmp = Join-Path $env:TEMP ("visual-explainer-" + [guid]::NewGuid().ToString())
$dest = Join-Path $env:USERPROFILE ".gemini\antigravity-cli\skills\visual-explainer"
$parent = Split-Path -Parent $dest
$run = $null
$staging = $null
$backup = $null
$moved = $false
$attempted = $false
$installed = $false
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $tmp | Out-Null
try {
$repo = Join-Path $tmp 'repo'
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer.git $repo
if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) { throw "git clone failed with exit code $LASTEXITCODE" }
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $parent | Out-Null
$run = Join-Path $parent (".visual-explainer-install-" + [guid]::NewGuid().ToString())
$staging = Join-Path $run 'staging'
$backup = Join-Path $run 'backup'
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $run | Out-Null
Copy-Item -LiteralPath (Join-Path $repo 'plugins\visual-explainer') -Destination $staging -Recurse -Force
if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath (Join-Path $staging 'SKILL.md') -PathType Leaf)) { throw 'staged skill is incomplete' }
if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $dest) { Move-Item -LiteralPath $dest -Destination $backup; $moved = $true }
$attempted = $true
Move-Item -LiteralPath $staging -Destination $dest
$installed = $true
} finally {
if (-not $installed -and $attempted) {
if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $dest) { Move-Item -LiteralPath $dest -Destination (Join-Path $run 'failed') -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
if ($moved -and (Test-Path -LiteralPath $backup) -and -not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $dest)) { Move-Item -LiteralPath $backup -Destination $dest -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
}
if ($run -and ((-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $backup)) -or $installed)) { Remove-Item -LiteralPath $run -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
Remove-Item -LiteralPath $tmp -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}
Workspace install:
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer.git /tmp/visual-explainer
mkdir -p .agents/skills
cp -R /tmp/visual-explainer/plugins/visual-explainer .agents/skills/visual-explainer
rm -rf /tmp/visual-explainer
PowerShell (workspace):
$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
$tmp = Join-Path $env:TEMP ("visual-explainer-" + [guid]::NewGuid().ToString())
$dest = ".agents\skills\visual-explainer"
$parent = Split-Path -Parent $dest
$run = $null
$staging = $null
$backup = $null
$moved = $false
$attempted = $false
$installed = $false
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $tmp | Out-Null
try {
$repo = Join-Path $tmp 'repo'
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer.git $repo
if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) { throw "git clone failed with exit code $LASTEXITCODE" }
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $parent | Out-Null
$run = Join-Path $parent (".visual-explainer-install-" + [guid]::NewGuid().ToString())
$staging = Join-Path $run 'staging'
$backup = Join-Path $run 'backup'
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $run | Out-Null
Copy-Item -LiteralPath (Join-Path $repo 'plugins\visual-explainer') -Destination $staging -Recurse -Force
if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath (Join-Path $staging 'SKILL.md') -PathType Leaf)) { throw 'staged skill is incomplete' }
if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $dest) { Move-Item -LiteralPath $dest -Destination $backup; $moved = $true }
$attempted = $true
Move-Item -LiteralPath $staging -Destination $dest
$installed = $true
} finally {
if (-not $installed -and $attempted) {
if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $dest) { Move-Item -LiteralPath $dest -Destination (Join-Path $run 'failed') -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
if ($moved -and (Test-Path -LiteralPath $backup) -and -not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $dest)) { Move-Item -LiteralPath $backup -Destination $dest -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
}
if ($run -and ((-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $backup)) -or $installed)) { Remove-Item -LiteralPath $run -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
Remove-Item -LiteralPath $tmp -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}
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View @nicobailon’s profile@nicobailonFAQ
visual-explainer-marketplace is a Claude Code plugin with hand-picked skills for documentation work, indexed on Flowy. Install it with the command on its page. Its skills do not fire on their own yet. Request auto-invocation to have Flowy route them as you prompt. Free and open source.
- What is visual-explainer-marketplace?
- An agent skill that turns complex terminal output into styled HTML pages you actually want to read. Ask your agent to explain a system architecture, review a diff, or compare requirements against a plan.
- How do I install visual-explainer-marketplace?
- Run these in Claude Code: /plugin marketplace add nicobailon/visual-explainer then /plugin install visual-explainer@visual-explainer-marketplace. Then prompt normally.
- Does visual-explainer-marketplace auto-invoke its skills?
- Not yet. It is indexed on Flowy as a plain plugin. Request auto-invocation on its page and Flowy will route its skills for you as you prompt.
- Is visual-explainer-marketplace free?
- Yes. Flowy is free and open source, with nothing gated. You can read every skill in full before you install.
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