pi-mcp-adapter
Use MCP servers with Pi without burning your context window.
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 marketplace add nicobailon/visual-explainer> /plugin install visual-explainer@visual-explainer-marketplace
Repo: nicobailon/visual-explainer
What's inside
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
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. No build step, no dependencies beyond a browser.
| 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 |
| 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 | Rules-based guidance | Add the supplied .mdc rule; Cursor is not treated as native Agent Skills support |
| OpenClaw | Lightweight AGENTS/rules guidance | Use the supplied AGENTS guidance with the canonical skill directory |
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"]
}
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/. /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
Codex CLI:
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer.git /tmp/visual-explainer
mkdir -p ~/.codex/skills ~/.codex/prompts
cp -R /tmp/visual-explainer/plugins/visual-explainer ~/.codex/skills/visual-explainer
# Optional, only if your Codex build supports prompt templates:
cp /tmp/visual-explainer/plugins/visual-explainer/commands/*.md ~/.codex/prompts/
rm -rf /tmp/visual-explainer
Invoke with $visual-explainer or ask Codex to use the visual-explainer skill. If prompts are installed and supported, use /prompts:diff-review, /prompts:plan-review, etc.
OpenCode/opencode:
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer.git /tmp/visual-explainer
mkdir -p ~/.config/opencode/skill ~/.config/opencode/command
cp -R /tmp/visual-explainer/plugins/visual-explainer ~/.config/opencode/skill/visual-explainer
# Optional command templates:
cp /tmp/visual-explainer/plugins/visual-explainer/commands/*.md ~/.config/opencode/command/
rm -rf /tmp/visual-explainer
Activate it by asking OpenCode to use the visual-explainer skill. Command-template behavior depends on the installed OpenCode/opencode build.
Cursor:
Add configs/cursor/visual-explainer.mdc to your Cursor rules, or copy its contents into the project rules UI. This is rules-based guidance that points Cursor at the canonical skill; it does not claim native Agent Skills support.
OpenClaw:
Use configs/openclaw/AGENTS.md as lightweight project guidance and copy or reference plugins/visual-explainer/ as the canonical skill source. No native OpenClaw plugin adapter is included.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/generate-web-diagram | Generate an HTML diagram for any topic |
/generate-visual-plan | Generate a visual implementation plan for a feature or extension |
/generate-slides | Generate a magazine-quality slide deck |
/diff-review | Visual diff review with architecture comparison and code review |
/plan-review | Compare a plan against the codebase with risk assessment |
/project-recap | Mental model snapshot for context-switching back to a project |
/fact-check | Verify accuracy of a document against actual code |
The agent also kicks in automatically when it's about to dump a complex table in the terminal (4+ rows or 3+ columns) โ it renders HTML instead.
Any command that produces a scrollable page supports --slides to generate a slide deck instead:
/diff-review --slides
/project-recap --slides 2w
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/342d3558-5fcf-4fb2-bc03-f0dd5b9e35dc
.claude-plugin/
โโโ plugin.json โ marketplace identity
โโโ marketplace.json โ plugin catalog
plugins/
โโโ visual-explainer/
โโโ .claude-plugin/
โ โโโ plugin.json โ plugin manifest
โโโ SKILL.md โ workflow + design principles
โโโ extension.ts โ Pi native tool
โโโ commands/ โ slash commands
โโโ references/ โ agent reads before generating
โ โโโ css-patterns.md (layouts, animations, theming)
โ โโโ libraries.md (Mermaid, Chart.js, fonts)
โ โโโ responsive-nav.md (sticky TOC for multi-section pages)
โ โโโ slide-patterns.md (slide engine, transitions, presets)
โโโ templates/ โ reference templates with different palettes
โโโ architecture.html
โโโ mermaid-flowchart.html
โโโ data-table.html
โโโ slide-deck.html
Output: ~/.agent/diagrams/filename.html โ opens in browser. In Pi package installs, agents can offer visual_explainer with action: "prepare" after generating or reviewing a substantial plan, architecture, diff, or implementation when a visual explanation would help, then call it with action: "render" as the final write/open step.
The skill routes to the right approach automatically: Mermaid for flowcharts and diagrams, CSS Grid for architecture overviews, HTML tables for data, Chart.js for dashboards.
~/.agent/diagrams/ unless the user asks for a different path.Borrows ideas from Anthropic's frontend-design skill and interface-design.
MIT
.claude-plugin/
marketplace.json
plugin.json
.gitignore
banner.png
CHANGELOG.md
configs/
codex/
AGENTS.md
cursor/
visual-explainer.mdc
openclaw/
AGENTS.md
opencode/
AGENTS.md
pi/
AGENTS.md
install-pi.sh
LICENSE
package.json
plugins/
visual-explainer/
.claude-plugin/
plugin.json
commands/
diff-review.md
fact-check.md
generate-slides.md
generate-visual-plan.md
generate-web-diagram.md
plan-review.md
project-recap.md
extension.ts
references/
css-patterns.md
libraries.md
responsive-nav.md
slide-patterns.md
SKILL.md
templates/
architecture.html
data-table.html
mermaid-flowchart.html
slide-deck.html
README.mdUse MCP servers with Pi without burning your context window.
FAQ
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.