pi-imgcat

Show images inline in the pi terminal.

Install

pi install git:github.com/GelArria/pi-imgcat
# optional, for real Sixel in Windows Terminal:
Install-Module Sixel -Scope CurrentUser -Force

Or from npm:

pi install npm:pi-imgcat

Then /reload in pi.

Usage

/img <IMAGE_PATH>          # inline preview
/imgopen <IMAGE_PATH>      # inline preview + full resolution in the OS viewer

The show_image tool is also available to the LLM (with an open: true flag for full resolution). Accepts local paths, http(s):// URLs, and data: URIs. The image is also sent to the model, so you can ask about it.

Rendering

Terminal	How
iTerm2, Kitty, WezTerm, Ghostty	native inline image (~60 cells wide)
Windows Terminal (direct)	Sixel (needs the Sixel PowerShell module)
Multiplexers (Herdr, tmux) or anything else	ANSI half-blocks — plain text, works everywhere

Over SSH from iTerm2, run $env:PI_IMAGE_PROTOCOL='iterm2' before pi (iTerm doesn't forward its session id).

No npm dependencies. Sixel helpers adapted from pi-image-tools (MIT). License: MIT.