First Steps

A short, practical path from “installed” to “I can already feel why this setup is useful.”

The steps below assume you chose Install all. If you installed a smaller subset, just use the parts that match the packages you selected.

1. Launch Pi

pi

LazyPi installs and configures packages, but Pi is still the app you use day to day. Open it in a real project and you should immediately see the extra commands, tools, themes, and UI enhancements LazyPi added.

2. Authenticate

Installing LazyPi does not automatically sign you into a model provider. The easiest path is to authenticate from inside Pi: 

/login

If you already use provider API keys, you can also export one before launching Pi: 

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=...
pi

If Pi opens fine but can't actually answer questions, missing authentication is the first thing to check.

3. Try a few quick wins

These are the fastest ways to feel what changed after a LazyPi install.

Ask Pi to inspect your project

Summarize this repository and suggest the 3 most useful next steps.

This is a good baseline prompt for any fresh project. It helps you confirm Pi is working, understands your codebase, and can start from a useful default posture.

Change the theme

/themes

Pick from the 76 included themes and immediately change the look of Pi.

Use plan mode on a real task

/plan review this repository and propose the 3 highest-leverage improvements

This shows one of the clearest differences between base Pi and a LazyPi setup: Pi investigates first, blocks edits, and gives you a reviewable plan before doing any implementation.

Check the plan's task list

/todos

The todo widget becomes especially useful on multi-step tasks. You'll see what Pi thinks is done, what is in progress, and what comes next.

Try web research

Research the latest docs for [framework/tool] and summarize any important changes.

You don't need a slash command for this. Just ask normally and Pi can use the installed web access tooling to search, fetch docs, and summarize results.

Inspect the built-in sub-agents

/agents

This opens the sub-agent manager so you can see the built-in specialists LazyPi installed and how they are configured.

4. Know what changed

LazyPi keeps Pi's minimal core intact and installs a curated set of community packages on top. After installation, Pi can still do everything it could before — you just now also have themes, planning mode, MCP support, memory, sub-agents, usage tracking, and workflow helpers available.

In other words: LazyPi is a curated starting point, not a fork and not a separate product.

If you want to confirm what LazyPi is currently managing on your machine, run: 

npx @robzolkos/lazypi status

5. Remove anything you don't want

npx @robzolkos/lazypi remove

LazyPi is intentionally reversible. If part of the catalog doesn't fit your workflow, remove it from the interactive picker or remove a package directly by ID. Start opinionated, then trim down to the setup you actually want.

6. Update later

npx @robzolkos/lazypi update

Reconcile your installed packages with the current LazyPi catalog and pull in upstream updates.

7. Diagnose issues

npx @robzolkos/lazypi doctor

If Pi or a package behaves unexpectedly, start here. It checks your environment and points out the most common setup problems.