# Pi v0.81.0: llama.cpp model management, full provider extensions, Qwen Token Plan providers

> Pi adds native local model management via llama.cpp (HF search, download, load/unload with live progress), lets extensions register complete pi-ai providers with auth and streaming, ships built-in Qwen Token Plan providers for international and China regions, and expands usage accounting to cover tools, compaction, and branch summaries. A large batch of fixes improves session startup latency, replay reliability, terminal cursor handling, and more.

| | |
|---|---|
| **Tool** | Pi |
| **Version** | v0.81.0 |
| **Kind** | release |
| **Published** | 2026-07-21 |
| **Observed** | 2026-08-21 |
| **Significance** | 4/5 |
| **Breaking** | no |
| **Categories** | feature, capability |

## What changed


- **llama.cpp integration**: Connect to a llama.cpp router, search/download Hugging Face models, explicitly load or unload models with live progress
- **Full provider extensions**: Extensions can now register complete pi-ai providers with authentication, model refresh, filtering, and custom streaming
- **Qwen Token Plan providers**: Built-in international and China subscription providers with regional endpoints and API-key auth
- **Expanded usage accounting**: Tool, compaction, and branch-summary usage persisted in sessions and included in footer totals
- **RPC**: Added `get_available_thinking_levels` command and `RpcClient.getAvailableThinkingLevels()` method
- **Exported types**: Message and tool execution lifecycle event types exported from package root
- **Fixes include**: persisted remote model catalogs no longer override newer bundled catalogs after upgrade; API-key credentials apply provider-scoped env values; OpenAI-compatible cross-provider replay keeps tool call IDs unique; Kimi K3 thinking levels exposed (low, high, max); GPT-5.6 Codex models default to 272K context window; compaction queued messages preserve steering/follow-up delivery; read tool errors no longer syntax-highlighted as file contents; model catalog refresh moved out of startup into running interactive/RPC modes; persisted sessions no longer read twice on open; prompt-template defaults for all arguments; obsolete extension docs examples removed


## Sources

- [github_release](https://github.com/earendil-works/pi/releases/tag/v0.81.0) — retrieved 2026-08-21


## Community

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Canonical: https://changelogs.info/pi/v0-81-0
Entity: https://changelogs.info/pi
Event ID: `evt_2026-07-21_pi_v0-81-0`
Licence: event synthesis © changelogs.info, CC BY 4.0. Linked sources belong to their vendors.