# Pi v0.81.1: verifiable release source archives, resilient compaction retries

> Pi releases now ship deterministic checksummed source archives with documented standalone binary rebuild instructions. Compaction and branch summarisation retry transient provider failures using the configured retry policy, with lifecycle events exposed to all consumers. Several fixes address startup latency, extension API compatibility, and Kimi K3 model thinking format.

| | |
|---|---|
| **Tool** | Pi |
| **Version** | v0.81.1 |
| **Kind** | release |
| **Published** | 2026-07-21 |
| **Observed** | 2026-08-21 |
| **Significance** | 3/5 |
| **Breaking** | no |
| **Categories** | feature, fix |

## What changed


- **Verifiable source archives**: GitHub releases include deterministic checksummed source archives with documented standalone binary rebuild instructions
- **Resilient compaction**: Transient provider failures during compaction and branch summarisation now follow the configured retry policy, with retry lifecycle events exposed to interactive, JSON, RPC, and SDK consumers
- **Fixes**: interactive startup no longer waits for background model catalog refresh while computing footer provider count; pre-0.81 extension API stream fallback restored; Kimi K3 models use OpenAI thinking format with reasoning effort support


## Sources

- [github_release](https://github.com/earendil-works/pi/releases/tag/v0.81.1) — retrieved 2026-08-21


## Community

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Canonical: https://changelogs.info/pi/v0-81-1
Entity: https://changelogs.info/pi
Event ID: `evt_2026-07-21_pi_v0-81-1`
Licence: event synthesis © changelogs.info, CC BY 4.0. Linked sources belong to their vendors.