Evaluate Pi as an optional Base AI tooling integration

[codeforester]

Intent

Pi appears relevant to Base as an adjacent AI coding harness, not as a core Base dependency. Capture whether and how Base should support Pi through existing Base boundaries.

Base should treat Pi as an optional integration candidate around AI tooling, repo-local guidance, and context export rather than allowing it to reshape Base's workspace-control-plane model.

Scope

Evaluate:

• Whether Pi belongs in basectl setup --profile ai, basectl check --profile ai, and basectl doctor --profile ai.
• Whether install support should use npm, Pi's remote installer, Homebrew if available, or detection-only documentation.
• How Pi should consume Base's existing AGENTS.md and .ai-context/ exports.
• Whether a future Pi package or extension should wrap Base commands such as:
  • basectl projects list
  • basectl check
  • basectl doctor
  • basectl export-context

Non-Goals

• Do not make Pi a default Base dependency.
• Do not add .pi/ repo files until there is a proven workflow.
• Do not let Pi change Base's workspace-control-plane boundary.
• Do not hide Pi, npm, or other provider semantics behind Base-specific behavior.

Acceptance Criteria

• A short recommendation is documented in the appropriate Base docs or issue follow-up.
• Trust and install implications are compared against Base's remote installer policy.
• Any implementation work is split into separate follow-up issues.
• The recommendation preserves Base's adapter-before-replacement boundary.