Installing and Launching Pi (pi.dev)#

Follow these steps to set up the Pi coding agent on your Mac Studio and link it straight to your custom local short-context models.

1 Environment Preparation#

Because Pi is a JavaScript terminal application, it runs on Node.js. If you do not have Node installed yet, use Homebrew to get it ready.

1.1 Install Node.js via Homebrew#

brew install node

2 Installation#

Install the official global Pi command-line tool. As noted in the documentation, we include the security flag to bypass unnecessary third-party package scripts.

Sections 1–3 describe GenDash and pushgen. Section 4 describes DashApps and pushdash. For DashApps page content, edit /Users/marc/Obsidian/DashApps/Notes (or Images) as the source of truth. pushdash syncs that local copy over the server’s staging inputs; its default run also publishes the website source. For local-only edits, do not run pushdash.

Hugo file GenDash: Obsidian to Hugo Automated Publishing Guide

This guide outlines the infrastructure and configuration required to sync an Obsidian vault across multiple devices and automate the publishing process to a Hugo website via Cloudflare Pages.

Local AI Coding Agent Setup#

This guide documents the steps taken to install and configure Claude Code to run 100% locally on the Mac Studio M4 (64GB) using Ollama, ensuring complete privacy for local folders and Obsidian vaults.

1. Prerequisites (Mac Studio)#

• Hardware: Mac Studio M4 (64GB Unified Memory).
• Environment: Node.js v25.8.0 installed.
• Local Brain: Ollama installed and running.

2. Install Claude Code (Native)#

Instead of using npm, we used the official native installer from Anthropic for better performance and signed binary security.

Hermes#

1 Projects#

Hermes Projects are named workspaces that can include folders or repositories. Project data is per profile. In this desktop version, use the built-in terminal for project and folder commands (Ctrl + ` opens it). Quote paths containing spaces.

# Create a project
hermes project create "Project Name" --primary "/absolute/path/to/folder" --use

# Use a project
hermes project use dockdash

# Add a folder
hermes project add-folder PROJECT "/absolute/path/to/folder"

# Add a PRIMARY folder
hermes project add-folder PROJECT "/absolute/path/to/folder" --primary

# Remove a folder
hermes project remove-folder PROJECT "/absolute/path/to/folder"

# List projects
hermes project list

# Show a project's configured folders
hermes project show PROJECT

# Use a project in CLI
hermes project use dockdash

2 Project Management#

Create projects and add folders

macOS System Administration & Optimization#

Workstation Recovery & Rebuild Standard: If you need to rebuild your Mac Studio or synchronize its software and aliases with another Mac, refer to the master checklist at Mac OS - Recovery.

1 Modify Known Hosts for SSH#

# Add description
nano ~/.ssh/known_hosts

# To remove a specific host
ssh-keygen -R 10.1.1.14

# Clear the full file
cat /dev/null > ~/.ssh/known_hosts

2 Disk Management & Diagnostics#

2.1 Identify and Verify Disks#

# List all physical and virtual disks
diskutil list

# Verify a specific disk (replace X with disk number)
diskutil verifyDisk /dev/diskX

2.2 SMART Monitoring (via Homebrew)#

# Install smartmontools
brew install smartmontools

# Check health of the primary NVMe drive
smartctl -a /dev/disk0

3 Homebrew Package Manager#

Official site: brew.sh

Homelab: Obsidian to Hugo Automated Publishing Guide#

This guide outlines the infrastructure and configuration required to sync an Obsidian vault across multiple devices and automate the publishing process to a Hugo website via Cloudflare Pages.

1. Multi-Device Sync (The Git & Web Layer)#

To sync your notes between computers and view them on mobile devices without the overhead of real-time database sync engines:

1.1. Between Computers (Mac Studio & MacBook Pro/Air)#

We use the Obsidian Git plugin to synchronize vaults directly via GitHub.

Installing Hermes Agent on Mac Studio#

1. Install Hermes Agent#

Official documentation:

https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com

GitHub repository:

https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent

1.1 Run the installer#

curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash

The installer handles the Hermes repository, Python environment, and required dependencies.

Expected installation paths:

~/.hermes/
~/.hermes/config.yaml
~/.hermes/.env
~/.hermes/hermes-agent/
~/.local/bin/hermes

1.2 Verify installation#

hermes --version

The MacBook Air installation used Hermes Agent v0.21.1.

The Mac Studio should use the current available release.

2. Hermes Setup Wizard#

Run:

hermes setup

Recommended selections are based on the previous successful installation.