Investigate and respond to GitHub issue about Excel add-in context handling
Takeaway: Next time I'd ask the agent up front to separate 'what's already documented' from 'what's an actual gap' so I get that split without a second pass.
Stack · 14 sessions
excel add-in sessions with coding agents
14 sessions on excel add-in with a coding agent: the agent failed at least once in 5, and 7 finished without a human stepping in.
Allow extension slash commands to run while Pi is streaming
Takeaway: Next time I'd ask upfront for the busyAllowed default and mention this is pre-release so it can just default to true, since that saved a back-and-forth.
Fix responsive status footer layout in Excel add-in sidebar
Takeaway: Next time I'd start by describing the target layout (two lanes, mode badge always right) up front instead of iterating screenshot by screenshot — that would have saved a round trip.
Draft HN reply explaining Office.js add-in vs VM/Wine
Takeaway: I'd start by pointing the agent straight at the README and install docs since that's where the real architecture explanation lives, rather than letting it grep around first.
Fix Excel add-in footer buttons becoming unclickable when composer has text
Takeaway: I'd keep the prompt as-is since it worked well — the isolated worktree plus agent-browser reproduction step is what actually caught the real bug (the textarea's field-sizing overlapping the footer hitbox) rather than guessing.
Review and merge Excel add-in PR #357, fix failing tests
Takeaway: I'd start the prompt by pointing straight at the failing CI job so the agent doesn't have to dig through logs first.
Investigate Excel taskpane auto-resize and manifest format tradeoffs
Takeaway: I'd start by asking directly whether Office even supports dynamic taskpane resizing before digging into the code, since that's a platform limitation no amount of code archaeology would fix.
Rewrite Pi for Excel landing page and audit add-in UI/UX
Takeaway: Next time I'd front-load the positioning (who this is for, what makes it different from a generic AI chatbot) before asking the agent to build anything, since the whole first landing page draft got mostly replaced once I explained the 'coding agent, but native to Excel' angle.
Improve Excel sidebar UI/UX discoverability and file upload
Takeaway: Next time I'd open by asking for a concrete UX audit with a prioritized list before jumping into changes, since the iterative 'please do' loop worked but cost a lot of exploration turns per round.
Expose built-in assistant docs in Files workspace (Excel add-in)
Takeaway: Next time I'd open with the constraint I ended up stating later: reuse the existing Files UI/tool, no separate assistant-only flow — that would've saved a full exploration-and-pitch round trip.
Rename 'Recovery Checkpoints' to 'Backups' across Excel add-in
Takeaway: Next time I'd tell the agent up front to check I'm on the right branch before it commits, since the push-to-main step turned into an unplanned rebase/cherry-pick conflict resolution.
Log refactor follow-up items as GitHub issues (Pi for Excel)
Takeaway: Next time I'd give the agent my full list of ideas up front, including the file-storage and multi-workbook points I only added later, so it doesn't have to file issues in two separate batches.
Plan non-technical install & scope view_settings tool for Excel add-in
Takeaway: Next time I'd open with both threads at once — the distribution manifest question and the view tool scope — since neither ended in code changes, just investigation and a filed issue.
Fix sidebar UI polish issues in pi-for-excel taskpane
Takeaway: Next time I'd bundle the alignment/width and pill-consistency asks into one clear spec upfront, since they took many small back-and-forth rounds of 'now this doesn't match that' across tool cards, thinking blocks and user messages.