pi-better-show reference

The full contract behind the README: every block kind, the core, server, element, and React APIs, and the details of the show_doc extension. Find the section you need and skip the rest.

pi-better-show is one block vocabulary, with one parser, one text fallback, and one answer encoding shared by every host that draws it. The pi extension is one such host; a GUI or a chat bridge can be another.

pi-better-show            core: isomorphic, no DOM, no node APIs; depends on `yaml` only
pi-better-show/elements   browser: framework-free custom elements, one per block kind (no yaml, no node APIs)
pi-better-show/react      thin React wrappers over the elements (React is an optional peer)
pi-better-show/server     node: Mermaid to SVG and to Unicode text (beautiful-mermaid)
pi-better-show/extension  the pi extension: `show_doc`, a loopback page server, edit mode, event-bus contract v2

Entry	What it does	Section
pi-better-show	Parses Markdown into blocks, writes them as text, encodes and validates answers.	Blocks, Core API
pi-better-show/server	Draws Mermaid as SVG or as Unicode text.	Server API
pi-better-show/elements	Draws each block as a custom element and fires pbs-answer.	Elements
pi-better-show/react	Wraps the elements for React.	React
pi-better-show/extension	The show_doc tool, the page server, edit mode, and the event bus.	The pi extension

The package ships TypeScript source, with no build step. Source uses erasable syntax only, so it loads under node’s type stripping and in bun and bundler pipelines. Design: docs/specs/2026-11-07-better-show/spec.md.