Feynman update keeps research agents on the chosen provider
Feynman released version 0.5.66 on November 8, bundling pi-subagents 0.87.0 with provider routing and workflow stopping changes.
A provider choice now stays a provider choice
The maintainers say an explicit provider/id now selects that provider or returns an error naming the alternative, instead of silently billing another provider’s account.
Record the provider, model identifier and package version for repeatable tests.
Feynman’s configuration guide says its researcher, reviewer, writer and verifier agents inherit the main research model unless an override is set. Check those overrides as well as the main default before assuming every worker uses the same route.
A graceful stop lets active researchers finish
Using stop with drain: true preserves running researchers and their results. Old subagent artifacts now expire as configured, and missing Pi schema packages produce immediate launch errors.
Allow for continuing model charges while workers finish, then inspect saved outputs.
What the research agent actually does
Feynman is a terminal based research assistant built on Pi. Its public repository describes literature reviews, paper critiques, comparisons and experiments, drawing on scientific databases, web pages and local documents. Our Pi and Pi Durable coverage explains the underlying agent ecosystem.
The deep research documentation distinguishes narrow questions from broad investigations. Broader jobs can use parallel researchers, followed by citation verification and review. Final briefs include a provenance record, and source failures can leave the output explicitly marked as blocked or qualified. Those checks describe the intended workflow, not a guarantee that every conclusion is correct.
Upgrade Feynman itself, then check the active version
The installation guide makes an easy distinction to miss: feynman update refreshes optional Pi packages, not the core packages shipped with Feynman. Upgrade the application using the original installation method.
The npm route requires Node.js 22.22 or newer. Standalone bundles include their own runtime. After upgrading, check feynman --version and use feynman doctor to inspect configuration and runtime problems. A second installation earlier on your system path can leave an older binary in use.
Review data handling before the first real project
Feynman’s configuration documentation says usage telemetry is enabled by default. It includes model and token metadata, plus error messages and stack traces that can contain project file paths. The documentation says prompts, model outputs, document content and tool arguments are excluded. FEYNMAN_TELEMETRY=off disables that telemetry.
Test an explicit provider and graceful stop with a nonconfidential question. Check billing, saved files and conclusions. ByteForward has not independently tested this release.
AI generated editorial illustration for ByteForward. The Feynman wordmark identifies the software. The mechanical research sorter is a visual metaphor, not a real product.
