TUI shows no history entries if your username is `pi`

[nicolasbeglinger]

The Atuin TUI displays the correct history count (e.g., 68) and shows [GLOBAL] scope, but no history entries are rendered in the list. The CLI (atuin history list) works perfectly and shows all entries.

Steps to Reproduce:

• Install Atuin v18.16.0 on Raspberry Pi OS Lite (Debian 13, aarch64) using the convenience script.
• Configure fish shell with atuin init fish | source in ~/.config/fish/config.fish.
• Press ↑ to open the TUI.
• Observe: TUI shows history count: 68 and [GLOBAL], but the list is empty.

Expected Behavior:

The TUI should display all 68 history entries in the list.

Actual Behavior:

The TUI shows only the header (count and controls) and footer (scope), but no entries. The list area is blank.

Environment:

Atuin version: 18.16.0 (atuin --version)
Shell: fish (default)
OS: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (Raspberry Pi OS Lite)
Architecture: aarch64
Terminal: Tried different terminals over ssh
Daemon: Running (pkill -f atuin; atuin daemon & tested, no change)
Database: Intact (atuin history list shows all entries)

atuin doctor output:

{

  "atuin": {
    "version": "18.16.0",
    "commit": "04a5f5fdb67d90e8221accb1c9abace9a1efbb16",
    "sync": null,
    "sqlite_version": "3.46.0"
  },
  "shell": {
    "name": "fish",
    "default": "fish",
    "plugins": ["atuin"],
    "preexec": "built-in"
  },
  "system": {
    "os": "Debian GNU/Linux",
    "arch": "aarch64",
    "version": "13",
    "disks": [
      {"name": "/dev/nvme0n1p2", "filesystem": "ext4"},
      {"name": "/dev/nvme0n1p1", "filesystem": "vfat"}
    ]
  }
}

Debugging Attempts:

• Confirmed atuin history list and atuin history list --session $(atuin session id) both return all entries.
• Tested in tmux: Same issue.
• Tried in bash and zsh: Same issue.

[theapiarist]

I have exactly the same issue using Debian 13/Trixie and the bash shell (v5.2.37) on a Raspberry pi 4. I've installed this on my Macs previously (via homebrew) and have been using it for months, and atuin doctor looks pretty much the same, including the preexec: bash-preexec. Did @nicolasbeglinger you find a solution?

The atuin environment variables appear to be correctly set, and the relevant bit of my .bashrc (set by the install script) is identical on the two platforms.

Unclear how to proceed. atuin history list is complete and has the expected hundreds of entries.

I've also done a standard install on a completely different raspberry pi with exactly the same results.

atuin doctor reports

{
  "atuin": {
    "version": "18.16.1",
    "commit": "671f96b60dac49d1d2de73cc0812986a5e22ce7b",
    "sync": null,
    "sqlite_version": "3.46.0"
  },
  "shell": {
    "name": "bash",
    "default": "bash",
    "plugins": [
      "atuin",
      "bash-preexec"
    ],
    "preexec": "bash-preexec"
  },
  "system": {
    "os": "Debian GNU/Linux",
    "arch": "aarch64",
    "version": "13",
    "disks": [
      {
        "name": "/dev/sda2",
        "filesystem": "ext4"
      },
      {
        "name": "/dev/sda1",
        "filesystem": "vfat"
      }
    ]
  }
}

[vjeantet]

same here , built from source

$ name -a
Linux raspberrypi 6.18.37-v8+ #1988 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jul  1 15:39:07 BST 2026 aarch64 GNU/Linux

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Raspbian
Description:	Raspbian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Release:	12
Codename:	bookworm

Atuin Doctor

{
  "atuin": {
    "version": "18.17.1",
    "commit": "",
    "sync": {
      "auth_state": "Hub (authenticated)",
      "records": true,
      "auto_sync": true,
      "last_sync": "2026-07-25 9:40:33.62669156 +00:00:00"
    },
    "sqlite_version": "3.46.0",
    "daemon_enabled": false
  },
  "shell": {
    "name": "zsh",
    "default": "zsh",
    "plugins": [
      "atuin"
    ],
    "preexec": "built-in"
  },
  "system": {
    "os": "Raspbian GNU/Linux",
    "arch": "aarch64",
    "version": "12",
    "disks": [
      {
        "name": "/dev/root",
        "filesystem": "ext4"
      },
      {
        "name": "systemd-1",
        "filesystem": "autofs"
      },
      {
        "name": "/dev/mmcblk0p1",
        "filesystem": "vfat"
      },
      {
        "name": "/dev/sda1",
        "filesystem": "exfat"
      }
    ]
  }
}

[Drulex]

I ran into the same issue. The problem is that we are using the username pi which is present in a hard-coded list of known AI agents for which the recorded commands are ignored since they are "allegedly" not humans (how dare you use the username pi).

See

atuin/crates/atuin-client/src/history.rs

Line 21 in 180bafd

pub const KNOWN_AGENTS: &[&str] = &["claude-code", "codex", "copilot", "opencode", "pi"];

If your username is in this list the commands won't show up in the history.

I worked around this by adding this to my environment: export ATUIN_HISTORY_AUTHOR=pi-user.

[theapiarist]

Thank you @Drulex ... that solved it for me. I'd pretty much given up on this, so am delighted to have a working solution.

[vjeantet]

🙏 Thank you very much @Drulex it works for me too, you made my day

[taylordotfish]

See also: https://forum.atuin.sh/t/search-always-empty/1429