shell tool: cap output at 5K chars and spill overflow to tempfile (#732)

unbounded shell tool output blows the agent's context window on commands
that dump big logs (test runners, build tools, grep on large trees). cap
the inline body at 5000 chars; on overflow, persist the full output to
${PULLFROG_TEMP_DIR}/shell-<id>.log and return the tail prefixed with a
sentinel pointing at the saved path. agents re-read the tempfile with
cat/tail/grep when they need more.
This commit is contained in:
Colin McDonnell
2026-05-14 03:18:54 +00:00
committed by pullfrog[bot]
parent b6df2860c3
commit 2960d51493
+22 -2
View File
@@ -176,6 +176,23 @@ function getTempDir(): string {
return tempDir;
}
/** chars of shell output kept inline in the agent reply. anything past this
* blows the agent's context budget on commands that dump big logs (test
* runners, build tools, grep on large trees), so the overflow is spilled
* to a tempfile the agent can re-read selectively (cat/tail/grep). */
export const MAX_OUTPUT_CHARS = 5000;
/** if `output` exceeds `MAX_OUTPUT_CHARS`, persist the full body to a
* tempfile and return the last `MAX_OUTPUT_CHARS` prefixed with a sentinel
* pointing at the saved path. otherwise return as-is. */
function capOutput(output: string): string {
if (output.length <= MAX_OUTPUT_CHARS) return output;
const fullPath = join(getTempDir(), `shell-${randomUUID().slice(0, 8)}.log`);
writeFileSync(fullPath, output);
const elided = output.length - MAX_OUTPUT_CHARS;
return `... [${elided} chars truncated; full output saved to ${fullPath}] ...\n${output.slice(-MAX_OUTPUT_CHARS)}`;
}
/** detect git as a command invocation (not as part of another word like .gitignore) */
function isGitCommand(command: string): boolean {
const trimmed = command.trim();
@@ -196,6 +213,8 @@ Use this tool to:
- Execute build tools (npm, pnpm, cargo, make, etc.)
- Run tests and linters
Output is capped at ${MAX_OUTPUT_CHARS} chars: if exceeded, only the tail is returned and the full body is saved to a tempfile (path included in the response). Re-read the tempfile with cat/tail/grep when you need more.
Do NOT use this tool for git commands — use the dedicated git tools instead.`,
parameters: ShellParams,
execute: execute(async (params) => {
@@ -301,13 +320,14 @@ Do NOT use this tool for git commands — use the dedicated git tools instead.`,
: `[timed out after ${timeout}ms]`;
const finalExitCode = exitCode ?? (timedOut ? 124 : -1);
const trimmed = output.trim();
if (finalExitCode !== 0) {
log.info(`shell command failed with exit code ${finalExitCode}: ${params.command}`);
if (output) log.info(`output: ${output.trim()}`);
if (trimmed) log.info(`output: ${trimmed}`);
}
return {
output: output.trim(),
output: capOutput(trimmed),
exit_code: finalExitCode,
timed_out: timedOut,
};