fix(pi-embedded): strip [tool calls omitted] from user-facing text (#74578)

* fix(pi-embedded): strip [tool calls omitted] from user-facing text

The internal replay placeholder '[tool calls omitted]' was leaking
into channel output (e.g. Telegram) after aborted tool calls.

Fix: strip the placeholder early in sanitizeUserFacingText so all
channels are protected by default. The replay transcript path in
turns.ts is unaffected — it uses the placeholder internally.

Fixes #74573.

Signed-off-by: Blasius Patrick <blasius.patrick@gmail.com>

* fix(pi-embedded): preserve whitespace when stripping placeholder

* test(pi-embedded): document replay placeholder sanitization

* fix(pi-embedded): strip consecutive replay placeholders

---------

Signed-off-by: Blasius Patrick <blasius.patrick@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Peter Steinberger <steipete@gmail.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 ### Fixes
 
 - Plugins/runtime-deps: add `openclaw plugins deps` inspection and repair with script-free package-manager defaults shared across plugin installers, so operators can repair missing bundled runtime deps without corrupting JSON output or blocking unrelated conflict-free deps. Thanks @vincentkoc.
+- Agents/output: strip internal `[tool calls omitted]` replay placeholders from user-facing replies while preserving visible reply whitespace. Fixes #74573. Thanks @blaspat.
 - Agents/sessions: emit a terminal lifecycle backstop when embedded timeout/error turns return without `agent_end`, so Gateway sessions no longer stay stuck in `running` after failover surfaces a timeout. Fixes #74607. Thanks @millerc79.
 - Gateway/diagnostics: include stuck-session reason hints and recovery skip causes in warnings, so operators can tell whether a lane is waiting on active work, queued work, or stale bookkeeping. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Agents/Codex: bound embedded-run cleanup, trajectory flushing, and command-lane task timeouts after runtime failures, so Discord and other chat sessions return to idle instead of staying stuck in processing. Thanks @vincentkoc.

src/agents/pi-embedded-helpers.sanitizeuserfacingtext.test.ts

@@ -208,6 +208,21 @@ describe("sanitizeUserFacingText", () => {
     expect(sanitizeUserFacingText("Line 1\nLine 2")).toBe("Line 1\nLine 2");
   });
 
+  it("strips tool-call replay placeholders without trimming visible text", () => {
+    expect(sanitizeUserFacingText("[tool calls omitted]")).toBe("");
+    expect(sanitizeUserFacingText("  [tool calls omitted]\t")).toBe("");
+    expect(sanitizeUserFacingText("Hello\n\n[tool calls omitted]\nWorld\n")).toBe(
+      "Hello\n\nWorld\n",
+    );
+    expect(sanitizeUserFacingText("A\n[tool calls omitted]\n[tool calls omitted]\nB")).toBe("A\nB");
+  });
+
+  it("keeps ordinary inline mentions of the replay placeholder", () => {
+    expect(sanitizeUserFacingText("What does [tool calls omitted] mean?")).toBe(
+      "What does [tool calls omitted] mean?",
+    );
+  });
+
   it("strips marked internal runtime context blocks but keeps real reply text", () => {
     const input = [
       INTERNAL_RUNTIME_CONTEXT_BEGIN,

src/agents/pi-embedded-helpers/sanitize-user-facing-text.ts

@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ const MODEL_CAPACITY_ERROR_USER_MESSAGE =
 const OVERLOADED_ERROR_USER_MESSAGE =
   "The AI service is temporarily overloaded. Please try again in a moment.";
 const FINAL_TAG_RE = /<\s*\/?\s*final\s*>/gi;
+const TOOL_CALLS_OMITTED_PLACEHOLDER_LINE_RE = /^[ \t]*\[tool calls omitted\][ \t]*$/i;
 const ERROR_PREFIX_RE =
   /^(?:error|(?:[a-z][\w-]*\s+)?api\s*error|openai\s*error|anthropic\s*error|gateway\s*error|codex\s*error|request failed|failed|exception)(?:\s+\d{3})?[:\s-]+/i;
 const CONTEXT_OVERFLOW_ERROR_HEAD_RE =
@@ -332,6 +333,22 @@ function stripFinalTagsFromText(text: unknown): string {
   return normalized.replace(FINAL_TAG_RE, "");
 }
 
+function stripToolCallsOmittedPlaceholderLines(text: string): string {
+  let result = "";
+  let start = 0;
+  while (start < text.length) {
+    const newlineIndex = text.indexOf("\n", start);
+    const end = newlineIndex === -1 ? text.length : newlineIndex + 1;
+    const chunk = text.slice(start, end);
+    const line = chunk.endsWith("\n") ? chunk.slice(0, -1).replace(/\r$/, "") : chunk;
+    if (!TOOL_CALLS_OMITTED_PLACEHOLDER_LINE_RE.test(line)) {
+      result += chunk;
+    }
+    start = end;
+  }
+  return result;
+}
+
 function collapseConsecutiveDuplicateBlocks(text: string): string {
   const trimmed = text.trim();
   if (!trimmed) {
@@ -383,7 +400,11 @@ export function sanitizeUserFacingText(text: unknown, opts?: { errorContext?: bo
   }
   const errorContext = opts?.errorContext ?? false;
   const stripped = stripInboundMetadata(stripInternalRuntimeContext(stripFinalTagsFromText(raw)));
-  const trimmed = stripped.trim();
+  // Replay repair may synthesize this placeholder to keep provider transcripts valid.
+  // It is internal scaffolding, so drop standalone placeholder lines before delivery
+  // while preserving ordinary inline mentions a user may be discussing.
+  const withoutPlaceholder = stripToolCallsOmittedPlaceholderLines(stripped);
+  const trimmed = withoutPlaceholder.trim();
   if (!trimmed) {
     return "";
   }
@@ -391,7 +412,6 @@ export function sanitizeUserFacingText(text: unknown, opts?: { errorContext?: bo
   if (!errorContext && shouldRewriteRawPayloadWithoutErrorContext(trimmed)) {
     return formatRawAssistantErrorForUi(trimmed);
   }
-
   if (errorContext) {
     const execDeniedMessage = formatExecDeniedUserMessage(trimmed);
     if (execDeniedMessage) {
@@ -422,19 +442,15 @@ export function sanitizeUserFacingText(text: unknown, opts?: { errorContext?: bo
     if (isBillingErrorMessage(trimmed)) {
       return BILLING_ERROR_USER_MESSAGE;
     }
-
     if (isInvalidStreamingEventOrderError(trimmed)) {
       return "LLM request failed: provider returned an invalid streaming response. Please try again.";
     }
-
     if (isRawApiErrorPayload(trimmed) || isLikelyHttpErrorText(trimmed)) {
       return formatRawAssistantErrorForUi(trimmed);
     }
-
     if (isStreamingJsonParseError(trimmed)) {
       return "LLM streaming response contained a malformed fragment. Please try again.";
     }
-
     if (ERROR_PREFIX_RE.test(trimmed)) {
       const prefixedCopy = formatRateLimitOrOverloadedErrorCopy(trimmed);
       if (prefixedCopy) {
@@ -451,6 +467,6 @@ export function sanitizeUserFacingText(text: unknown, opts?: { errorContext?: bo
     }
   }
 
-  const withoutLeadingEmptyLines = stripped.replace(/^(?:[ \t]*\r?\n)+/, "");
+  const withoutLeadingEmptyLines = withoutPlaceholder.replace(/^(?:[ \t]*\r?\n)+/, "");
   return collapseConsecutiveDuplicateBlocks(withoutLeadingEmptyLines);
 }