Keep CLI tool rendering readable without dropping result fidelity

Some tools, especially Read, can emit very large payloads that overwhelm the interactive renderer. This change truncates only the displayed preview for long tool outputs while leaving the underlying tool result string untouched for downstream logic and persisted session state.

Constraint: Rendering changes must not modify stored tool outputs or tool-result messages
Rejected: Truncate tool output before returning from the executor | would corrupt session history and downstream processing
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: narrow
Directive: Keep truncation strictly in presentation helpers; do not move it into tool execution or session persistence paths
Tested: cargo test -p claw-cli tool_rendering_truncates_ -- --nocapture; cargo test -p claw-cli tool_rendering_helpers_compact_output -- --nocapture
Not-tested: Manual terminal rendering with real multi-megabyte tool output

rust/crates/rusty-claude-cli/src/main.rs

@@ -2770,6 +2770,13 @@ fn format_tool_result(name: &str, output: &str, is_error: bool) -> String {
     }
 }
 
+const DISPLAY_TRUNCATION_NOTICE: &str =
+    "\x1b[2m… output truncated for display; full result preserved in session.\x1b[0m";
+const READ_DISPLAY_MAX_LINES: usize = 80;
+const READ_DISPLAY_MAX_CHARS: usize = 6_000;
+const TOOL_OUTPUT_DISPLAY_MAX_LINES: usize = 60;
+const TOOL_OUTPUT_DISPLAY_MAX_CHARS: usize = 4_000;
+
 fn extract_tool_path(parsed: &serde_json::Value) -> String {
     parsed
         .get("file_path")
@@ -2841,12 +2848,23 @@ fn format_bash_result(icon: &str, parsed: &serde_json::Value) -> String {
 
     if let Some(stdout) = parsed.get("stdout").and_then(|value| value.as_str()) {
         if !stdout.trim().is_empty() {
-            lines.push(stdout.trim_end().to_string());
+            lines.push(truncate_output_for_display(
+                stdout,
+                TOOL_OUTPUT_DISPLAY_MAX_LINES,
+                TOOL_OUTPUT_DISPLAY_MAX_CHARS,
+            ));
         }
     }
     if let Some(stderr) = parsed.get("stderr").and_then(|value| value.as_str()) {
         if !stderr.trim().is_empty() {
-            lines.push(format!("\x1b[38;5;203m{}\x1b[0m", stderr.trim_end()));
+            lines.push(format!(
+                "\x1b[38;5;203m{}\x1b[0m",
+                truncate_output_for_display(
+                    stderr,
+                    TOOL_OUTPUT_DISPLAY_MAX_LINES,
+                    TOOL_OUTPUT_DISPLAY_MAX_CHARS,
+                )
+            ));
         }
     }
 
@@ -2879,7 +2897,7 @@ fn format_read_result(icon: &str, parsed: &serde_json::Value) -> String {
         start_line,
         end_line.max(start_line),
         total_lines,
-        content
+        truncate_output_for_display(content, READ_DISPLAY_MAX_LINES, READ_DISPLAY_MAX_CHARS)
     )
 }
 
@@ -3001,7 +3019,14 @@ fn format_grep_result(icon: &str, parsed: &serde_json::Value) -> String {
         "{icon} \x1b[38;5;245mgrep_search\x1b[0m {num_matches} matches across {num_files} files"
     );
     if !content.trim().is_empty() {
-        format!("{summary}\n{}", content.trim_end())
+        format!(
+            "{summary}\n{}",
+            truncate_output_for_display(
+                content,
+                TOOL_OUTPUT_DISPLAY_MAX_LINES,
+                TOOL_OUTPUT_DISPLAY_MAX_CHARS,
+            )
+        )
     } else if !filenames.is_empty() {
         format!("{summary}\n{filenames}")
     } else {
@@ -3027,6 +3052,50 @@ fn truncate_for_summary(value: &str, limit: usize) -> String {
     }
 }
 
+fn truncate_output_for_display(content: &str, max_lines: usize, max_chars: usize) -> String {
+    let original = content.trim_end_matches('\n');
+    if original.is_empty() {
+        return String::new();
+    }
+
+    let mut preview_lines = Vec::new();
+    let mut used_chars = 0usize;
+    let mut truncated = false;
+
+    for (index, line) in original.lines().enumerate() {
+        if index >= max_lines {
+            truncated = true;
+            break;
+        }
+
+        let newline_cost = usize::from(!preview_lines.is_empty());
+        let available = max_chars.saturating_sub(used_chars + newline_cost);
+        if available == 0 {
+            truncated = true;
+            break;
+        }
+
+        let line_chars = line.chars().count();
+        if line_chars > available {
+            preview_lines.push(line.chars().take(available).collect::<String>());
+            truncated = true;
+            break;
+        }
+
+        preview_lines.push(line.to_string());
+        used_chars += newline_cost + line_chars;
+    }
+
+    let mut preview = preview_lines.join("\n");
+    if truncated {
+        if !preview.is_empty() {
+            preview.push('\n');
+        }
+        preview.push_str(DISPLAY_TRUNCATION_NOTICE);
+    }
+    preview
+}
+
 fn push_output_block(
     block: OutputContentBlock,
     out: &mut (impl Write + ?Sized),
@@ -3893,6 +3962,54 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(done.contains("hello"));
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn tool_rendering_truncates_large_read_output_for_display_only() {
+        let content = (0..200)
+            .map(|index| format!("line {index:03}"))
+            .collect::<Vec<_>>()
+            .join("\n");
+        let output = json!({
+            "file": {
+                "filePath": "src/main.rs",
+                "content": content,
+                "numLines": 200,
+                "startLine": 1,
+                "totalLines": 200
+            }
+        })
+        .to_string();
+
+        let rendered = format_tool_result("read_file", &output, false);
+
+        assert!(rendered.contains("line 000"));
+        assert!(rendered.contains("line 079"));
+        assert!(!rendered.contains("line 199"));
+        assert!(rendered.contains("full result preserved in session"));
+        assert!(output.contains("line 199"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn tool_rendering_truncates_large_bash_output_for_display_only() {
+        let stdout = (0..120)
+            .map(|index| format!("stdout {index:03}"))
+            .collect::<Vec<_>>()
+            .join("\n");
+        let output = json!({
+            "stdout": stdout,
+            "stderr": "",
+            "returnCodeInterpretation": "completed successfully"
+        })
+        .to_string();
+
+        let rendered = format_tool_result("bash", &output, false);
+
+        assert!(rendered.contains("stdout 000"));
+        assert!(rendered.contains("stdout 059"));
+        assert!(!rendered.contains("stdout 119"));
+        assert!(rendered.contains("full result preserved in session"));
+        assert!(output.contains("stdout 119"));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn push_output_block_renders_markdown_text() {
         let mut out = Vec::new();