fix: clear live tool intent when a step retries

A stale intent label survived into the retried step. Also guard the
deliberately duplicated ANSI sanitizer with mirrored test fixtures on
both sides so future drift breaks a test.

Author: elkaix

.changeset/tool-intent-indicator.md

@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 "@pythoughts/pythinker-code": minor
 ---
 
-Show what the agent is doing in the working indicator: eligible tool calls whose input schema accepts the injected field now carry a short model-written intent, streamed live into the spinner label (for example "check failing test…") instead of a random verb; disable with `PYTHINKER_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_TOOL_INTENT=0`.
+Show what the agent is doing in the working indicator: eligible tool calls whose input schema accepts the injected field now carry a short model-written intent, streamed live into the spinner label (for example "check failing test…") instead of a rotating placeholder; disable with `PYTHINKER_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_TOOL_INTENT=0`.

apps/pythinker-code/src/tui/constant/rendering.ts

@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ export const THINKING_SPINNER_LABELS = [
 export const THINKING_SPINNER_LABEL_INTERVAL_MS = 12_000;
 
 const LIVE_INTENT_MAX_LENGTH = 120;
+// Keep in sync with packages/agent-core/src/loop/tool-intent.ts.
 // oxlint-disable-next-line no-control-regex -- wire text must not retain terminal escape sequences.
 const ANSI_ESCAPE = /\u001B(?:\[[0-?]*[ -/]*[@-~]|\][^\u0007\u001B]*(?:\u0007|\u001B\\|$))/gu;
 const CONTROL_CHARACTER = /\p{Cc}/gu;

apps/pythinker-code/src/tui/controllers/session-event-handler.ts

@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ export class SessionEventHandler {
       case 'turn.step.started': this.handleStepBegin(event); break;
       case 'turn.step.interrupted': this.handleStepInterrupted(event); break;
       case 'turn.step.completed': this.handleStepCompleted(event); break;
-      case 'turn.step.retrying': break;
+      case 'turn.step.retrying': setLiveIntent(undefined); break;
       case 'tool.progress': this.handleToolProgress(event); break;
       case 'assistant.delta': this.handleAssistantDelta(event); break;
       case 'hook.result': this.handleHookResult(event); break;

apps/pythinker-code/test/tui/tool-intent-label.test.ts

@@ -8,6 +8,13 @@ import {
 } from '#/tui/constant/rendering';
 import { PythinkerTUI, type PythinkerTUIStartupInput } from '#/tui/pythinker-tui';
 
+const SANITIZER_FIXTURES = [
+  ['\u001B[31mred\u001B[0m', 'red'],
+  ['\u001B]0;title\u0007visible', 'visible'],
+  ['\u001B]0;title\u001B\\visible', 'visible'],
+  ['check\n\u0007test', 'check test'],
+] as const;
+
 function makeStartupInput(): PythinkerTUIStartupInput {
   return {
     cliOptions: {
@@ -49,16 +56,9 @@ describe('tool intent thinking label', () => {
     expect(formatThinkingSpinnerLabel(0)).toBe('thinking…');
   });
 
-  it('removes control characters before display', () => {
-    setLiveIntent('\u001B[31mcheck\n\u0007 failing test\u001B[0m');
-    expect(formatThinkingSpinnerLabel(0)).toBe('check failing test…');
-  });
-
-  it('removes ST-terminated OSC hyperlinks before display', () => {
-    setLiveIntent(
-      '\u001B]8;;https://example.com\u001B\\click\u001B]8;;\u001B\\ done',
-    );
-    expect(formatThinkingSpinnerLabel(0)).toBe('click done…');
+  it.each(SANITIZER_FIXTURES)('sanitizes intent %j', (raw, expected) => {
+    setLiveIntent(raw);
+    expect(formatThinkingSpinnerLabel(0)).toBe(`${expected}…`);
   });
 
   it('sets intent from a tool delta and clears it on the result', () => {
@@ -115,4 +115,36 @@ describe('tool intent thinking label', () => {
 
     expect(formatThinkingSpinnerLabel(0)).toBe('thinking…');
   });
+
+  it('clears the live intent when a step retries', () => {
+    const driver = new PythinkerTUI({} as never, makeStartupInput());
+    const dispatch = (event: Event): void =>
+      driver.sessionEventHandler.handleEvent(event, vi.fn());
+
+    dispatch({
+      type: 'tool.call.started',
+      agentId: 'main',
+      sessionId: 'session-1',
+      turnId: 1,
+      toolCallId: 'call-1',
+      name: 'echo',
+      args: {},
+      intent: 'check failing test',
+    });
+    dispatch({
+      type: 'turn.step.retrying',
+      agentId: 'main',
+      sessionId: 'session-1',
+      turnId: 1,
+      step: 1,
+      failedAttempt: 1,
+      nextAttempt: 2,
+      maxAttempts: 3,
+      delayMs: 100,
+      errorName: 'Error',
+      errorMessage: 'retry',
+    });
+
+    expect(formatThinkingSpinnerLabel(0)).toBe('thinking…');
+  });
 });

packages/agent-core/src/loop/tool-intent.ts

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ export const INTENT_MAX_LENGTH = 120;
 /** Tool names excluded from intent injection. StructuredOutput is mechanical and has an exact schema contract. */
 export const INTENT_OMIT_TOOLS: ReadonlySet<string> = new Set(['StructuredOutput']);
 
+// Keep in sync with apps/pythinker-code/src/tui/constant/rendering.ts.
 // oxlint-disable-next-line no-control-regex -- model-authored terminal text must not retain escape sequences.
 const ANSI_ESCAPE = /\u001B(?:\[[0-?]*[ -/]*[@-~]|\][^\u0007\u001B]*(?:\u0007|\u001B\\|$))/gu;
 const CONTROL_CHARACTER = /\p{Cc}/gu;

packages/agent-core/test/loop/tool-intent.test.ts

@@ -10,6 +10,13 @@ import {
   sanitizeIntent,
 } from '../../src/loop/tool-intent';
 
+const SANITIZER_FIXTURES = [
+  ['\u001B[31mred\u001B[0m', 'red'],
+  ['\u001B]0;title\u0007visible', 'visible'],
+  ['\u001B]0;title\u001B\\visible', 'visible'],
+  ['check\n\u0007test', 'check test'],
+] as const;
+
 function makeTool(
   name = 'test',
   parameters: Record<string, unknown> = {
@@ -112,14 +119,8 @@ describe('tool intent extraction', () => {
 });
 
 describe('tool intent sanitization', () => {
-  it('strips terminal escapes and controls and collapses whitespace', () => {
-    expect(sanitizeIntent('\u001B[31mcheck\n\u0007 failing\u001B[0m')).toBe('check failing');
-  });
-
-  it('preserves visible text after an ST-terminated OSC hyperlink', () => {
-    expect(sanitizeIntent('\u001B]8;;https://example.com\u001B\\click\u001B]8;;\u001B\\ done')).toBe(
-      'click done',
-    );
+  it.each(SANITIZER_FIXTURES)('sanitizes intent %j', (raw, expected) => {
+    expect(sanitizeIntent(raw)).toBe(expected);
   });
 
   it('caps the result by code points', () => {