feat(tools): mirror execute results to tool_output for headless UI

Emit tool return text via emit_execute_result_to_ui so BrightVision and other
headless consumers show Grep/ExploreCode output in tool cards. Sync and async
local tools hook through BaseTool and AgentCoder; ls/Command opt out when they
already stream output during execute.

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

Author: JessicaMulein

cecli/coders/agent_coder.py

@@ -771,6 +771,10 @@ async def gather_and_await():
                                 all_results_content.append(f"Error in tool execution: {res}")
                             else:
                                 all_results_content.append(str(res))
+                                if not getattr(tool_module, "SKIP_EXECUTE_RESULT_UI", False):
+                                    from cecli.tools.utils.output import emit_execute_result_to_ui
+
+                                    emit_execute_result_to_ui(self, res)
 
                 if not await HookIntegration.call_post_tool_hooks(
                     self, tool_name, args_string, "\n\n".join(all_results_content)

cecli/tools/command.py

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 class Tool(BaseTool):
     NORM_NAME = "command"
     TRACK_INVOCATIONS = False
+    SKIP_EXECUTE_RESULT_UI = True
     SCHEMA = {
         "type": "function",
         "function": {

cecli/tools/grep.py

@@ -203,28 +203,6 @@ def execute(
 
         final_message = "\n\n".join(all_results)
 
-        if coder.tui and coder.tui():
-            # For the UI, show a summary to avoid cluttering the terminal
-            ui_summaries = []
-            for search_op, result in zip(searches, all_results):
-                pattern = search_op.get("pattern")
-                if "No matches found" in result:
-                    ui_summaries.append(f"✗ No matches found for '{pattern}'.")
-                elif "Error" in result:
-                    ui_summaries.append(f"✗ Error searching for '{pattern}'.")
-                else:
-                    # Count lines in the output to give a sense of scale
-                    # The result string contains the matches in a code block
-                    match_count = (
-                        result.count("\n") - 2
-                    )  # Subtracting for the markdown block markers
-                    if match_count < 0:
-                        match_count = 0
-                    ui_summaries.append(f"✓ Matches found for '{pattern}'.")
-
-            ui_message = "\n".join(ui_summaries)
-            coder.io.tool_output(ui_message, type="tool-result")
-
         return final_message
 
     @classmethod

cecli/tools/ls.py

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 class Tool(BaseTool):
     NORM_NAME = "ls"
     TRACK_INVOCATIONS = False
+    SKIP_EXECUTE_RESULT_UI = True
     SCHEMA = {
         "type": "function",
         "function": {

cecli/tools/utils/base_tool.py

@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
 
+import asyncio
+
 from cecli.tools.utils.helpers import handle_tool_error
-from cecli.tools.utils.output import print_tool_response
+from cecli.tools.utils.output import emit_execute_result_to_ui, print_tool_response
 from cecli.tools.validations import ToolValidations
 
 
@@ -16,6 +18,9 @@ class BaseTool(ABC):
     # Declarative validations (maps param paths to lists of validation method names)
     VALIDATIONS = {}
 
+    # When True, execute() already streamed full output via tool_output (skip UI mirror).
+    SKIP_EXECUTE_RESULT_UI = False
+
     # Invocation tracking for detecting repeated tool calls
     _invocations = {}  # Dict to store last 3 invocations per tool
     _invocation_summary = set()  # Set to track distinct tool names
@@ -133,7 +138,10 @@ def process_response(cls, coder, params):
         params = ToolValidations.validate_params(params, cls.VALIDATIONS, cls.SCHEMA)
 
         try:
-            return cls.execute(coder, **params)
+            result = cls.execute(coder, **params)
+            if not asyncio.iscoroutine(result) and not cls.SKIP_EXECUTE_RESULT_UI:
+                emit_execute_result_to_ui(coder, result)
+            return result
         except Exception as e:
             return handle_tool_error(coder, cls.SCHEMA.get("function").get("name"), e)
 

cecli/tools/utils/output.py

@@ -2,6 +2,27 @@
 import re
 
 
+def emit_execute_result_to_ui(coder, result, *, max_lines: int = 200) -> None:
+    """
+    Mirror tool ``execute()`` return text to ``tool_output`` for headless UI consumers
+    (e.g. BrightVision chat tool cards). Skips Textual TUI sessions.
+    """
+    if coder.tui and coder.tui():
+        return
+    text = ("" if result is None else str(result)).strip()
+    if not text:
+        return
+    if text.startswith("Error:") and "\n" not in text and len(text) < 400:
+        return
+    lines = text.splitlines()
+    if len(lines) > max_lines:
+        body = "\n".join(lines[:max_lines])
+        body += f"\n… ({len(lines) - max_lines} more lines)"
+    else:
+        body = text
+    coder.io.tool_output(body)
+
+
 def print_tool_response(coder, mcp_server, tool_response, params=None):
     """
     Format the output for display.

tests/tools/test_tool_result_ui.py

@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+from types import SimpleNamespace
+from unittest.mock import Mock
+
+from cecli.tools.utils.output import emit_execute_result_to_ui
+
+
+def test_emit_execute_result_to_ui_skips_tui():
+    io = Mock()
+    coder = SimpleNamespace(tui=lambda: object(), io=io)
+    emit_execute_result_to_ui(coder, "hello")
+    io.tool_output.assert_not_called()
+
+
+def test_emit_execute_result_to_ui_emits_body_for_headless():
+    io = Mock()
+    coder = SimpleNamespace(tui=lambda: None, io=io)
+    emit_execute_result_to_ui(coder, "line one\nline two")
+    io.tool_output.assert_called_once_with("line one\nline two")
+
+
+def test_emit_execute_result_to_ui_truncates_long_output():
+    io = Mock()
+    coder = SimpleNamespace(tui=lambda: None, io=io)
+    long_text = "\n".join(f"line {i}" for i in range(250))
+    emit_execute_result_to_ui(coder, long_text, max_lines=200)
+    emitted = io.tool_output.call_args[0][0]
+    assert emitted.startswith("line 0")
+    assert "… (50 more lines)" in emitted
+
+
+def test_grep_process_response_emits_matches_to_ui(monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+    from cecli.tools import grep
+
+    sample = tmp_path / "example.txt"
+    sample.write_text("hello ollama world\n")
+
+    io = Mock()
+    coder = SimpleNamespace(
+        repo=SimpleNamespace(root=str(tmp_path)),
+        io=io,
+        verbose=False,
+        root=str(tmp_path),
+        tui=lambda: None,
+    )
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(grep.Tool, "_find_search_tool", lambda: ("grep", "/usr/bin/grep"))
+
+    result = grep.Tool.process_response(
+        coder,
+        {
+            "searches": [
+                {
+                    "pattern": "ollama",
+                    "file_glob": "*.txt",
+                    "directory": ".",
+                    "use_regex": False,
+                    "case_insensitive": False,
+                    "context_before": 0,
+                    "context_after": 0,
+                }
+            ]
+        },
+    )
+
+    assert "Matches for" in result
+    emitted = [str(call.args[0]) for call in io.tool_output.call_args_list]
+    assert any("ollama" in line for line in emitted)