fix(streaming): keep errored-turn assistant response visible (#5941)

[nesquena-hermes]

Summary

On an errored turn, the assistant's actual produced response (tool calls + reasoning) was auto-collapsed behind a single header above the error card, so users reasonably concluded that nothing came back — even though the full response was still there, one click away. This keeps that produced content visible by default on an errored turn.

Root cause + fix

When a turn ends in a provider/agent failure it still projects a settled anchor "activity scene" (the collapsible worklog rail) carrying the tool/reasoning rows it produced, plus a terminal_state of error / no_response / tool_limit_reached / etc. The settled-scene renderer _renderSettledAnchorSceneForMessage (static/ui.js) built that worklog with collapsed: !keepSettledWorklogOpen unconditionally — it never consulted the turn's terminal_state, so an errored-but-content-bearing turn collapsed exactly like a normal completed turn, hiding the response and reading as data loss. The fix classifies the scene's terminal_state: when it is an error/failure state (not a normal completed), the worklog is kept expanded by default so the produced response stays visible. A user who has explicitly collapsed that turn's worklog (saved closed disclosure state) is still respected, and the genuinely-empty errored turn is untouched — the render gate at the top of the function already requires a worklog-worthy scene (≥1 tool/thinking/compression row), so a real no_response with zero produced content never reaches the collapse decision and still shows only its bare error card.

Scope / safety

• Smallest correct change on the crown-jewel streaming renderer — one new predicate + one term in the existing collapsed expression. No refactor.
• Normal (completed) turns, user-cancelled/interrupted turns, and genuinely-empty errored turns are behavior-unchanged.
• cancelled/interrupted are deliberately excluded (they own dedicated cards + Bug: Terminal stream failures can hide an existing chat transcript #5224 transcript preservation).

Tests

New: tests/test_issue5941_errored_turn_response_visible.py — structural lock on the render-gate wiring plus behavioral (Node-executed) coverage of the terminal-state predicate and the full collapse decision matrix (errored default → visible; errored + user-collapsed → collapsed; completed → collapsed as before).

$ ./scripts/... (repo .venv) -m pytest tests/test_issue5941_errored_turn_response_visible.py -p no:xdist -q
...                                                                      [100%]
3 passed in 3.96s

Related crown-jewel regressions re-run clean (no regressions):

$ pytest tests/test_pure_prose_turn_not_worklog.py tests/test_issue5839_lazy_worklog_render.py \
         tests/test_issue5224_terminal_error_transcript_preserve.py tests/test_cancelled_turn_status.py -p no:xdist -q
32 passed in 4.80s

Attribution

Reported by @b3nw (Discord #report-bugs).

Closes #5941

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

This PR keeps produced assistant content visible when a streaming turn ends in an error. The main changes are:

• Classify settled failure states in the activity-scene renderer.
• Expand content-bearing errored worklogs unless the user explicitly closed them.
• Preserve existing behavior for completed, cancelled, interrupted, and empty turns.
• Add structural and Node-backed tests for the collapse decision.

Confidence Score: 5/5

This looks safe to merge.

• The updated renderer respects explicit user disclosure state.
• Completed, user-stopped, and empty turns retain their existing behavior.
• Tests cover the new terminal-state and collapse decisions.
• No blocking issues were found in the changed code.

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
static/ui.js	Classifies failed terminal states and keeps their content-bearing worklogs open by default while respecting saved disclosure state.
tests/test_issue5941_errored_turn_response_visible.py	Covers failure-state classification and the settled worklog collapse matrix.
tests/test_issue4970_stream_done_shrink_regression.py	Updates the existing stream-settle assertion for the extended collapse expression.

_{Reviews (2): Last reviewed commit: "fix(review): update #4970 brittle collap..." | Re-trigger Greptile}

[nesquena]

Review — end-to-end ✅ (approved after one CI-red fix I pushed)

Independent review of #5941 (b3nw): on an errored turn the assistant's produced response (tool calls + reasoning) was auto-collapsed behind the error card, reading as "nothing came back." This keeps that content visible by default on error/failure turns.

What this ships

static/ui.js (one predicate + one term in the settled-render collapsed expression), tests/test_issue5941_errored_turn_response_visible.py (+new). Agent-authored (nesquena-hermes). MERGEABLE, CI green (18/18 after my fix).

Root cause + fix — traced correct

_renderSettledAnchorSceneForMessage built the settled worklog with collapsed: !keepSettledWorklogOpen unconditionally, never consulting the turn's terminal_state. So an errored-but-content-bearing turn collapsed like a normal completed one, hiding the response. The fix:

• _anchorSceneHasErroredTerminalState(scene) matches terminal_state ∈ {error, no_response, degraded, connection_lost, tool_limit_reached, compression_exhausted}. I verified against static/assistant_turn_anchors.js that these are the actual terminal-state values, and that the set correctly excludes completed/null (normal) and cancelled/interrupted (user stops with their own cards + #5224 preservation). ✓
• erroredWorklogKeepOpen = errored && _readActivityDisclosureState(activityKey) !== 'closed' → keep open by default but respect a user's explicit collapse. ✓
• collapsed: !(keepSettledWorklogOpen || erroredWorklogKeepOpen) — adds the errored keep-open to the existing settle keep-open. ✓

Interaction with #5860 (lazy worklog) + #5224 — sound

• #5860: for an errored turn collapsed is now false, so the render takes the eager path (_renderAnchorSceneRowsIntoWorklog) — it never enters #5860's collapsed-defer branch, so the produced rows materialize immediately (exactly the intent). Collapsed non-errored worklogs still defer as before. No conflict. ✓
• Empty errored turn: the function's top gate (if(!_anchorSceneSceneHasWorklogWorthyRows(...)) return false;, line 3) early-returns when there are zero tool/thinking/compression rows — so a genuine no_response with no produced content never reaches the collapse decision and still shows only its bare error card (no phantom empty body). ✓

What I caught — full-suite CI-red the PR missed

The PR's targeted tests + its cited crown-jewel regressions passed, but the full suite turned up test_issue4970_stream_done_shrink_regression::test_helper_and_token_threaded_through_render failing: it asserted the literal collapsed:!keepSettledWorklogOpen, which this PR changed to collapsed:!(keepSettledWorklogOpen||erroredWorklogKeepOpen). The PR updated its own touched tests but missed this pre-existing brittle source-string assertion.

Pushed 8ad3a781: re-anchored #4970 to collapsed:!(keepSettledWorklogOpen — still guards #4970's invariant (keepSettledWorklogOpen negates into the settled-render collapsed flag) without pinning the exact term list. #4970 + #5941 both green; ruff clean.

Edge-case matrix

Turn	Worklog
errored (error/no_response/degraded/…) with content	expanded by default — response visible ✅ (was hidden)
errored + user explicitly collapsed (closed)	stays collapsed (respected) ✅
errored with zero produced content	early-return → bare error card, no phantom body ✅
completed (normal) turn	collapsed as before ✅
cancelled / interrupted	unchanged (own cards + #5224) ✅
collapsed non-errored worklog	still #5860-deferred ✅

Tests

• tests/test_issue5941_errored_turn_response_visible.py — 3/3 (render-gate wiring lock + Node behavioral matrix: errored→visible, errored+user-collapsed→collapsed, completed→collapsed).
• RED-on-master verified independently: the decision-matrix test fails against master's ui.js. Load-bearing.
• settled-scene/worklog blast-radius — 278 passed, 5 skipped.
• Full suite: 12583 passed / 0 failed in 439s after 8ad3a781 (deselected the known darwin CRLF flake). CI green (18/18).

Recommendation

✅ Approved after fix. Parked at approval — ready for the release agent's merge/tag pipeline.

The smallest correct change on the settled-render collapse decision: errored/failure turns with produced content stay expanded (respecting an explicit user collapse), empty errored turns are gated out (no phantom body), and completed/cancelled/interrupted are untouched — with the #5860 lazy-render and #5224 interactions verified. The one gap — a pre-existing #4970 brittle assertion the expression change broke — I fixed in 8ad3a781. RED on master; full suite clean. Ship.

[nesquena-hermes]

Shipped in exp-v0.52.45 via release #5964 (closes #5941). Errored turns now keep the produced response visible; stream-gate GREEN + Codex SAFE. Thanks @b3nw for the report + repro.