From 2fe6704fbc167910f9167830e13b2fdd50bdebd9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Alex Clarke <alex.j.tusa@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:47:43 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] fix: fs tools now output better error handling to guide the
 model more effectively

---
 assets/functions/tools/fs_cat.sh  | 12 ++++++++++--
 assets/functions/tools/fs_glob.sh |  4 ++--
 assets/functions/tools/fs_grep.sh |  4 ++--
 assets/functions/tools/fs_ls.sh   | 17 +++++++++++++++--
 assets/functions/tools/fs_read.sh |  4 ++--
 5 files changed, 31 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/assets/functions/tools/fs_cat.sh b/assets/functions/tools/fs_cat.sh
index 84713e0..e47a0ed 100755
--- a/assets/functions/tools/fs_cat.sh
+++ b/assets/functions/tools/fs_cat.sh
@@ -10,5 +10,13 @@ set -e
 
 main() {
     # shellcheck disable=SC2154
-		cat "$argc_path" >> "$LLM_OUTPUT" 2>&1 || echo "No such file or path: $argc_path" >> "$LLM_OUTPUT"
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+    local path="$argc_path"
+
+    # An empty result is shown to the model as the opaque literal "DONE"; emit a note instead.
+    if [[ -f "$path" && ! -s "$path" ]]; then
+        echo "(empty file: $path)" >> "$LLM_OUTPUT"
+        return 0
+    fi
+
+    cat "$path" >> "$LLM_OUTPUT" 2>&1 || echo "No such file or path: $path" >> "$LLM_OUTPUT"
+}
diff --git a/assets/functions/tools/fs_glob.sh b/assets/functions/tools/fs_glob.sh
index 05e4972..8271300 100644
--- a/assets/functions/tools/fs_glob.sh
+++ b/assets/functions/tools/fs_glob.sh
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ main() {
     local search_path="${argc_path:-.}"
 
     if [[ ! -d "$search_path" ]]; then
-        echo "Error: directory not found: $search_path" >> "$LLM_OUTPUT"
-        return 1
+        echo "Error: directory not found: $search_path" >&2
+        exit 1
     fi
 
     local results
diff --git a/assets/functions/tools/fs_grep.sh b/assets/functions/tools/fs_grep.sh
index dc37216..2110a67 100644
--- a/assets/functions/tools/fs_grep.sh
+++ b/assets/functions/tools/fs_grep.sh
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ main() {
     local include_filter="${argc_include:-}"
 
     if [[ ! -e "$search_path" ]]; then
-        echo "Error: path not found: $search_path" >> "$LLM_OUTPUT"
-        return 1
+        echo "Error: path not found: $search_path" >&2
+        exit 1
     fi
 
     local grep_args=(-nH --color=never)
diff --git a/assets/functions/tools/fs_ls.sh b/assets/functions/tools/fs_ls.sh
index 65f0e12..31779a1 100755
--- a/assets/functions/tools/fs_ls.sh
+++ b/assets/functions/tools/fs_ls.sh
@@ -9,5 +9,18 @@ set -e
 
 main() {
     # shellcheck disable=SC2154
-    ls -1 "$argc_path" >> "$LLM_OUTPUT" 2>&1 || echo "No such path: $argc_path" >> "$LLM_OUTPUT"
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+    local path="$argc_path"
+    local output
+
+    if ! output=$(ls -1 "$path" 2>&1); then
+        echo "$output" >> "$LLM_OUTPUT"
+        return 0
+    fi
+
+    # An empty result is shown to the model as the opaque literal "DONE"; emit a note instead.
+    if [[ -z "$output" ]]; then
+        echo "(empty directory: $path)" >> "$LLM_OUTPUT"
+    else
+        echo "$output" >> "$LLM_OUTPUT"
+    fi
+}
diff --git a/assets/functions/tools/fs_read.sh b/assets/functions/tools/fs_read.sh
index 9b5ffe1..ef08086 100644
--- a/assets/functions/tools/fs_read.sh
+++ b/assets/functions/tools/fs_read.sh
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ main() {
     local limit="${argc_limit:-2000}"
 
     if [[ ! -e "$target" ]]; then
-        echo "Error: path not found: $target" >> "$LLM_OUTPUT"
-        return 1
+        echo "Error: path not found: $target" >&2
+        exit 1
     fi
 
     if [[ -d "$target" ]]; then