From 03af821aa5c2c351a566528af565539097f48011 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Aiden Cline <63023139+rekram1-node@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2026 13:12:42 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] fix(core): restore the shell no-output placeholder (#51187)

---
 packages/core/src/shell.ts            | 6 ++----
 packages/core/test/tool-shell.test.ts | 2 +-
 2 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/packages/core/src/shell.ts b/packages/core/src/shell.ts
index 472ab0a0b58..76d6677892c 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/shell.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/shell.ts
@@ -240,10 +240,8 @@ const layer = () =>
           if (page.output.endsWith("\n")) lines.pop()
           const truncated = latest.size > maxBytes || lines.length > maxLines
           const text = lines.length > maxLines ? lines.slice(-maxLines).join("\n") : page.output
-          const notice = truncated
-            ? `${text ? "\n\n" : ""}[full output saved to ${info.file}]`
-            : ""
-          return { output: `${text}${notice}`, truncated }
+          const notice = truncated ? `\n\n[full output saved to ${info.file}]` : ""
+          return { output: `${text || "(no output)"}${notice}`, truncated }
         }).pipe(Effect.catchTag("Shell.NotFoundError", () => Effect.succeed(undefined)))
         return { info, capture }
       })
diff --git a/packages/core/test/tool-shell.test.ts b/packages/core/test/tool-shell.test.ts
index f87f95c1879..226c716b190 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/tool-shell.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/test/tool-shell.test.ts
@@ -1555,7 +1555,7 @@ describe("ShellTool", () => {
               {
                 id: settled.metadata?.shellID,
                 status: "completed",
-                output: "Exited with code 7",
+                output: "(no output)\n\nExited with code 7",
               },
             ])
           }),