gemini-cli PR caps grep_search output at 40K chars after one search sent ~41M tokens

paolo-perrone · ghdev · 2026-11-03

PR #30109 fixes unbounded grepsearch output in gemini-cli: the old match cap limited lines but not size, so 100 default matches over long log/minified lines could build 150K characters, which the generic 64KB executor cap then cut mid-line, telling the model to read the full output from a file.
The fix bounds output inside the tool at MAXGREPOUTPUTCHARS (40,000 chars), cutting on whole lines, adding a (limited) summary with match counts, and nudging the model toward narrower patterns, includepattern, dirpath, or namesonly.
Context lines are dropped first to preserve matches; the threshold aligns with the default truncation and distillation thresholds (10K tokens × 4). Results under budget are byte-for-byte identical, existing tests pass, and it complements #29822's totalmaxmatches cap. The extreme case from issue #17448 — one search sending 41M tokens — can no longer happen on main.

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