feat: multi-line text answers in ask-user tool by jackwotherspoon · Pull Request #18741 · google-gemini/gemini-cli

jackwotherspoon · 2026-02-10T17:25:51Z

Summary

This PR enables multi-line text input for the ask_user tool for text questions, allowing users to provide more detailed answers.

Review page for ask user shows full answer, success tool call truncates after 5 lines to keep output concise.

mult-line.text.ask.user.mp4

Details

Multi-line Input Support:
- Updated AskUserDialog to support multi-line buffers for text questions by setting singleLine: false and increasing the viewport height to 3 so three lines are shown.
- Refined TextInput submission logic to use Command.SUBMIT matcher. Enter now submits, while shortcuts like Shift+Enter,Ctrl+Enter, and Ctrl+J correctly insert newlines.
Formatting & Alignment:
- Implemented logic to calculate indentation for subsequent lines in the ask_user tool output (Core), ensuring they align with the first line's starting position (after the header and arrow).
Truncation & Semantic Styling:
- Implemented truncation for answers exceeding 5 lines in the terminal display. The full text is preserved for the model, but the UI shows a ... x more lines hidden message.
- Introduced a <secondary> tag in the InlineMarkdownRenderer to support themed dimmed text.

Related Issues

Fixes #18328

How to Validate

Test Multi-line Input:
- Trigger an ask_user call with a text type question.
- Type text and use Shift+Enter or Ctrl+J to insert multiple newlines.
- Verify the input field shows multiple lines and allows navigation between them.
Verify Formatting:
- On the Review tab, verify multi-line answers are correctly aligned.
- Submit the dialog and verify the tool success message in the chat history is properly indented.
Verify Truncation:
- Submit an answer with 7 lines.
- Verify only the first 5 lines are visible, followed by a greyed-out ... 2 more lines hidden message.
Run Automated Tests:
- npm test -w @google/gemini-cli-core -- src/tools/ask-user.test.ts
- npm test -w @google/gemini-cli -- src/ui/utils/InlineMarkdownRenderer.test.ts src/ui/utils/MarkdownDisplay.test.tsx

Pre-Merge Checklist

gemini-code-assist · 2026-02-10T17:26:19Z

Summary of Changes

Hello @jackwotherspoon, I'm Gemini Code Assist¹! I'm currently reviewing this pull request and will post my feedback shortly. In the meantime, here's a summary to help you and other reviewers quickly get up to speed!

This pull request significantly enhances the ask_user tool by introducing support for multi-line text answers. It refines the user input experience, ensures correct formatting and alignment of multi-line responses in the terminal, and implements intelligent truncation for lengthy answers to maintain UI conciseness while retaining full data for the underlying model. Additionally, it introduces a new markdown tag for secondary-colored text.

Highlights

Multi-line Text Input: Enabled multi-line text input for the ask_user tool, allowing users to provide more detailed answers.
Improved Input Submission: Refined TextInput submission logic to differentiate Enter for submission from Shift+Enter, Ctrl+Enter, and Ctrl+J for inserting newlines.
Multi-line Answer Formatting: Implemented proper indentation for subsequent lines in multi-line answers displayed in the ask_user tool output.
Answer Truncation: Introduced truncation for ask_user answers exceeding 5 lines in the terminal display, showing a '... x more lines hidden' message while preserving the full text for the model.
Secondary Text Styling: Added a new <secondary> tag to InlineMarkdownRenderer to support themed dimmed text, used for the truncation message.

Changelog

packages/cli/src/ui/components/AskUserDialog.tsx
- Refactored answer mapping for clarity in the review view.
- Configured TextQuestionView to support multi-line input by setting singleLine to false and increasing viewport height to 3.
- Removed conditional check for val.trim() before calling onAnswer in handleSubmit.
packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/TextInput.tsx
- Updated text input submission logic to use keyMatchers for Command.SUBMIT, allowing for more nuanced handling of Enter key presses.
packages/cli/src/ui/utils/InlineMarkdownRenderer.test.ts
- Added a test case to verify the plain text length calculation for the new <secondary> markdown tag.
packages/cli/src/ui/utils/InlineMarkdownRenderer.tsx
- Defined constants for <secondary> tag lengths.
- Modified the markdown parsing regex to recognize and render content within <secondary> tags with a dimmed color.
- Updated getPlainTextLength to correctly account for <secondary> tags.
packages/cli/src/ui/utils/MarkdownDisplay.test.tsx
- Added a test to confirm that text enclosed in <secondary> tags is rendered with the secondary color.
packages/cli/src/ui/utils/snapshots/MarkdownDisplay.test.tsx.snap
- Updated snapshot tests to reflect the rendering of <secondary> tags.
packages/core/src/tools/ask-user.test.ts
- Added a new test to verify that multi-line answers are truncated in the returnDisplay but fully preserved in llmContent.
packages/core/src/tools/ask-user.ts
- Implemented logic to format multi-line answers with proper indentation and to truncate them after five lines, displaying a 'more lines hidden' message using the new <secondary> tag.

Activity

The pull request author has provided a detailed summary, specific implementation details, related issues, and comprehensive validation steps.
A pre-merge checklist has been completed, indicating that documentation, tests, and platform validations have been addressed.
No human comments or reviews have been posted yet.

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Code Review

This pull request successfully introduces multi-line text input capabilities for the ask_user tool, enhancing user interaction by allowing more detailed responses. It also includes proper truncation for terminal display and semantic styling for hidden lines, which improves readability. The changes are well-tested with new unit tests covering the multi-line input and truncation logic. The refactoring of TextInput submission logic to use keyMatchers is a good step towards consistency and configurability.

github-actions · 2026-02-10T17:30:58Z

Size Change: +824 B (0%)

Total Size: 24.3 MB

ℹ️ View Unchanged

Filename	Size	Change
`./bundle/gemini.js`	24.3 MB	+824 B (0%)
`./bundle/sandbox-macos-permissive-closed.sb`	1.03 kB	0 B
`./bundle/sandbox-macos-permissive-open.sb`	890 B	0 B
`./bundle/sandbox-macos-permissive-proxied.sb`	1.31 kB	0 B
`./bundle/sandbox-macos-restrictive-closed.sb`	3.29 kB	0 B
`./bundle/sandbox-macos-restrictive-open.sb`	3.36 kB	0 B
`./bundle/sandbox-macos-restrictive-proxied.sb`	3.56 kB	0 B

_{compressed-size-action}

jacob314 · 2026-02-10T21:43:49Z

      keypressHandler({
        name: keyName,
        shift: false,
+        alt: false,


why is this line in the PR? seems unrelated

because i moved text input to look for keymatcher submit vs just "Enter" key.

So all the combos need to be set to false otherwise it thinks its a newline and not a submission.

https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/pull/18741/changes#diff-d3850bd5301440e01adfd6d34bfd3b6fbbfd546bad49cf15860c8c7051c7fab4L48

jackwotherspoon · 2026-02-11T02:40:14Z

+                  }}
                />
-                {isChecked && !question.multiSelect && (
+                {isChecked && !question.multiSelect && !context.isSelected && (


this fixes checkmark appearing during typing. Now only shows if you stop focus on answer (arrow up to different answer or submit to another question)

jacob314 · 2026-02-11T06:21:48Z

      Approves plan and allows tools to run automatically
  2.  Yes, manually accept edits
      Approves plan but requires confirmation for each tool
-● 3.  Add tests  ✓


nice to see this confusing check box gone.

jacob314 · 2026-02-11T06:31:55Z

+            const indent = ' '.repeat(prefix.length);
+
+            const lines = answer.split('\n');
+            if (lines.length > 5) {


why are we truncating here? we should use MaxSizedBox at the UI layer if we really need to truncate.

Was to keep successful tool calls in history concise and truncated, but removed it. Will follow up with proper truncation PR.

jacob314

This is good enough to land. Next steps:

Make the mouse work to click to move the cursor.
Consider doing something about escape. Perhaps we should prevent having escape immediately cancel as pressing escape twice clears in the input prompt.

jackwotherspoon added 4 commits February 10, 2026 11:44

chore: multi-line ask user text questions

25587e3

chore: make truncated lines styled

c478e80

chore: Merge branch 'main' into ask-user/multi-line-text-question

84e1fb0

chore: grey styling for hidden lines

9fdab12

jackwotherspoon requested a review from a team as a code owner February 10, 2026 17:25

Merge branch 'main' into ask-user/multi-line-text-question

ae69f3b

gemini-code-assist Bot reviewed Feb 10, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread packages/cli/src/ui/components/AskUserDialog.tsx

gemini-cli Bot added area/core Issues related to User Interface, OS Support, Core Functionality area/agent Issues related to Core Agent, Tools, Memory, Sub-Agents, Hooks, Agent Quality 🔒 maintainer only ⛔ Do not contribute. Internal roadmap item. labels Feb 10, 2026

jackwotherspoon added 3 commits February 10, 2026 16:06

chore: update tests

d1f3fa3

chore: update other test

619577a

Merge branch 'main' into ask-user/multi-line-text-question

7f17b4d

jerop requested a review from jacob314 February 10, 2026 21:42

jacob314 reviewed Feb 10, 2026

View reviewed changes

jackwotherspoon added 3 commits February 10, 2026 17:13

chore: add multi-line to Other selection for choice questions

162b704

chore: finalize multi-line for choice questions

9325a1f

Merge branch 'main' into ask-user/multi-line-text-question

810ea41

jackwotherspoon commented Feb 11, 2026

View reviewed changes

chore: update snapshots

46bf2ec

jacob314 reviewed Feb 11, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread packages/cli/src/ui/components/AskUserDialog.tsx Outdated

jacob314 reviewed Feb 11, 2026

View reviewed changes

jacob314 approved these changes Feb 11, 2026

View reviewed changes

jackwotherspoon added 2 commits February 11, 2026 08:36

chore: reviewer comments

15c05c2

Merge branch 'main' into ask-user/multi-line-text-question

3f63e1e

jackwotherspoon added this pull request to the merge queue Feb 11, 2026

Merged via the queue into main with commit 5baad10 Feb 11, 2026
27 checks passed

jackwotherspoon deleted the ask-user/multi-line-text-question branch February 11, 2026 14:24

gemini-code-assist Bot mentioned this pull request Feb 18, 2026

Changelog for v0.30.0-preview.0 #19364

Merged

kuishou68 pushed a commit to iOfficeAI/gemini-cli-pro that referenced this pull request Feb 27, 2026

feat: multi-line text answers in ask-user tool (google-gemini#18741)

e46efb5

liamhelmer pushed a commit to badal-io/gemini-cli that referenced this pull request Mar 12, 2026

feat: multi-line text answers in ask-user tool (google-gemini#18741)

d445066

cocosheng-g pushed a commit that referenced this pull request May 6, 2026

feat: multi-line text answers in ask-user tool (#18741)

bc34b72

sripasg added the size/m A medium sized PR label Jun 2, 2026

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feat: multi-line text answers in ask-user tool#18741

feat: multi-line text answers in ask-user tool#18741
jackwotherspoon merged 14 commits into
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jackwotherspoon commented Feb 10, 2026

Summary

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Related Issues

How to Validate

Pre-Merge Checklist

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Summary of Changes

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