## Summary
Raise the built-in output and recovery defaults so long-running agents
have more room to finish useful work instead of terminating after
repeated 32,768-token reasoning-only responses.
- Raise `BUZZ_AGENT_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS` from 32,768 to 65,536
- Raise the finite output-truncation recovery allowance from 2 to 3 via
`BUZZ_AGENT_MAX_TOKEN_RECOVERIES`; `0` still disables recovery
- Strengthen the recovery prompt so the model stops prolonged reasoning,
uses tools immediately, and builds scripts or artifacts in small
verifiable steps
- Preserve the safety invariant that incomplete truncated tool calls are
discarded and never executed
- Keep proactive handoff independently at 90% of
`BUZZ_AGENT_MAX_CONTEXT_TOKENS` (180,000 tokens with the 200,000
default), regardless of the output allowance
- Add request-loop and configuration regressions for exact-N recovery,
disabled recovery, successful tool-first recovery, discarded truncated
calls, and finite round bounds
`BUZZ_AGENT_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS` remains an explicit per-agent deployment
setting. Operators should configure it at or below the served model's
output limit; this PR does not perform live provider capability
discovery or automatic clamping.
**Risk:** Medium — this increases the default request size and permits
one additional recovery attempt by default. Recovery remains finite and
bounded by `BUZZ_AGENT_MAX_ROUNDS`. Deployments whose served model
rejects 65,536 output tokens must set a lower per-agent value.
Current output limits
- model - output token max
- DeepSeek V4 Flash - 384,000 tokens
- Qwen 3.8 (Max) - 131,072 tokens
- GLM 5.2 - 131,072 tokens
- GPT 5.6 - 128,000 tokens
- Claude Opus 5 - 128,000 tokens
- Gemini 3.6 Flash - 65,536 tokens
- Kimi K3 (Moonshot)- 131,072 tokens
### Related issue
None found. Originating benchmark analysis:
`buzz://message?channel=c3252dd2-0142-4e01-88c7-a2183c3960a5&id=91e991aab5fd49094583c3937477f6c12db57a41d86edf7fd4745d0d57d10017`
### Testing
- `cargo fmt --all -- --check`
- `cargo test -p buzz-agent` — 595 passed, 0 failed, 0 ignored at
`bd6de557b367850f50325bafdd3c046131942bef`
- `cargo clippy -p buzz-agent --all-targets -- -D warnings`
- Previously failing
`cancelled_turn_with_usage_emits_notification_before_response` passed
alone and in the full rerun
- Push hooks passed: organization guard, branch skew, Rust tests, and
Desktop Tauri checks
### Update — 2026-08-11
Per review feedback, the recovery default is 3. The OpenRouter live
`/models` output-cap discovery, cache, request clamp, and related
tests/documentation were removed. Per-agent output configuration is now
the sole output-cap mechanism. Proactive handoff and its pre-usage byte
fallback now depend only on 90% of `BUZZ_AGENT_MAX_CONTEXT_TOKENS`; with
the 200,000 default, the handoff threshold is 180,000 regardless of
`BUZZ_AGENT_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS`.
Generated with Brainy Bumble
### Targeted validation — 2026-08-11
Ran the exact PR binary once on each of the 11 benchmark tasks causally
affected by the previous 32,768-token ceiling, using OpenRouter with
`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-0731` pinned to Fireworks and maximum
reasoning effort. Relay-429 collection failures were excluded and rerun
at concurrency 2.
- **6/11 passed:** `circuit-fibsqrt`, `feal-linear-cryptanalysis`,
`model-extraction-relu-logits`, `path-tracing`,
`schemelike-metacircular-eval`, and `sqlite-db-truncate`
- **5/11 reached the benchmark deadline:** `adaptive-rejection-sampler`,
`dna-assembly`, `path-tracing-reverse`, `regex-chess`, and
`write-compressor`
- `regex-chess` reached exactly 65,536 output tokens, triggered one
output-limit recovery, and then reached the deadline. This directly
confirms that the larger ceiling and recovery path were active, but not
that recovery guarantees completion.
For context, ten of these tasks were 0/5 in the historical baseline;
`sqlite-db-truncate`, the clean control, was 4/5. This is targeted
one-attempt-per-task validation rather than a statistically powered
comparison. The result should not be attributed solely to the recovery
default of 3: this PR also raises the output ceiling and strengthens
recovery behavior, and OpenRouter routing conditions may differ from the
historical direct-Fireworks runs.
Generated with Brainy Bumble
---------
Signed-off-by: Atish Patel <atish@squareup.com>
Signed-off-by: Brainy Bumble <0ed7657b57c0e8a9f5288390dd6c8d5d0a3a06abe9b01b9006814f52077d6cdf@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz>
Signed-off-by: Hardworking Honey <c5c455215c2506cb8ba776518cec804af62d3a0526e32d496a22072e395042b9@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz>
Co-authored-by: Brainy Bumble <0ed7657b57c0e8a9f5288390dd6c8d5d0a3a06abe9b01b9006814f52077d6cdf@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz>
Co-authored-by: Hardworking Honey <c5c455215c2506cb8ba776518cec804af62d3a0526e32d496a22072e395042b9@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz>
## Why
A Buzz agent's assistant text and reasoning are never shown to anyone —
only what it posts through the CLI. A turn that runs fifteen tool calls
and never publishes is a silent failure: the requester waits on a result
that was produced and thrown away.
This adds an optional reminder at the end-of-turn gate, off by default.
Tyler asked for it in buzz-mesh; plan iterated to **9.5/10 with @Wren**
(Minimalness 9.7, Elegance 9.5, Correctness 9.3).
## What
`BUZZ_AGENT_REQUIRE_REPLY=1` (default off, per-agent opt-in). A turn
about to end with no recognized attempt to post gets a reminder and is
rerolled. **At most two, then the turn ends regardless** — the guard
catches accidental omission, it does not compel speech. The reminder
text explicitly licenses silence so it cannot fight the base prompt's
"silence is usually correct."
**This is not a new MCP hook.** `RunCtx::run` *is* the turn, so the two
per-turn locals need no plumbing, and every tool call already passes
through it with arguments visible. The objection is appended at the
existing `_Stop` gate and rides `push_hook_outputs_as_tool_results`, so
the model receives it as a lower-trust tool result with `{hook, server,
text}` attribution. No new trust path, no new lifecycle event, no
dev-mcp or CLI protocol change.
Earlier revisions of this plan needed four crates (a `_UserPromptSubmit`
hook, a marker file, a `buzz-cli` change, dev-mcp state). Tyler pointed
out the agent already knows both facts; that deleted all of it. Net
runtime change is ~35 lines in `agent.rs` + ~4 in `config.rs`.
### Recognition contract
A registered non-hook tool whose qualified name ends in `__shell`, whose
`command` argument contains `messages send` or `reactions add`.
- **The `__` separator is exact, not approximate.** Given `has()` +
`!is_hook()`, `ends_with("__shell")` is *provably equivalent* to a bare
name of `shell`: registration forbids `__` in server and bare names
(`mcp.rs:227,268`) and qnames are `{server}__{bare}`, so a trailing
`__shell` could only straddle the separator if the bare name began with
`_` — which `is_hook` excludes. Without the separator, `powershell` and
`noshell` would match.
- **Reads the structured `command` field**, not serialized arguments, so
a `description` that quotes a send cannot disarm the guard, and a
non-string `command` is rejected rather than coerced.
- **Detects an attempt, not a successful publish.** A failed send
already returns non-zero exit and error JSON — louder than this
reminder. The variable is named `buzz_reply_call_seen` so the code can't
pretend otherwise.
- **Checked after the per-turn tool-call cap**, since a discarded call
never ran.
- `messages send` also covers `messages send-diff`. Reactions count
because the base prompt directs agents to react rather than post a bare
acknowledgement.
**Known limits, both deliberate and documented:** a command assembled at
runtime (`$CMD`) or hidden in a wrapper script is missed; text that
merely quotes a send (`echo "buzz messages send"`) matches. Missing a
real post is the expensive direction and substring matching is the
forgiving one there. Neither edge is pinned by a test, so the matcher
stays free to improve.
### Budget
Reminders share `BUZZ_AGENT_STOP_MAX_REJECTIONS`, the existing outer cap
on every end-turn objection. Default 3 fits both; at 1 only one fits; at
0 the guard is off with the hooks. A round carrying both a hook
objection and a reminder costs one rejection and delivers both texts. An
independent budget would either violate that bound or need a second
arbitration rule.
## Prior art
- **#3467** (closed) built the same detector one layer up in `buzz-acp`
for a different remedy. None of its symbols are on main — this borrows
its permission to be coarse, but reads structured data that ACP didn't
have.
- **#3648** (open) detects turns with *no output at all*; a turn with
fifteen tool calls and no post counts as output there, so it does not
cover this case.
- **#3741** (merged) is mesh-only.
## Testing
**14 new tests.** 4 unit tests on the matcher; 10 integration tests
through the ACP wire harness: off by default, `=0` still off, opted-in
silent → exactly 2 reminders then `end_turn`, registered `fake__shell`
send → 0 reminders, hallucinated `fake__shell` → still reminded, publish
call truncated past the 64-call cap → still reminded, budget 1 → 1
reminder, budget 0 → off, combined `_Stop` hook objection + reminder →
one round both texts and after 2 reminders the hook objection continues
alone, unparseable `=true` → startup error naming the key.
**10 mutation checks, each breaking a specific named test** — neutralize
the nag cap, stop sharing the budget, neutralize `buzz_reply_call_seen`,
drop `has`/`is_hook`, ignore the flag, drop the `__`, drop `reactions
add`, read serialized args, move detection before truncation.
`tests/bin/fake_mcp.rs` gains `FAKE_MCP_SHELL_TOOL=1`: it previously
exposed no tool with a bare name of `shell`, so the satisfied-guard path
was untestable.
Full `cargo test -p buzz-agent` green at 9e0ae1f04; clippy `-D warnings`
and `cargo fmt --check` clean.
**Unrelated flake found:**
`cancelled_turn_with_usage_emits_notification_before_response`
(`tests/fake_llm.rs`) is timing-sensitive. Under 10 loaded cores it
fails **2/20 on this branch and 1/20 at unmodified
`origin/main@02be413b8`** — pre-existing, not caused by this change
(which is inert without the env var). Flagging so it isn't misattributed
to the next PR that's open when CI hits it.
## Docs
`crates/buzz-agent/README.md` is the primary home (env var, recognition
contract, limits, budget interaction). `docs/MCP_DRIVEN_HOOKS.md` gets a
short cross-reference explaining this is *not* a hook — otherwise
readers hunt for a `_ReplyGuard` tool that doesn't exist.
---------
Signed-off-by: tlongwell-block <109685178+tlongwell-block@users.noreply.github.com>
Signed-off-by: npub1mprnacetjua2xx3p5eddmhxyk6wv929ymm5py8kd2xfxurxahspqqlgyta <d8473ee32b973aa31a21a65adddcc4b69cc2a8a4dee8121ecd51926e0cddbc02@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz>
Co-authored-by: Dawn (sprout agent) <c6237ef84fa537c78dcee78efd2d4e59f728859c7f194da42ac51ededfa0be05@sprout-oss.stage.blox.sqprod.co>
Co-authored-by: npub1mprnacetjua2xx3p5eddmhxyk6wv929ymm5py8kd2xfxurxahspqqlgyta <d8473ee32b973aa31a21a65adddcc4b69cc2a8a4dee8121ecd51926e0cddbc02@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz>
## Summary
First-class `Provider::OpenRouter` support joining the existing
anthropic/openai/databricks providers. Reuses the Chat Completions path
with targeted mutations for OpenRouter's routing contract.
**Core (`crates/buzz-agent`):**
- `Provider::OpenRouter` enum variant with `OPENROUTER_API_KEY`,
`BUZZ_AGENT_MODEL` → `OPENROUTER_MODEL` fallback, `OPENROUTER_BASE_URL`
env convention
- Body mutator: `reasoning: {effort}` when effort is configured, and
`max_completion_tokens` translated to OpenRouter's `max_tokens`
spelling; no `provider.require_parameters` filter (it routes only to
endpoints advertising every parameter in the body, which hard-404s a
valid model id); summaries get neither. `openai_body` is always called
with `effort=None` on the OpenRouter path — the `reasoning` object is
added by the mutator directly, so `reasoning_effort` is structurally
absent.
- Attribution headers: `HTTP-Referer: https://github.com/block/buzz`,
`X-OpenRouter-Title: Buzz`
- Error-inside-200 check in shared `parse_openai` (`finish_reason ==
"error"`)
- 401 auth handling: static API keys (`refresh_now` returns the same
token) fail terminal immediately with one wire request; PKCE/minting
sources get one retry with the fresh token.
- Status+`error_type` retry matrix (4-arm collapsed form): 429 (honor
`Retry-After`), 502 (retry), 503/`provider_overloaded` (honor
`Retry-After`), everything else including untyped 503 (bounded retries →
actionable routing message). 499 included matching shared `post()`
(#2175) for turn-timeout stall surfacing. Terminal failures wrapped in
`terminal_llm_error` for duration+attempt-count context.
- `anthropic/*` `cache_control` injection (model-gated, mixed-content
safe)
- Provider-agnostic `reasoning_details` opaque round-trip on
`HistoryItem::Assistant` for tool-call continuations — captured verbatim
in `parse_openai_with_reasoning_details`, replayed verbatim in
`openai_body`, byte-accounting charged. `provider_extra` passthrough
from `make_tool_call` composes independently.
**Desktop:**
- Readiness arms checking `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` + `OPENROUTER_MODEL`
- Model discovery via `{OPENROUTER_BASE_URL}/models` filtered on
`supported_parameters` contains `tools`
- Picker entry, credential config, effort table 3-file sync
**`desktop/src/features/agents/AGENTS.md`: no rules changed** — the
scoped rule requiring an explicit note is satisfied here.
Implements the gate-cleared plan from
`PLANS/OPENROUTER_PROVIDER_PLAN.md` (rev 3).
Signed-off-by: Will Pfleger <pfleger.will@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: npub1mn7jgtj4w2pd0g0zeuhxsa6jy6p0rewxz4kujt98my82ahfmp72sxjexk7 <dcfd242e557282d7a1e2cf2e6877522682f1e5c6156dc92ca7d90eaedd3b0f95@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz>
