Compact the error a failed command reports, instead of Playwright's whole retry log

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 2026-08-21
+
+### Changes
+
+- A browser command that fails now reports a short error instead of Playwright's full retry log.
+  Click, hover, key press, form and back/reset failures used to carry every wait and retry line,
+  the same reason repeated once per attempt, and terminal color codes — around 850 characters for
+  one disabled button. What is left is the element the locator resolved to and the reason it could
+  not be acted on, so the AI reads the blocker instead of scrolling past bookkeeping.
 ## 2026-08-20
 
 ### Changes

src/ai/tester.ts

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import { detectFocusArea } from '../utils/aria.ts';
 import { ErrorPageError, isErrorPage } from '../utils/error-page.ts';
 import { createDebug, tag } from '../utils/logger.ts';
 import { loop } from '../utils/loop.ts';
+import { compactErrorMessage } from '../utils/strings.ts';
 import type { Agent, AgentDeps } from './agent.ts';
 import type { Captain } from './captain.ts';
 import type { Conversation } from './conversation.ts';
@@ -941,7 +942,7 @@ export class Tester extends TaskAgent implements Agent {
           };
 
           if (resetAction.lastError) {
-            result.error = resetAction.lastError.toString();
+            result.error = compactErrorMessage(resetAction.lastError);
           }
 
           return result;

src/ai/tools.ts

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { type Task, TestResult } from '../test-plan.js';
 import { LARGE_ARIA_CHANGE_THRESHOLD } from '../utils/aria.ts';
 import { isFatalBrowserError } from '../utils/browser-errors.ts';
 import { createDebug, tag } from '../utils/logger.js';
+import { compactErrorMessage } from '../utils/strings.ts';
 import { pause } from '../utils/loop.js';
 import { WebElement } from '../utils/web-element.ts';
 import type { ToolDeps } from './agent.ts';
@@ -94,7 +95,7 @@ export function createCodeceptJSTools({ explorer, stateManager, ai }: ToolDeps,
           const success = await action.attempt(command, explanation);
 
           const attempt: { command: string; success: boolean; error?: string } = { command, success };
-          if (action.lastError) attempt.error = action.lastError.toString();
+          if (action.lastError) attempt.error = errorText(action.lastError);
           attempts.push(attempt);
 
           if (success) {
@@ -120,7 +121,7 @@ export function createCodeceptJSTools({ explorer, stateManager, ai }: ToolDeps,
 
           for (const retryCmd of retryCommands) {
             if (!(await action.attempt(retryCmd, explanation))) {
-              attempts.push({ command: retryCmd, success: false, error: action.lastError?.toString() });
+              attempts.push({ command: retryCmd, success: false, error: errorText(action.lastError) });
               continue;
             }
             const toolResult = await ActionResult.fromState(stateManager.getCurrentState()!).toToolResult(previousState, retryCmd);
@@ -198,7 +199,7 @@ export function createCodeceptJSTools({ explorer, stateManager, ai }: ToolDeps,
         for (const command of commands) {
           const success = await action.attempt(command, explanation);
           const attempt: { command: string; success: boolean; error?: string } = { command, success };
-          if (action.lastError) attempt.error = action.lastError.toString();
+          if (action.lastError) attempt.error = errorText(action.lastError);
           attempts.push(attempt);
 
           if (!success) continue;
@@ -281,7 +282,7 @@ export function createCodeceptJSTools({ explorer, stateManager, ai }: ToolDeps,
               );
             }
 
-            const errorMsg = `pressKey fallback to type() failed: ${action.lastError?.toString()}`;
+            const errorMsg = `pressKey fallback to type() failed: ${errorText(action.lastError)}`;
             await commitNote(activeNote, TestResult.FAILED, toolResult, action);
             return failedToolResult('pressKey', errorMsg, {
               ...toolResult,
@@ -327,7 +328,7 @@ export function createCodeceptJSTools({ explorer, stateManager, ai }: ToolDeps,
             );
           }
 
-          const errorMsg = `pressKey() failed: ${action.lastError?.toString()}`;
+          const errorMsg = `pressKey() failed: ${errorText(action.lastError)}`;
           await commitNote(activeNote, TestResult.FAILED, toolResult, action);
           return failedToolResult('pressKey', errorMsg, {
             ...toolResult,
@@ -407,7 +408,7 @@ export function createCodeceptJSTools({ explorer, stateManager, ai }: ToolDeps,
           const toolResult = await ActionResult.fromState(stateManager.getCurrentState()!).toToolResult(previousState, formLocator);
 
           if (action.lastError) {
-            const message = action.lastError ? String(action.lastError) : 'Unknown error';
+            const message = errorText(action.lastError);
             await commitNote(activeNote, TestResult.FAILED, toolResult, action);
 
             let formSuggestion = 'Look into error message and identify which commands passed and which failed. Continue execution using step-by-step approach using click() and form() tools.';
@@ -950,7 +951,7 @@ export function createAgentTools({ explorer, stateManager, ai, researcher, navig
         }
 
         const failData: Record<string, any> = { suggestion: 'Try reset() to return to the starting page.' };
-        if (action.lastError) failData.error = action.lastError.toString();
+        if (action.lastError) failData.error = errorText(action.lastError);
         return failedToolResult('back', `Failed to navigate back to ${targetUrl}`, failData);
       },
     }),
@@ -1152,7 +1153,7 @@ function transformContainsCommand(command: string): string {
 }
 
 function errorText(error: unknown): string {
-  if (error instanceof Error) return error.toString();
+  if (error instanceof Error) return compactErrorMessage(error);
   return 'Unknown error occurred';
 }
 

src/utils/strings.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { createHash } from 'node:crypto';
+import stripAnsi from 'strip-ansi';
 
 export function truncateJson(input: any): string {
   if (!input) return '';
@@ -40,3 +41,38 @@ export function safeFilename(name: string, ext = '', maxBytes = 240): string {
   }
   return truncated + suffix + ext;
 }
+
+export function truncate(text: string, max: number): string {
+  if (text.length <= max) return text;
+  return `${text.slice(0, max - 3)}...`;
+}
+
+const MAX_COMPACT_ERROR = 400;
+
+export function compactErrorMessage(error: unknown): string {
+  let text = stripAnsi(String(error));
+  for (const strip of STRIP_STRATEGIES) {
+    text = strip(text);
+  }
+  return truncate(text, MAX_COMPACT_ERROR);
+}
+
+function stripCallLog(text: string): string {
+  const CALL_LOG = 'Call log:';
+  const NOISE = ['attempting', 'retrying', 'waiting'];
+
+  const [headline, ...log] = text.split(CALL_LOG);
+  if (!log.length) return text;
+
+  const lines = new Set<string>();
+  for (const line of log.join(CALL_LOG).split('\n')) {
+    const cleaned = normalizeInlineText(line);
+    if (!cleaned) continue;
+    if (NOISE.some((noise) => cleaned.includes(noise))) continue;
+    lines.add(cleaned);
+  }
+
+  return [headline.trim(), ...lines].join(' ');
+}
+
+const STRIP_STRATEGIES = [stripCallLog];