feat(mastracode): add quiet mode (#16771)

Co-authored-by: Mastra Code (openai/gpt-5.5) <noreply@mastra.ai>

Author: TylerBarnes

.changeset/quiet-mode-rollout.md

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+'mastracode': patch
+'@mastra/core': patch
+---
+
+Improved MastraCode quiet mode so terminal sessions are easier to scan.
+
+- Quiet mode is now the default for new installs, and existing classic users get a one-time prompt to choose whether to enable it.
+- Added compact tool previews with a configurable preview-line limit, including an option to hide previews.
+- Improved repeated tool-call rendering, path continuation handling, task wrapping, shell/error previews, and spacing between tools, messages, plans, and completed subagents.
+- Added edited line ranges to workspace edit results so tool UIs can show where replacements happened.

mastracode/src/onboarding/__tests__/settings.test.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { mkdtempSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
 import { join } from 'node:path';
-import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
 
 import {
   getCustomProviderId,
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ function createSettings(overrides?: Partial<GlobalSettings>): GlobalSettings {
       version: 0,
       modePackId: null,
       omPackId: null,
+      quietModePreferenceSelected: true,
     },
     models: {
       activeModelPackId: 'anthropic',
@@ -37,8 +38,10 @@ function createSettings(overrides?: Partial<GlobalSettings>): GlobalSettings {
       omCavemanObservations: null,
       omObserveAttachments: null,
       subagentModels: {},
+      goalJudgeModel: null,
+      goalMaxTurns: null,
     },
-    preferences: { yolo: null, theme: 'auto', thinkingLevel: 'off', quietMode: false },
+    preferences: { yolo: null, theme: 'auto', thinkingLevel: 'off', quietMode: false, quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines: 2 },
     storage,
     customProviders: [],
     customModelPacks: [
@@ -62,6 +65,7 @@ function createSettings(overrides?: Partial<GlobalSettings>): GlobalSettings {
       viewport: { width: 1280, height: 720 },
       stagehand: { env: 'LOCAL' },
     },
+    observability: { resources: {}, localTracing: false },
     ...overrides,
   };
 }
@@ -104,6 +108,110 @@ describe('customProviders parsing/persistence', () => {
 
       expect(settings.customProviders).toEqual([]);
       expect(settings.preferences.thinkingLevel).toBe('off');
+      expect(settings.preferences.quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines).toBe(2);
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('normalizes quiet mode preview line limits', () => {
+    withTempSettingsFile(filePath => {
+      writeFileSync(
+        filePath,
+        JSON.stringify({ onboarding: {}, models: {}, preferences: { quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines: 2.9 }, storage: {} }),
+        'utf-8',
+      );
+      expect(loadSettings(filePath).preferences.quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines).toBe(2);
+
+      writeFileSync(
+        filePath,
+        JSON.stringify({ onboarding: {}, models: {}, preferences: { quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines: -4 }, storage: {} }),
+        'utf-8',
+      );
+      expect(loadSettings(filePath).preferences.quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines).toBe(0);
+
+      writeFileSync(
+        filePath,
+        JSON.stringify({ onboarding: {}, models: {}, preferences: { quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines: 999 }, storage: {} }),
+        'utf-8',
+      );
+      expect(loadSettings(filePath).preferences.quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines).toBe(8);
+
+      writeFileSync(filePath, '{}', 'utf-8');
+      vi.spyOn(JSON, 'parse').mockReturnValueOnce({
+        onboarding: { quietModePreferenceSelected: true },
+        models: {},
+        preferences: { quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines: Number.NaN },
+        storage: {},
+      });
+      expect(loadSettings(filePath).preferences.quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines).toBe(2);
+      vi.mocked(JSON.parse).mockRestore();
+
+      vi.spyOn(JSON, 'parse').mockReturnValueOnce({
+        onboarding: { quietModePreferenceSelected: true },
+        models: {},
+        preferences: { quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines: Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY },
+        storage: {},
+      });
+      expect(loadSettings(filePath).preferences.quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines).toBe(2);
+      vi.mocked(JSON.parse).mockRestore();
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('defaults new installs to quiet mode with the preference selected', () => {
+    withTempSettingsFile(filePath => {
+      const settings = loadSettings(filePath);
+
+      expect(settings.preferences.quietMode).toBe(true);
+      expect(settings.onboarding.quietModePreferenceSelected).toBe(true);
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('marks existing classic users as needing the quiet mode preference prompt', () => {
+    withTempSettingsFile(filePath => {
+      writeFileSync(
+        filePath,
+        JSON.stringify({ onboarding: {}, models: {}, preferences: { quietMode: false }, storage: {} }),
+        'utf-8',
+      );
+
+      const settings = loadSettings(filePath);
+
+      expect(settings.preferences.quietMode).toBe(false);
+      expect(settings.onboarding.quietModePreferenceSelected).toBe(false);
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('does not prompt existing users who already enabled quiet mode', () => {
+    withTempSettingsFile(filePath => {
+      writeFileSync(
+        filePath,
+        JSON.stringify({ onboarding: {}, models: {}, preferences: { quietMode: true }, storage: {} }),
+        'utf-8',
+      );
+
+      const settings = loadSettings(filePath);
+
+      expect(settings.preferences.quietMode).toBe(true);
+      expect(settings.onboarding.quietModePreferenceSelected).toBe(true);
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('preserves existing quiet mode preference selections', () => {
+    withTempSettingsFile(filePath => {
+      writeFileSync(
+        filePath,
+        JSON.stringify({
+          onboarding: { quietModePreferenceSelected: true },
+          models: {},
+          preferences: { quietMode: false },
+          storage: {},
+        }),
+        'utf-8',
+      );
+
+      const settings = loadSettings(filePath);
+
+      expect(settings.preferences.quietMode).toBe(false);
+      expect(settings.onboarding.quietModePreferenceSelected).toBe(true);
     });
   });
 

mastracode/src/onboarding/settings.ts

@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ export interface GlobalSettings {
     version: number;
     modePackId: string | null;
     omPackId: string | null;
+    quietModePreferenceSelected: boolean;
   };
   // Global model preferences (applied to new threads)
   models: {
@@ -187,6 +188,8 @@ export interface GlobalSettings {
     thinkingLevel: ThinkingLevelSetting;
     /** When true, components like subagent output collapse to compact summaries on completion. */
     quietMode: boolean;
+    /** Maximum quiet-mode detail preview lines for compact tool calls. Set to 0 to hide previews. */
+    quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines: number;
   };
   // Storage backend configuration
   storage: StorageSettings;
@@ -238,6 +241,7 @@ const DEFAULTS: GlobalSettings = {
     version: 0,
     modePackId: null,
     omPackId: null,
+    quietModePreferenceSelected: true,
   },
   models: {
     activeModelPackId: null,
@@ -259,6 +263,7 @@ const DEFAULTS: GlobalSettings = {
     theme: 'auto',
     thinkingLevel: 'off',
     quietMode: false,
+    quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines: 2,
   },
   storage: { ...STORAGE_DEFAULTS },
   customModelPacks: [],
@@ -278,23 +283,51 @@ const DEFAULTS: GlobalSettings = {
 };
 
 const THINKING_LEVEL_VALUES: ThinkingLevelSetting[] = ['off', 'low', 'medium', 'high', 'xhigh'];
+const QUIET_MODE_MAX_TOOL_PREVIEW_LINES_MAX = 8;
 
 function parseThinkingLevel(value: unknown): ThinkingLevelSetting {
   return typeof value === 'string' && THINKING_LEVEL_VALUES.includes(value as ThinkingLevelSetting)
     ? (value as ThinkingLevelSetting)
     : DEFAULTS.preferences.thinkingLevel;
 }
 
+function parseQuietModeMaxToolPreviewLines(value: unknown): number {
+  const rawValue =
+    typeof value === 'number' && Number.isFinite(value) ? value : DEFAULTS.preferences.quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines;
+  return Math.min(QUIET_MODE_MAX_TOOL_PREVIEW_LINES_MAX, Math.max(0, Math.floor(rawValue)));
+}
+
 function parsePreferences(rawPreferences: unknown): GlobalSettings['preferences'] {
   const raw = rawPreferences && typeof rawPreferences === 'object' ? (rawPreferences as Record<string, unknown>) : {};
 
   return {
     ...DEFAULTS.preferences,
     ...raw,
     thinkingLevel: parseThinkingLevel(raw.thinkingLevel),
+    quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines: parseQuietModeMaxToolPreviewLines(raw.quietModeMaxToolPreviewLines),
   };
 }
 
+function hasQuietModePreferenceSelected(rawOnboarding: unknown): boolean {
+  return Boolean(
+    rawOnboarding &&
+    typeof rawOnboarding === 'object' &&
+    Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(rawOnboarding, 'quietModePreferenceSelected'),
+  );
+}
+
+function applyQuietModePreferenceRollout(settings: GlobalSettings, rawOnboarding: unknown): void {
+  if (hasQuietModePreferenceSelected(rawOnboarding)) return;
+  settings.onboarding.quietModePreferenceSelected = settings.preferences.quietMode === true;
+}
+
+function getNewInstallDefaults(): GlobalSettings {
+  const settings = structuredClone(DEFAULTS);
+  settings.preferences.quietMode = true;
+  settings.onboarding.quietModePreferenceSelected = true;
+  return settings;
+}
+
 export function getSettingsPath(): string {
   return join(getAppDataDir(), 'settings.json');
 }
@@ -482,6 +515,7 @@ function migrateFromAuth(settingsPath: string): boolean {
         browser: parseBrowserSettings(raw.browser),
         observability: parseObservabilitySettings(raw.observability),
       };
+      applyQuietModePreferenceRollout(settings, raw.onboarding);
     } catch {
       settings = structuredClone(DEFAULTS);
     }
@@ -576,7 +610,7 @@ export function loadSettings(filePath: string = getSettingsPath()): GlobalSettin
   // One-time migration: move model data from auth.json into settings.json
   migrateFromAuth(filePath);
 
-  if (!existsSync(filePath)) return structuredClone(DEFAULTS);
+  if (!existsSync(filePath)) return getNewInstallDefaults();
   try {
     const raw = JSON.parse(readFileSync(filePath, 'utf-8'));
     // Spread raw first to preserve unknown top-level keys (forward-compatibility),
@@ -604,6 +638,10 @@ export function loadSettings(filePath: string = getSettingsPath()): GlobalSettin
 
     // Migrate legacy omModelId → omModelOverride
     let settingsChanged = false;
+    if (!hasQuietModePreferenceSelected(raw.onboarding)) {
+      applyQuietModePreferenceRollout(settings, raw.onboarding);
+      settingsChanged = true;
+    }
     if (raw.models?.omModelId && !settings.models.omModelOverride) {
       settings.models.omModelOverride = raw.models.omModelId;
       settingsChanged = true;