chore(evals): rollback prompt-steering and behavioral changes to main

packages/cli/src/ui/components/DetailedMessagesDisplay.tsx

@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ export const DetailedMessagesDisplay: React.FC<
     >
       <Box marginBottom={1}>
         <Text bold color={theme.text.primary}>
-          Debug Console <Text color={theme.text.secondary}>(F12 to close)</Text>
+          Debug console <Text color={theme.text.secondary}>(F12 to close)</Text>
         </Text>
       </Box>
       <Box height={maxHeight} width={width - borderAndPadding}>

packages/cli/src/ui/components/LoadingIndicator.test.tsx

@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ describe('<LoadingIndicator />', () => {
     unmount();
   });
 
-  it('should display the elapsedTime correctly in human-readable format', async () => {
+  it('should display the elapsedTime correctly in minutes and OMIT seconds for > 1m', async () => {
     const props = {
       currentLoadingPhrase: 'Thinking...',
       elapsedTime: 125,
@@ -130,7 +130,9 @@ describe('<LoadingIndicator />', () => {
       StreamingState.Responding,
     );
     await waitUntilReady();
-    expect(lastFrame()).toContain('(esc to cancel, 2m 5s)');
+    const output = lastFrame();
+    expect(output).toContain('(esc to cancel, 2m)');
+    expect(output).not.toContain('5s');
     unmount();
   });
 
@@ -258,15 +260,13 @@ describe('<LoadingIndicator />', () => {
     const output = lastFrame();
     expect(output).toBeDefined();
     if (output) {
-      // Should NOT contain "Thinking... " prefix because the subject already starts with "Thinking"
+      expect(output).not.toContain('Gemini is thinking');
-      expect(output).not.toContain('Thinking... Thinking');
       expect(output).toContain('Thinking about something...');
-      expect(output).not.toContain('and other stuff.');
     }
     unmount();
   });
 
-  it('should NOT prepend "Thinking... " even if the subject does not start with "Thinking"', async () => {
+  it('should NOT prepend "Thinking... " if a subject is provided', async () => {
     const props = {
       thought: {
         subject: 'Planning the response...',

packages/cli/src/ui/components/LoadingIndicator.tsx

@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import { theme } from '../semantic-colors.js';
 import { useStreamingContext } from '../contexts/StreamingContext.js';
 import { StreamingState } from '../types.js';
 import { GeminiRespondingSpinner } from './GeminiRespondingSpinner.js';
-import { formatDuration } from '../utils/formatters.js';
 import { useTerminalSize } from '../hooks/useTerminalSize.js';
 import { isNarrowWidth } from '../utils/isNarrowWidth.js';
 import { INTERACTIVE_SHELL_WAITING_PHRASE } from '../hooks/usePhraseCycler.js';
@@ -74,7 +73,11 @@ export const LoadingIndicator: React.FC<LoadingIndicatorProps> = ({
   const cancelAndTimerContent =
     showCancelAndTimer &&
     streamingState !== StreamingState.WaitingForConfirmation
-      ? `(esc to cancel, ${elapsedTime < 60 ? `${elapsedTime}s` : formatDuration(elapsedTime * 1000)})`
+      ? `(esc to cancel, ${
+          elapsedTime < 60
+            ? `${elapsedTime}s`
+            : `${Math.floor(elapsedTime / 60)}m`
+        })`
       : null;
 
   const wittyPhraseNode =

packages/cli/src/ui/components/__snapshots__/DetailedMessagesDisplay.test.tsx.snap

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 exports[`DetailedMessagesDisplay > renders message counts 1`] = `
 "
 ╭──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
-│ Debug Console (F12 to close)                                                 │
+│ Debug console (F12 to close)                                                 │
 │                                                                              │
 │ ℹ  Repeated message (x5)                                                     │
 │                                                                              │
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ exports[`DetailedMessagesDisplay > renders message counts 1`] = `
 exports[`DetailedMessagesDisplay > renders messages correctly 1`] = `
 "
 ╭──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
-│ Debug Console (F12 to close)                                                 │
+│ Debug console (F12 to close)                                                 │
 │                                                                              │
 │ ℹ  Log message                                                               │
 │ ⚠  Warning message                                                           │

packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useGeminiStream.test.tsx

@@ -1048,7 +1048,7 @@ describe('useGeminiStream', () => {
     ).toBe(false);
     expect(
       infoTexts.some((text) =>
-        text.includes('This request failed. Press F12 for diagnostics'),
+        text.includes('Request failed. Press F12 for diagnostics'),
       ),
     ).toBe(false);
   });
@@ -1108,15 +1108,13 @@ describe('useGeminiStream', () => {
       ([item]) => (item as { text?: string }).text ?? '',
     );
     const noteIndex = infoTexts.findIndex((text) =>
-      text.includes(
+      text.includes('Previous tool attempts failed'),
-        'Some internal tool attempts failed before this final error',
-      ),
     );
     const stopIndex = infoTexts.findIndex((text) =>
       text.includes('Agent execution stopped: Stop reason from hook'),
     );
     const failureHintIndex = infoTexts.findIndex((text) =>
-      text.includes('This request failed. Press F12 for diagnostics'),
+      text.includes('Request failed. Press F12 for diagnostics'),
     );
     expect(noteIndex).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);
     expect(stopIndex).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);

packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useGeminiStream.ts

@@ -110,9 +110,9 @@ enum StreamProcessingStatus {
 }
 
 const SUPPRESSED_TOOL_ERRORS_NOTE =
-  'Some internal tool attempts failed before this final error. Press F12 for diagnostics, or run /settings and change "Error Verbosity" to full for details.';
+  'Previous tool attempts failed. Press F12 for diagnostics or set ui.errorVerbosity=full for details';
 const LOW_VERBOSITY_FAILURE_NOTE =
-  'This request failed. Press F12 for diagnostics, or run /settings and change "Error Verbosity" to full for full details.';
+  'Request failed. Press F12 for diagnostics or set ui.errorVerbosity=full for details';
 
 function getBackgroundedToolInfo(
   toolCall: TrackedCompletedToolCall | TrackedCancelledToolCall,

packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useLoadingIndicator.test.tsx

@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ describe('useLoadingIndicator', () => {
       retryStatus,
     );
 
-    expect(result.current.currentLoadingPhrase).toContain('Trying to reach');
+    expect(result.current.currentLoadingPhrase).toContain('Retrying');
     expect(result.current.currentLoadingPhrase).toContain('Attempt 3/3');
   });
 
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ describe('useLoadingIndicator', () => {
     );
 
     expect(result.current.currentLoadingPhrase).not.toBe(
-      "This is taking a bit longer, we're still on it.",
+      'System busy. Retrying...',
     );
   });
 
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ describe('useLoadingIndicator', () => {
     );
 
     expect(result.current.currentLoadingPhrase).toBe(
-      "This is taking a bit longer, we're still on it.",
+      'System busy. Retrying...',
     );
   });
 

packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useLoadingIndicator.ts

@@ -82,9 +82,9 @@ export const useLoadingIndicator = ({
   const retryPhrase = retryStatus
     ? errorVerbosity === 'low'
       ? retryStatus.attempt >= LOW_VERBOSITY_RETRY_HINT_ATTEMPT_THRESHOLD
-        ? "This is taking a bit longer, we're still on it."
+        ? 'System busy. Retrying...'
         : null
-      : `Trying to reach ${getDisplayString(retryStatus.model)} (Attempt ${retryStatus.attempt + 1}/${retryStatus.maxAttempts})`
+      : `Retrying ${getDisplayString(retryStatus.model)} (Attempt ${retryStatus.attempt + 1}/${retryStatus.maxAttempts})`
     : null;
 
   return {

packages/core/src/utils/errorParsing.test.ts

@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ import { AuthType } from '../core/contentGenerator.js';
 import type { StructuredError } from '../core/turn.js';
 
 describe('parseAndFormatApiError', () => {
-  const vertexMessage = 'request a quota increase through Vertex';
+  const vertexMessage = 'request a quota increase in Vertex';
-  const geminiMessage = 'request a quota increase through AI Studio';
+  const geminiMessage = 'request a quota increase in AI Studio';
 
   it('should format a valid API error JSON', () => {
     const errorMessage =
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ describe('parseAndFormatApiError', () => {
     );
     expect(result).toContain('[API Error: Rate limit exceeded');
     expect(result).toContain(
-      'Possible quota limitations in place or slow response times detected. Switching to the gemini-2.5-flash model',
+      'System busy or quota limit reached. Switching to gemini-2.5-flash for the rest of this session.',
     );
   });
 

packages/core/src/utils/errorParsing.ts

@@ -10,13 +10,13 @@ import type { UserTierId } from '../code_assist/types.js';
 import { AuthType } from '../core/contentGenerator.js';
 
 const RATE_LIMIT_ERROR_MESSAGE_USE_GEMINI =
-  '\nPlease wait and try again later. To increase your limits, request a quota increase through AI Studio, or switch to another /auth method';
+  '\nRate limit reached. Try again later, request a quota increase in AI Studio, or switch /auth method';
 const RATE_LIMIT_ERROR_MESSAGE_VERTEX =
-  '\nPlease wait and try again later. To increase your limits, request a quota increase through Vertex, or switch to another /auth method';
+  '\nRate limit reached. Try again later, request a quota increase in Vertex, or switch /auth method';
 const getRateLimitErrorMessageDefault = (
   fallbackModel: string = DEFAULT_GEMINI_FLASH_MODEL,
 ) =>
-  `\nPossible quota limitations in place or slow response times detected. Switching to the ${fallbackModel} model for the rest of this session.`;
+  `\nSystem busy or quota limit reached. Switching to ${fallbackModel} for the rest of this session.`;
 
 function getRateLimitMessage(
   authType?: AuthType,