diff --git a/src/tools/filesystem.js b/src/tools/filesystem.js
index 6be421b7..2f42dadb 100644
--- a/src/tools/filesystem.js
+++ b/src/tools/filesystem.js
@@ -433,7 +433,7 @@ export async function searchFilesImpl(input, options) {
 			resolved.path,
 		].filter(Boolean);
 		const { stdout } = await execFile("rg", rgArgs, { timeout: 10000, encoding: "utf-8" });
-		const output = String(stdout).trim();
+		const output = stdout?.trim() ?? stdout;
 
 		if (!output) {
 			return "No matches found.";
diff --git a/src/tools/session_search.js b/src/tools/session_search.js
index 46266b4c..717a94cc 100644
--- a/src/tools/session_search.js
+++ b/src/tools/session_search.js
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ async function searchConversations(sessionsDir, query, limit) {
 		return { stdout: "", stderr: err.message };
 	});
 
-	const output = String(stdout).trim();
+	const output = stdout?.trim() ?? stdout;
 	if (!output) {
 		return `No conversations matched query "${query}"`;
 	}