Improve interactive terminal input handling

[meganrogge]

When a terminal command waits for interactive input (e.g. npm init), the agent would sometimes respond with a text message suggesting the user interact directly, or batch all answers into a single send. This PR fixes that across sync, async, and background notification paths.

Also:

• Shows "Pressed Enter in terminal" instead of "Sent " for empty input in send_to_terminal
• Documents that command can be empty/whitespace to press Enter
• Deduplicates rapid onDidDetectInputNeeded steering messages (same output within 5s)

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Improves the terminal chat agent’s handling of interactive prompts by steering the model to send one prompt answer at a time (including “press Enter” sends) and by adding explicit guidance/notifications for input-needed cases across sync/async/background flows.

Changes:

• Update SendToTerminal UI messages to treat empty/whitespace sends as “Press Enter” rather than a command send.
• Expand RunInTerminal model guidance to require one-answer-per-prompt behavior (ask via vscode_askQuestions when not auto-approved).
• Add a background “input needed” steering notification when the output monitor detects an interactive prompt in a background terminal.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/vs/workbench/contrib/terminalContrib/chatAgentTools/browser/tools/sendToTerminalTool.ts	Adds “press Enter” messaging for empty input sends and adjusts confirmation text formatting.
src/vs/workbench/contrib/terminalContrib/chatAgentTools/browser/tools/runInTerminalTool.ts	Strengthens interactive-input guidance and sends a steering request when background terminals need input.

Copilot's findings

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (2)

src/vs/workbench/contrib/terminalContrib/chatAgentTools/browser/tools/sendToTerminalTool.ts:103

• New behavior for empty input ("Pressing Enter") in prepareToolInvocation isn't covered by the existing SendToTerminalTool tests (they only assert general message presence/truncation/newline normalization). Add a unit test that passes an empty/whitespace command and asserts the progressive/past/confirmation messages match the Enter semantics, to prevent regressions in interactive prompt flows.

		const pastTenseMessage = new MarkdownString();
		if (isEmptyInput) {
			invocationMessage.appendMarkdown(localize('send.progressive.enter', "Pressing `Enter` in terminal"));
			pastTenseMessage.appendMarkdown(localize('send.past.enter', "Pressed `Enter` in terminal"));
		} else {

src/vs/workbench/contrib/terminalContrib/chatAgentTools/browser/tools/runInTerminalTool.ts:1924

• The new background input-needed notification path (steering request sent from _registerCompletionNotification when onDidDetectInputNeeded fires) isn't covered by the existing RunInTerminalTool tests. Consider adding a focused test that stubs IChatService.sendRequest, triggers onDidDetectInputNeeded, and asserts a single steering request is queued, so future refactors don't break interactive input handling for background terminals.

			// When the output monitor detects the terminal is waiting for input,
			// send a steering message so the agent handles it via send_to_terminal.
			store.add(outputMonitor.onDidDetectInputNeeded(() => {
				const execution = RunInTerminalTool._activeExecutions.get(termId);
				if (!execution) {
					return;
				}
				const currentOutput = execution.getOutput();
				const isAutoApproved = isSessionAutoApproveLevel(chatSessionResource, this._configurationService, this._chatWidgetService, this._chatService);
				const inputAction = isAutoApproved
					? `Determine the best answer for the current prompt from context and immediately call ${TerminalToolId.SendToTerminal} with id "${termId}" to send ONLY that one answer. Then call ${TerminalToolId.GetTerminalOutput} to read the next prompt. Repeat one prompt at a time until the command finishes. Do NOT send multiple answers at once. Do NOT ask the user or respond with a text message.`
					: `You MUST call the vscode_askQuestions tool to ask the user what values to provide. Do NOT respond with a text message asking the user — use the tool. Then send ONLY the answer for the current prompt using ${TerminalToolId.SendToTerminal} with id "${termId}", call ${TerminalToolId.GetTerminalOutput} to read the next prompt, and repeat one prompt at a time.`;
				const message = `[Terminal ${termId} notification: command is waiting for input. ${inputAction}]\nTerminal output:\n${currentOutput}`;

				this._logService.debug(`RunInTerminalTool: Input needed in background terminal ${termId}, notifying chat session`);

				this._chatService.sendRequest(chatSessionResource, message, {
					queue: ChatRequestQueueKind.Steering,
					isSystemInitiated: true,

• Files reviewed: 2/2 changed files
• Comments generated: 2

[github-actions]

Screenshot Changes

Base: 5ed47665 Current: 7bd08951

Changed (1)

agentSessionsViewer/ApprovalRowLongLabel/Light

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