feat(plan): update planning workflow to encourage multi-select with descriptions of options

[Adib234]

Summary

Update the planning workflow and ask_user tool to favor multi-select options with descriptive context, improving user decision-making during implementation planning.

Details

• Enhanced Planning Workflow: Updated the Consult step in the Plan mode instructions (within packages/core/src/prompts/snippets.ts) to explicitly guide the agent to use multi-select and provide detailed descriptions for each option when presenting implementation approaches via ask_user.
• Improved Tool Description: Refined the description of the ask_user tool in the Gemini 3 model family set to prioritize multiple-choice options with detailed descriptions and multi-select capability.

Related Issues

Fixes #18920

How to Validate

Model should ask multi-select questions more often

Pre-Merge Checklist

• Updated relevant documentation and README (if needed)
• Added/updated tests (if needed)
• Noted breaking changes (if any)
• Validated on required platforms/methods:
  • MacOS
    • npm run
    • npx
    • Docker
    • Podman
    • Seatbelt
  • Windows
    • npm run
    • npx
    • Docker
  • Linux
    • npm run
    • npx
    • Docker

[gemini-code-assist]

Summary of Changes

Hello @Adib234, I'm Gemini Code Assist¹! I'm currently reviewing this pull request and will post my feedback shortly. In the meantime, here's a summary to help you and other reviewers quickly get up to speed!

This pull request refines the agent's planning workflow by guiding it to offer more comprehensive and flexible interaction options to users. By promoting multi-select questions with detailed descriptions, the changes aim to enhance user understanding and decision-making during the planning phase, particularly for agents operating in 'Plan Mode'.

Highlights

• Enhanced Planning Workflow: The planning workflow has been updated to encourage the use of multi-select options with detailed descriptions when the agent consults the user, improving clarity and flexibility.
• Updated System Prompt: The system prompt for preview models in 'Plan Mode' now includes explicit instructions for leveraging multi-select and detailed descriptions with the ask_user tool.
• Ask User Tool Description: The ask_user tool's description has been modified to emphasize the preference for providing multiple-choice options with detailed descriptions and enabling multi-select.
• New Test Coverage: A new test case was added to ensure that the modern PLAN mode instructions are correctly included in the system prompt for preview models.

Changelog

• packages/core/src/core/snapshots/prompts.test.ts.snap
  • Updated the snapshot to reflect the new PLAN mode instructions for preview models.
• packages/core/src/core/prompts.test.ts
  • Added a new test case to verify that modern PLAN mode instructions are included in the system prompt for preview models.
• packages/core/src/prompts/snippets.ts
  • Modified the 'Consult' step in the planning workflow to explicitly encourage multi-select with detailed descriptions for options presented to the user.
• packages/core/src/tools/ask-user.test.ts
  • Updated the test for the ask_user tool's metadata to include an assertion for its enhanced description.
• packages/core/src/tools/definitions/coreTools.ts
  • Modified the description of the ask_user tool to recommend providing multiple-choice options with detailed descriptions and enabling multi-select.

Activity

• This pull request addresses and fixes issue [Agent] Update planning workflow to encourage multi-select with descriptions of options #18920.

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[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request updates the planning workflow and the ask_user tool to encourage the model to propose multi-select questions with detailed descriptions. The changes modify the system prompt for "Plan Mode" and update the description of the ask_user tool itself. The modifications are well-supported by new tests and snapshot updates, ensuring the prompt generation behaves as expected. The implementation is clear, focused, and correctly addresses the intended feature enhancement. I have not found any issues with the changes.

[github-actions]

Size Change: +312 B (0%)

Total Size: 25.7 MB

ℹ️ View Unchanged

Filename	Size	Change
./bundle/gemini.js	25.2 MB	+312 B (0%)
./bundle/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli-devtools/dist/client/main.js	221 kB	0 B
./bundle/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli-devtools/dist/src/_client-assets.js	227 kB	0 B
./bundle/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli-devtools/dist/src/index.js	11.5 kB	0 B
./bundle/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli-devtools/dist/src/types.js	132 B	0 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-permissive-open.sb	890 B	0 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-permissive-proxied.sb	1.31 kB	0 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-restrictive-open.sb	3.36 kB	0 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-restrictive-proxied.sb	3.56 kB	0 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-strict-open.sb	4.82 kB	0 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-strict-proxied.sb	5.02 kB	0 B

_{compressed-size-action}

[jerop]

let's wait to merge this after #20465 is merged, maybe you can rebase on that for now?