fix: remove ask_user tool from non-interactive modes

[jackwotherspoon]

Summary

Disable ask_user tool for all headless (non-interactive) modes.

The Ask User tool is always interactive, it requires user input so should be disabled in all headless mode (even headless yolo mode)

How to Validate

npm run build
npm start -- --prompt "Ask me some questions"

Questions should be in text and not attempt to use tool.

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-cli]

Hi @jackwotherspoon, thank you so much for your contribution to Gemini CLI! We really appreciate the time and effort you've put into this.

We're making some updates to our contribution process to improve how we track and review changes. Please take a moment to review our recent discussion post: Improving Our Contribution Process & Introducing New Guidelines.

Key Update: Starting January 26, 2026, the Gemini CLI project will require all pull requests to be associated with an existing issue. Any pull requests not linked to an issue by that date will be automatically closed.

Thank you for your understanding and for being a part of our community!

[gemini-cli]

Hi there! Thank you for your contribution to Gemini CLI.

To improve our contribution process and better track changes, we now require all pull requests to be associated with an existing issue, as announced in our recent discussion and as detailed in our CONTRIBUTING.md.

This pull request is being closed because it is not currently linked to an issue. Once you have updated the description of this PR to link an issue (e.g., by adding Fixes #123 or Related to #123), it will be automatically reopened.

How to link an issue:
Add a keyword followed by the issue number (e.g., Fixes #123) in the description of your pull request. For more details on supported keywords and how linking works, please refer to the GitHub Documentation on linking pull requests to issues.

Thank you for your understanding and for being a part of our community!

[gemini-code-assist]

Summary of Changes

Hello @jackwotherspoon, 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 addresses an issue where the 'ask_user' tool, which requires direct user input, could potentially be invoked in non-interactive environments. By implementing a robust exclusion mechanism, the change guarantees that this tool is disabled in all headless operations, thereby preventing unexpected behavior and improving the reliability of automated or background processes. This ensures a more stable experience when running the application in non-interactive modes.

Highlights

• Consistent Tool Exclusion: Ensured the 'ask_user' tool is consistently excluded in all non-interactive (headless) operational modes, as it requires direct user input.
• Configuration Logic Update: Updated the core configuration logic to explicitly disable the 'ask_user' tool when an interactive terminal is not detected, regardless of other approval settings.
• Expanded Unit Tests: Expanded unit tests to verify that 'ask_user' is correctly excluded across various non-interactive scenarios, including different approval modes like 'yolo', 'auto_edit', and 'plan'.

Changelog

• packages/cli/src/config/config.test.ts
  • Imported ASK_USER_TOOL_NAME for use in test assertions.
  • Modified multiple test cases to include assertions for the exclusion of ASK_USER_TOOL_NAME in various non-interactive configurations (default, auto_edit, plan, yolo, and legacy yolo flag).
  • Updated test descriptions for yolo mode to accurately reflect that ask_user is now specifically excluded, whereas previously no interactive tools were excluded in this mode.
  • Added assertions to confirm ASK_USER_TOOL_NAME is not excluded when the application is running in interactive modes.
• packages/cli/src/config/config.ts
  • Imported ASK_USER_TOOL_NAME.
  • Implemented logic within the loadCliConfig function to unconditionally add ASK_USER_TOOL_NAME to the extraExcludes list when the interactive flag is false, ensuring it's always disabled in headless environments.

Activity

• The pull request was created by jackwotherspoon.
• No review comments or other human activity have been recorded yet.

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[gemini-cli]

Hi there! Thank you for your contribution to Gemini CLI.

To improve our contribution process and better track changes, we now require all pull requests to be associated with an existing issue, as announced in our recent discussion and as detailed in our CONTRIBUTING.md.

This pull request is being closed because it is not currently linked to an issue. Once you have updated the description of this PR to link an issue (e.g., by adding Fixes #123 or Related to #123), it will be automatically reopened.

How to link an issue:
Add a keyword followed by the issue number (e.g., Fixes #123) in the description of your pull request. For more details on supported keywords and how linking works, please refer to the GitHub Documentation on linking pull requests to issues.

Thank you for your understanding and for being a part of our community!

[github-actions]

Size Change: +42 B (0%)

Total Size: 23.7 MB

ℹ️ View Unchanged

Filename	Size	Change
./bundle/gemini.js	23.7 MB	+42 B (0%)
./bundle/sandbox-macos-permissive-closed.sb	1.03 kB	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-closed.sb	3.29 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

_{compressed-size-action}

[gemini-cli]

Hi there! Thank you for your contribution to Gemini CLI.

To improve our contribution process and better track changes, we now require all pull requests to be associated with an existing issue, as announced in our recent discussion and as detailed in our CONTRIBUTING.md.

This pull request is being closed because it is not currently linked to an issue. Once you have updated the description of this PR to link an issue (e.g., by adding Fixes #123 or Related to #123), it will be automatically reopened.

How to link an issue:
Add a keyword followed by the issue number (e.g., Fixes #123) in the description of your pull request. For more details on supported keywords and how linking works, please refer to the GitHub Documentation on linking pull requests to issues.

Thank you for your understanding and for being a part of our community!

[jacob314]

[jerop]

note, plan mode support in non-interactive mode is tracked in #17364