Improve user-facing messages in daycare

daycare-patch.patch

From a7bac5cbd7bbffe332fbe0033bcfa15c88d0ae5f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Steve Korshakov <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2026 02:52:53 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] Improve user-facing messages to be more human-friendly
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

- Replace cold system messages with warmer, conversational tone
- Add token count to context overflow message (~Xk tokens)
- Messages updated:
  * Context limit reached -> Our conversation got too long (~Xk tokens)
  * Session reset. -> Got it\! Starting fresh.
  * Compacting session context -> One sec — tidying up our conversation history...
  * Unexpected error -> Oops\! Something went wrong. Please try again.
  * Inference failed. -> Something went wrong with the AI. Trying again might help\!
  * No inference provider available. -> Hmm, no AI provider is available right now.
---
 .../daycare/sources/engine/agents/agent.ts     | 18 +++++++++++++-----
 .../sources/engine/agents/ops/agentLoopRun.ts  |  6 +++---
 2 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/packages/daycare/sources/engine/agents/agent.ts b/packages/daycare/sources/engine/agents/agent.ts
index fd5e637..0004e5f 100644
--- a/packages/daycare/sources/engine/agents/agent.ts
+++ b/packages/daycare/sources/engine/agents/agent.ts
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ export class Agent {
     }
     try {
       await connector.sendMessage(this.descriptor.channelId, {
-        text: "Unexpected error",
+        text: "Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again.",
         replyToMessageId: item.context.messageId
       });
     } catch (error) {
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ export class Agent {
       const targetId = target?.targetId ?? null;
       if (agentKind === "foreground" && connector?.capabilities.sendText && targetId) {
         await connector.sendMessage(targetId, {
-          text: "Compacting session context. I'll continue shortly.",
+          text: "One sec — tidying up our conversation history...",
           replyToMessageId: entry.context.messageId
         });
       }
@@ -706,7 +706,7 @@ export class Agent {
 
     try {
       await connector.sendMessage(this.descriptor.channelId, {
-        text: "Session reset.",
+        text: "Got it! Starting fresh.",
         replyToMessageId: item.context?.messageId
       });
     } catch (error) {
@@ -723,9 +723,13 @@ export class Agent {
     entry: AgentMessage,
     source: string
   ): Promise<void> {
+    // Capture token info before reset clears it
+    const tokenInfo = this.state.tokens;
+    const tokenCount = tokenInfo?.size?.total ?? null;
+
     const reset: AgentInboxReset = {
       type: "reset",
-      message: "Emergency reset: context overflow detected. Previous session context was cleared."
+      message: "Context overflow: session was automatically reset."
     };
     await this.handleReset(reset);
 
@@ -744,9 +748,13 @@ export class Agent {
       return;
     }
 
+    // Build a friendly message with token count if available
+    const tokenPart = tokenCount ? ` (~${Math.round(tokenCount / 1000)}k tokens)` : "";
+    const message = `Our conversation got too long${tokenPart}. I've reset to start fresh — what were you asking?`;
+
     try {
       await connector.sendMessage(targetId, {
-        text: "Context limit reached. Session reset. Please resend your last request.",
+        text: message,
         replyToMessageId: entry.context.messageId
       });
     } catch (error) {
diff --git a/packages/daycare/sources/engine/agents/ops/agentLoopRun.ts b/packages/daycare/sources/engine/agents/ops/agentLoopRun.ts
index 478cb76..4b6922c 100644
--- a/packages/daycare/sources/engine/agents/ops/agentLoopRun.ts
+++ b/packages/daycare/sources/engine/agents/ops/agentLoopRun.ts
@@ -306,8 +306,8 @@ export async function agentLoopRun(options: AgentLoopRunOptions): Promise<AgentL
     logger.warn({ connector: source, error }, "error: Inference failed");
     const message =
       error instanceof Error && error.message === "No inference provider available"
-        ? "No inference provider available."
-        : "Inference failed.";
+        ? "Hmm, no AI provider is available right now. Please check your settings."
+        : "Something went wrong with the AI. Trying again might help!";
     logger.debug(`error: Sending error message to user message=${message}`);
     await notifySubagentFailure("Inference failed", error);
     if (connector && targetId) {
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ export async function agentLoopRun(options: AgentLoopRunOptions): Promise<AgentL
       );
       return { responseText: finalResponseText, historyRecords, contextOverflow: true, tokenStatsUpdates };
     }
-    const message = "Inference failed.";
+    const message = "Something went wrong with the AI. Trying again might help!";
     const errorDetail =
       response.message.errorMessage && response.message.errorMessage.length > 0
         ? response.message.errorMessage
-- 
2.43.0