Tool calls in the chat

As Oda works, every step it takes appears in the chat as a card: reading a file, changing one, running a command, searching, or fetching a page. This page covers how those cards behave: how they nest, what they show while they run, and what a rejected, stopped or denied step looks like afterwards.

The kinds of cards and their details are on Step cards in chat. For the chat around them, see Chat with Oda; for how Oda's tools are offered and controlled, see Tools and how they are offered.

Steps are cards in a tree

• The cards form a tree: every call Oda makes is a card, in the order the calls ran.
• When a call starts other calls inside it, those appear nested under it: expand the parent to see them. Each card keeps its own expanded or collapsed state as you read.
• Expand a card by clicking its row, or select it and press Enter or Space. The same action closes it again.

What each card shows

The collapsed row is made to scan: an icon for the kind of step, a one-line title, and its state. What the card holds when opened depends on the kind of step:

• Reads. A short excerpt of the file with its line numbers. The path is a link, and it opens the file where the read started.
• Edits. A comparison of the change, with added and removed lines, and their totals on the row. A new file or an overwrite has no old text, so nothing is shown as removed.
• Commands. The command that ran, as the step's one-line title.
• Searches. What was found, grouped by file with a count. When more matches exist than the card shows, it says the list is capped.
• Web. The pages Oda used, with the HTTP status of each request.

While a call runs, and how it ends

• While a call runs, its row shows a running state: the summary text shimmers, and the row carries the state as hidden text for screen readers.
• When the call settles, the row shows the outcome: a failed call replaces its one-line summary with the first line of the failure, so the cause is visible without opening the card, and a stopped call stays explicitly stopped.
• The state stays visible even when you point at the row, and the row keeps the step's usual icon, so you can still tell what kind of step it was.
• A failed step is ordinary feedback, not a broken task: Oda is told what went wrong and continues or tries another way. A call can also fail before it runs, for example when its recorded request was incomplete; nothing on your computer changes in that case.

Approvals: allow, reject or cancel

Some steps wait for your answer before they run. The ask appears as an approval card in the chat; Your first task shows the choices and what each one does.

• Approved. The step runs, and its card then shows what it did, like any other step.
• Rejected. The step does not run and stays in the chat as a rejected call. Its recorded result reads Error: the user rejected tool "<name>". When you reject with instructions, your words become the call's note, and the record continues with Instead, the user asked: <text>.
• Cancelled. When the ask is cancelled, the step does not run and records Error: approval for tool "<name>" was cancelled.
• If nothing can ask you at all, the step does not run either, and the record says it needed approval. Wider-access requests have their own page: Command sandboxing and approvals.

Denied before it ran: Auto review

When Auto review decides a call must not run, the step shows the denial in its collapsed row and, opened, one line saying the call was not executed. The denied call's raw arguments are not shown, and the denial is displayed instead of the step's usual card. Nothing on your computer changed: the call was stopped before it ran.

Inspect a recorded call

Inspect opens the recorded view of a step. The control appears only when a recorded view was kept for that step; without one, the card is all there is.

When a card cannot be drawn

If a step's record cannot be read as a card, Oda does not guess: the step falls back to a plain block with the recorded input and output. The same fallback appears when a result is too large to keep in the chat and is stored separately; Commands Oda runs describes that case for commands.

Questions, answered

What does a rejected step show in the chat?

It stays as a rejected call: it did not run, and the recorded result says the tool was rejected. If you rejected with instructions, your words are kept as the call's note.

Why does a failed step replace its description with an error line?

So the cause is visible without opening the card. The row shows the first line of the failure; the full result is inside.

Why does a stopped step keep its usual icon?

The icon names the kind of step, not its state. The state stays explicit: the row shows it as stopped, and it is also readable by screen readers.

Why are some steps shown under another step?

Because they were started from inside it. Expand the step that holds them to see them; each keeps its own expanded or collapsed state.

When does the Inspect control appear?

Only when a recorded view was kept for the step. Inspect opens that view; without one, the control is not shown.

What does it mean when Auto review denied a step?

The call was stopped before it ran, so nothing on your computer changed. The row shows the denial, and opening it gives one line saying the call was not executed.

Why does a newly created file show only added lines?

There is no earlier text for the file in that change, so there is nothing to show as removed.

Why does a failed step not stop the task?

A failed step is ordinary feedback: Oda is told what went wrong and can continue the task or try another way.

Why does a step say that approval was cancelled?

The ask for your approval was cancelled, so the step did not run. The recorded result reads Error: approval for tool "<name>" was cancelled.

Can I open the file an edit step changed?

Yes. The changed file shows as a link on the step; when the file opens, the step's comparison is attached to it.