From 2d54efe851b3bf920f6393a553c3843c3f6980ed Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: George Pickett <gpickett00@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2026 16:52:10 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] Embedded runner: suppress raw API error payloads (#919)

---
 CHANGELOG.md                                  |  2 ++
 .../pi-embedded-runner/run/payloads.test.ts   | 32 +++++++++++++++++++
 src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/payloads.ts | 16 +++++++---
 3 files changed, 45 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/payloads.test.ts

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bcb423033..7a3b7cf57 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 - Onboarding: add a security checkpoint prompt (docs link + sandboxing hint); require `--accept-risk` for `--non-interactive`.
 - Docs: expand gateway security hardening guidance and incident response checklist.
 
+### Fixes
+- Embedded runner: suppress raw API error payloads from replies. (#924) — thanks @grp06.
 ## 2026.1.14
 
 ### Changes
diff --git a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/payloads.test.ts b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/payloads.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4680303f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/payloads.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+import type { AssistantMessage } from "@mariozechner/pi-ai";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { buildEmbeddedRunPayloads } from "./payloads.js";
+
+describe("buildEmbeddedRunPayloads", () => {
+  it("suppresses raw API error JSON when the assistant errored", () => {
+    const errorJson =
+      '{"type":"error","error":{"details":null,"type":"overloaded_error","message":"Overloaded"},"request_id":"req_011CX7DwS7tSvggaNHmefwWg"}';
+    const lastAssistant = {
+      stopReason: "error",
+      errorMessage: errorJson,
+      content: [{ type: "text", text: errorJson }],
+    } as AssistantMessage;
+
+    const payloads = buildEmbeddedRunPayloads({
+      assistantTexts: [errorJson],
+      toolMetas: [],
+      lastAssistant,
+      sessionKey: "session:telegram",
+      inlineToolResultsAllowed: false,
+      verboseLevel: "off",
+      reasoningLevel: "off",
+    });
+
+    expect(payloads).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(payloads[0]?.text).toBe(
+      "The AI service is temporarily overloaded. Please try again in a moment.",
+    );
+    expect(payloads[0]?.isError).toBe(true);
+    expect(payloads.some((payload) => payload.text === errorJson)).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/payloads.ts b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/payloads.ts
index 0b8115ac3..9eea8ec01 100644
--- a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/payloads.ts
+++ b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/payloads.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,10 @@ export function buildEmbeddedRunPayloads(params: {
         sessionKey: params.sessionKey,
       })
     : undefined;
+  const rawErrorMessage =
+    params.lastAssistant?.stopReason === "error"
+      ? params.lastAssistant.errorMessage?.trim() || undefined
+      : undefined;
   if (errorText) replyItems.push({ text: errorText, isError: true });
 
   const inlineToolResults =
@@ -83,11 +87,13 @@ export function buildEmbeddedRunPayloads(params: {
   if (reasoningText) replyItems.push({ text: reasoningText });
 
   const fallbackAnswerText = params.lastAssistant ? extractAssistantText(params.lastAssistant) : "";
-  const answerTexts = params.assistantTexts.length
-    ? params.assistantTexts
-    : fallbackAnswerText
-      ? [fallbackAnswerText]
-      : [];
+  const answerTexts = (
+    params.assistantTexts.length
+      ? params.assistantTexts
+      : fallbackAnswerText
+        ? [fallbackAnswerText]
+        : []
+  ).filter((text) => (rawErrorMessage ? text.trim() !== rawErrorMessage : true));
 
   for (const text of answerTexts) {
     const {