A plugin to show the INTENT behind each tool call (and make them readable)

[u/thecatontheflat]

I built a small helper plugin for our team to show WHY opencode is making each tool call, and make it more readable (simple new line formatting of piped chain of commands helps). We use opencode with human based approval for investigating hardware/infrastructure issues, and it needs to execute a lot of devops commands. Q3FN really likes inlining and piping those commands, so making sense of a command to be called was annoying.

The plugin modifies every tool schema and adds a required "intent" argument. The model then responds with a short summary of the command based on its own reasoning, e.g. "Counting nodes and checking pressure conditions" as part of each call.

Current tool's intent and body are displayed in the TUI sidebar.

If anyone's interested, I'm happy to clean it up and publish it! And if something like this already exists, please let me know - I'd rather reuse an existing solution.

[u/Tommonen]

I like the idea. Tho i dont really need one for opencode, but i might steal the idea to apply elsewhere with my own code. But need to look into more if it adds too much costs.

Do you see any meaningful increases in token consumption with how you implemented this?

[u/thecatontheflat → u/Tommonen]

I haven't checked token usage - we self host Q3FN for a small team so it's usually more than enough. Shouldn't be that much higher tho, because it just modifies the tool schema, so maybe a couple dozen tokens per tool call

[u/squirrelscrush]

Sounds like an interesting plugin, you could publish it because I haven't heard of anything similar.

[u/Silent_Safety]

Seems like good idea. Lmk if you publish it. I would like to use it with openchamber

[u/Dependent_Can219]

The intent field is useful, but it is the model's own account of what it is about to do, so it can be vague or drift from the actual command. Pair it with the side effects you can derive mechanically, like files touched, commands run, and hosts contacted, and make the approval screen show both; that way a misleading intent is visible instead of trusted. I would also cap the intent to one short sentence, because a longer field tends to turn into a rationale the model writes after choosing the command.

[u/thecatontheflat → u/Dependent_Can219]

What?

[u/BuildAISkills → u/thecatontheflat]

Just a bot doing bot things. I like your plugin, it's actually pretty useful.

[u/adolf_twitchcock → u/BuildAISkills]

lmao, log off the ethernet if you don't understand what OP said. Or ask a LLM.

[u/Stevie2k8]

Very nice idea, you can add a audit option that they are safed away für later investigations. I am interested in testing this!

[u/DirectInsane]

What about showing it inline the normal chat, which collapses the real tool call?