Add pruning fallback and character truncation for large context

[continue]

Summary

This PR addresses CON-4274 by adding two improvements to handle large context in the CLI:

1. Pruning fallback: When context length validation fails before sending chat messages, we now use the existing compileChatMessages pruning logic from core/llm/countTokens.js as a fallback. This removes older messages while preserving the system message, tools, and the most recent user/tool sequence.

2. Bash tool output truncation: The Bash tool now truncates output by both:

   • Lines: 5000 lines (existing)
   • Characters: 200,000 characters (new)

   Whichever limit is hit first will trigger truncation with an appropriate message.

Changes

• extensions/cli/src/stream/streamChatResponse.ts: Added pruning fallback in processStreamingResponse when context validation fails
• extensions/cli/src/tools/runTerminalCommand.ts: Added character-based truncation to Bash tool output

Testing

• The pruning logic reuses the well-tested compileChatMessages function from core
• Character truncation follows the same pattern as the existing line truncation

Fixes CON-4274

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This agent session was co-authored by nate and Continue.

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Summary by cubic

Prevents oversized contexts from breaking CLI requests by pruning chat history and truncating Bash tool output. Fixes CON-4274 and improves reliability with large conversations and long command results.

• New Features
  • Prunes chat history when context-length validation fails using compileChatMessages; preserves system, tools, and the latest exchange.
  • Truncates Bash tool output to 5000 lines or 200,000 characters (whichever comes first) and adds a clear truncation notice.

[chezsmithy]

I'd recommend a different truncation strategy for the bash output. Perhaps keep the last X lines from the end backwards to capture the outcome of tests and installs.

[github-actions]

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[cubic-dev-ai]

No issues found across 2 files