diff --git a/tests/prose/lib/record-action.cjs b/tests/prose/lib/record-action.cjs
index e228b4064..66e452d03 100644
--- a/tests/prose/lib/record-action.cjs
+++ b/tests/prose/lib/record-action.cjs
@@ -42,6 +42,11 @@ const LOG = '.walk-actions.log';
 const VIOLATIONS = 'tests/prose/.agent-tool-use.log';
 const WORLD = /(^|[\s"'`])(\/[^\s"'`]*\/prose-world-[A-Za-z0-9]+)/;
 const MAX_OUTPUT = 400;
+// A command's output is the evidence that settles what the prose was
+// shown — whether a gate rendered empty, whether a menu had entries. It
+// gets the room a whole rendered section needs; a file read does not,
+// since no claim turns on the bytes a walker read back.
+const MAX_COMMAND_OUTPUT = 2000;
 
 function read() {
   try {
@@ -65,6 +70,24 @@ function summarise(input) {
   return flatten(raw, 200);
 }
 
+/**
+ * What a tool actually gave back. The payload field is `tool_response`,
+ * and its shape is the tool's own: a shell reports `{stdout, stderr}`,
+ * everything else answers in whatever form suits it. Reading a shell's
+ * streams directly keeps a command's output legible as output rather
+ * than as a JSON envelope around it.
+ */
+function responseText(response, limit) {
+  if (response === null || response === undefined) return '';
+  if (typeof response === 'object') {
+    const { stdout, stderr } = response;
+    if (typeof stdout === 'string' || typeof stderr === 'string') {
+      return flatten([stdout, stderr].filter(Boolean).join('\n'), limit);
+    }
+  }
+  return flatten(response, limit);
+}
+
 /**
  * The agent's own harness transcript — written by the runtime, not the
  * agent. Authority on the model it ran on, and on which world it walked,
@@ -134,11 +157,19 @@ function main() {
   ];
 
   if (event === 'PostToolUse') {
-    parts.push(payload.tool_output_is_error ? 'ERROR' : 'ok');
-    parts.push(flatten(payload.tool_output, MAX_OUTPUT).split(world).join('.'));
+    // A call that failed never arrives here — it raises PostToolUseFailure
+    // instead — so reaching this point is itself the success signal.
+    parts.push('ok');
+    parts.push(
+      responseText(payload.tool_response, tool === 'Bash' ? MAX_COMMAND_OUTPUT : MAX_OUTPUT)
+        .split(world).join('.'),
+    );
   } else if (event === 'PostToolUseFailure') {
     parts.push('FAILED');
-    parts.push(flatten(payload.tool_output ?? payload.error, MAX_OUTPUT));
+    parts.push(
+      responseText(payload.tool_response ?? payload.tool_output ?? payload.error,
+        MAX_COMMAND_OUTPUT).split(world).join('.'),
+    );
   } else if (stop) {
     parts.push(flatten(payload.last_assistant_message, MAX_OUTPUT).split(world).join('.'));
   }
diff --git a/tests/scripts/test-prose-record-action.cjs b/tests/scripts/test-prose-record-action.cjs
index 756aef4ee..06f11da9e 100644
--- a/tests/scripts/test-prose-record-action.cjs
+++ b/tests/scripts/test-prose-record-action.cjs
@@ -63,29 +63,76 @@ describe('prose recorder — tool events', () => {
     assert.match(row, /^PreToolUse\tBash\t/);
   });
 
-  it('records the output of a call, so a claim about it can be checked', () => {
+  it('records a command output, so a claim about it can be checked', () => {
     fire({
       hook_event_name: 'PostToolUse',
       tool_name: 'Bash',
       agent_type: 'prose-walker',
       tool_input: { command: `cd ${world} && engine view` },
-      tool_output: 'MENU: 1. Continue "Pay"',
+      tool_response: { stdout: 'MENU: 1. Continue "Pay"', stderr: '' },
     });
     const [row] = logLines();
     assert.ok(row.includes('\tok\t'), 'a successful call is marked ok');
-    assert.ok(row.includes('MENU: 1. Continue "Pay"'), 'output is recorded verbatim');
+    assert.ok(row.includes('MENU: 1. Continue "Pay"'), 'output is recorded, not just its status');
   });
 
-  it('marks a failing call so a walk cannot look cleaner than it was', () => {
+  it('keeps stderr, where a command often says what went wrong', () => {
+    fire({
+      hook_event_name: 'PostToolUse',
+      tool_name: 'Bash',
+      agent_type: 'prose-walker',
+      tool_input: { command: `cd ${world} && engine view` },
+      tool_response: { stdout: 'partial output', stderr: 'warning: store is stale' },
+    });
+    const [row] = logLines();
+    assert.ok(row.includes('partial output'));
+    assert.ok(row.includes('warning: store is stale'));
+  });
+
+  it('gives a command far more room than a file read', () => {
+    const long = 'x'.repeat(1800);
+    fire({
+      hook_event_name: 'PostToolUse',
+      tool_name: 'Bash',
+      agent_type: 'prose-walker',
+      tool_input: { command: `cd ${world} && engine view` },
+      tool_response: { stdout: long },
+    });
+    assert.ok(!logLines()[0].includes('[truncated]'), 'a rendered section survives whole');
+
+    fs.rmSync(path.join(world, LOG));
+    fire({
+      hook_event_name: 'PostToolUse',
+      tool_name: 'Read',
+      agent_type: 'prose-walker',
+      tool_input: { file_path: `${world}/big.md` },
+      tool_response: { file: { content: long } },
+    });
+    assert.ok(logLines()[0].includes('[truncated]'), 'a file read is trimmed — no claim rests on it');
+  });
+
+  it('records a tool that answers in its own shape, not a shell’s', () => {
     fire({
       hook_event_name: 'PostToolUse',
+      tool_name: 'Read',
+      agent_type: 'prose-walker',
+      tool_input: { file_path: `${world}/notes.md` },
+      tool_response: { file: { filePath: 'notes.md', numLines: 3 } },
+    });
+    assert.ok(logLines()[0].includes('numLines'));
+  });
+
+  it('marks a failing call so a walk cannot look cleaner than it was', () => {
+    fire({
+      hook_event_name: 'PostToolUseFailure',
       tool_name: 'Bash',
       agent_type: 'prose-walker',
       tool_input: { command: `cd ${world} && engine nope` },
-      tool_output: 'unknown command',
-      tool_output_is_error: true,
+      tool_response: { stdout: 'Exit code 1\nUsage: engine <command>', stderr: '' },
     });
-    assert.ok(logLines()[0].includes('\tERROR\t'));
+    const [row] = logLines();
+    assert.ok(row.includes('\tFAILED\t'));
+    assert.ok(row.includes('Usage: engine <command>'), 'and says what came back');
   });
 
   it('ignores anything happening outside a world', () => {