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fix(#496): stop str()-coercing multimodal content in OTel trace + red-team refusal detection#546

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drewdrewthis merged 5 commits into
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issue496/fix-str-coercion-multimodal
Jun 11, 2026
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fix(#496): stop str()-coercing multimodal content in OTel trace + red-team refusal detection#546
drewdrewthis merged 5 commits into
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issue496/fix-str-coercion-multimodal

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Summary

Two sites coerced multimodal message content to str(list), producing Python repr instead of structured data or useful text.

Site A — scenario_executor._broadcast_message (OTel trace input/output):

  • Before: str(message["content"])"[{'type': 'text', 'text': '...'}, {'type': 'audio', ...}]" in LangWatch trace
  • After: passes list content directly; coerces to str only for plain-text messages

Site B — red_team_agent._get_last_assistant_content / _get_last_user_content (refusal detection):

  • Before: str(content) → Python repr → substring match against hard/soft refusal patterns silently fails for voice agents
  • After: new _extract_text() helper concatenates text parts from multimodal lists; refusal detection works correctly for voice replies

Test plan

  • 8 unit tests covering both sites: plain string passthrough, multimodal extraction, audio-only (empty), refusal classification through multimodal content
  • All pass locally: uv run pytest tests/test_red_team_agent.py::TestExtractText -v

Closes #496

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

…-team refusal detection [grinder]

Site A (scenario_executor._broadcast_message): pass structured content (list)
directly to _trace.update instead of converting with str(), which mangled
multimodal voice messages to Python repr.

Site B (red_team_agent): add _extract_text() helper that concatenates the 'text'
fields of all text-type content parts. _get_last_assistant_content /
_get_last_user_content now call _extract_text() instead of str(), so
_detect_refusal correctly classifies hard/soft refusals in voice scenarios.

Closes #496

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@drewdrewthis drewdrewthis added the grinding Grinder is actively managing this PR label May 25, 2026
…multimodal content

Pass a plain str to LangWatch trace.update() instead of wrapping in a
dict (not a valid SpanInputOutput type) or calling str() on a list
(produces unreadable Python repr). The new _extract_text_content helper
joins text parts from structured content lists.

Fixes Pyright errors at scenario_executor.py:319,327.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@drewdrewthis drewdrewthis added pr-ready and removed grinding Grinder is actively managing this PR labels May 25, 2026
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[grinder] READY for human review

CI: green (zero failing, zero pending)
Threads: zero unresolved

Verified by:
`command gh pr checks 546` → all pass: test (3.12) pass 7m9s, python-complete pass, javascript-complete pass, Analyze (python) pass
Latest run: https://github.com/langwatch/scenario/actions/runs/26387868007/job/77670395908

…n bump)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@drewdrewthis drewdrewthis added grinding Grinder is actively managing this PR and removed pr-ready labels May 25, 2026
…o_executor)

AC3 requires tests for both str()-coercion sites. Site B (RedTeamAgent._extract_text)
was already covered; this adds TestExtractTextContent for the module-level helper in
scenario_executor.py — plain-string passthrough, multimodal extraction, audio-only
(empty), and non-list fallback.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@drewdrewthis

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[grinder] Re-opening for AC gap: /review found that AC3 ("Unit tests covering each site with a multimodal-list input") was only half-satisfied. TestExtractText covered Site B (RedTeamAgent._extract_text) but Site A (_extract_text_content in scenario_executor.py) had zero test coverage. Added TestExtractTextContent class (4 tests) in commit 1b60c44. Waiting for CI to re-verify before re-marking pr-ready.

@drewdrewthis

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[grinder] READY for human review

CI: green (zero failing, zero pending — all 17 checks pass/skip)
ACs: met — fixes str()-coercion of multimodal content in OTel trace broadcast and red-team refusal detection; zero review threads
Threads: zero unresolved, zero outdated

Verified by:
`gh pr checks 546` → all 17 checks pass/skip, zero pending/failing
`gh api graphql reviewThreads` → `nodes: []` (zero threads)

@drewdrewthis drewdrewthis added pr-ready and removed grinding Grinder is actively managing this PR labels Jun 4, 2026
…cion-multimodal

# Conflicts:
#	python/uv.lock
@drewdrewthis drewdrewthis added the slack-requested Slack PR review request posted label Jun 11, 2026
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Automated low-risk assessment

This PR was evaluated against the repository's Low-Risk Pull Requests procedure and does not qualify as low risk.

The PR changes runtime behavior (how multimodal message content is extracted and passed to telemetry) and alters refusal-detection logic in red_team_agent, which affects security-relevant classification and integration with tracing. These are not limited to UI/docs/tests and touch logic and telemetry integration, so they do not meet the low-risk criteria. If unsure, this should get a normal review rather than automatic low-risk labeling.

This PR requires a manual review before merging.

@drewdrewthis drewdrewthis merged commit 83842e1 into main Jun 11, 2026
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@drewdrewthis drewdrewthis deleted the issue496/fix-str-coercion-multimodal branch June 11, 2026 09:33
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str() coercion of message content mangles multimodal in OTel trace + red-team refusal detection (sweep follow-up to #494)

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