Merge pull request #1561 from mnfst/fix/short-greeting-with-tools

fix(routing): route short greetings to simple tier when tools attached

Author: brunobuddy

.changeset/short-greeting-with-tools.md

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"manifest": patch
+---
+
+Route short greetings to the `simple` tier even when the agent attaches tools. The scorer's short-message fast path was gated on `!hasTools`, so personal AI agents like OpenClaw (which always send a `tools` array) skipped it entirely and fell into full scoring, where session momentum could pull a one-word `hi` up to `complex`. Dropping the gate lets short, non-technical prompts short-circuit to `simple` before momentum kicks in. Short technical prompts like `Debug this function` still fall through to full scoring.

packages/backend/src/routing/resolve.service.spec.ts

@@ -394,9 +394,16 @@ describe('ResolveService', () => {
     mockProviderKeyService.getEffectiveModel.mockResolvedValue('gpt-4o');
     mockPricingCache.getByModel.mockReturnValue({ provider: 'OpenAI' });
 
+    // Message is long enough to bypass the short-message fast path so the
+    // tools-floor branch in applyTierFloors is exercised.
     const result = await service.resolve(
       'agent-1',
-      [{ role: 'user', content: 'hi' }],
+      [
+        {
+          role: 'user',
+          content: 'Please list the items you know about and summarise what they do.',
+        },
+      ],
       [{ name: 'search' }],
       'auto',
     );

packages/backend/src/scoring/__tests__/score-request-advanced.spec.ts

@@ -74,6 +74,20 @@ describe('scoreRequest — estimateTotalTokens branches', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('scoreRequest — short greeting with tools and momentum', () => {
+  it('keeps a tool-bearing short greeting at SIMPLE under complex momentum', () => {
+    const tools = Array.from({ length: 10 }, (_, i) => ({
+      type: 'function' as const,
+      function: { name: `tool_${i}`, description: 'noop', parameters: { type: 'object' } },
+    }));
+    const result = scoreRequest({ messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'hi' }], tools }, undefined, {
+      recentTiers: ['complex', 'complex', 'complex'],
+    });
+    expect(result.tier).toBe('simple');
+    expect(result.reason).toBe('short_message');
+  });
+});
+
 describe('scoreRequest — ambiguous fallback', () => {
   it('falls back to standard/ambiguous when confidence is low and reason is scored', () => {
     const result = scoreRequest(

packages/backend/src/scoring/__tests__/score-request.spec.ts

@@ -78,12 +78,29 @@ describe('scoreRequest — hard overrides', () => {
     expect(result.reason).not.toBe('short_message');
   });
 
-  it('does NOT return SIMPLE for short message with tools', () => {
+  it('returns SIMPLE for short greeting even with tools attached', () => {
+    const tools = Array.from({ length: 10 }, (_, i) => ({
+      type: 'function' as const,
+      function: { name: `tool_${i}`, description: 'noop', parameters: { type: 'object' } },
+    }));
     const result = scoreRequest({
       messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'hi' }],
-      tools: [{}, {}, {}, {}, {}],
+      tools,
     });
-    expect(result.tier).not.toBe('simple');
+    expect(result.tier).toBe('simple');
+    expect(result.reason).toBe('short_message');
+  });
+
+  it('does NOT return SIMPLE for short technical prompt with tools', () => {
+    const tools = Array.from({ length: 10 }, (_, i) => ({
+      type: 'function' as const,
+      function: { name: `tool_${i}`, description: 'noop', parameters: { type: 'object' } },
+    }));
+    const result = scoreRequest({
+      messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Debug this function' }],
+      tools,
+    });
+    expect(result.reason).not.toBe('short_message');
   });
 
   it('does NOT return SIMPLE for short message with momentum (no simple indicator)', () => {

packages/backend/src/scoring/index.ts

@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ export function scoreRequest(
 
   const hasTools = tools && tools.length > 0;
   const hasMomentum = momentum?.recentTiers && momentum.recentTiers.length > 0;
-  if (lastUserText.length > 0 && lastUserText.length < 50 && !hasTools) {
+  if (lastUserText.length > 0 && lastUserText.length < 50) {
     const lastMatches = trie.scan(lastUserText);
     const hasSimpleIndicator = lastMatches.some((m) => m.dimension === 'simpleIndicators');
     const hasComplexSignal = lastMatches.some(

packages/backend/test/routing-flow.e2e-spec.ts

@@ -234,9 +234,16 @@ describe('Routing enabled → scorer routes by query complexity', () => {
   });
 
   it('tools floor query to at least standard tier', async () => {
+    // Long enough to bypass the short-message fast path so the tools-floor
+    // branch in applyTierFloors is the thing being exercised.
     const res = await bearer(api().post('/api/v1/routing/resolve'))
       .send({
-        messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'search for cats' }],
+        messages: [
+          {
+            role: 'user',
+            content: 'Search the web for recent news about cats and summarise the top results.',
+          },
+        ],
         tools: [{ name: 'web_search' }],
         tool_choice: 'auto',
       })