Clarify allowed tool status handling

Reject empty --allowedTools inputs instead of treating them as an empty restriction, and surface status JSON metadata that distinguishes default unrestricted tools from flag-provided allow lists.

Confidence: high
Scope-risk: narrow
Tested: cargo test -p rusty-claude-cli rejects_empty_allowed_tools_flag -- --nocapture
Tested: cargo test -p tools allowed_tools_rejects_empty_token_lists -- --nocapture
Tested: cargo check -p rusty-claude-cli -p tools
Tested: cargo test -p rusty-claude-cli -p tools
Not-tested: full workspace cargo fmt --check is blocked by pre-existing unrelated formatting drift

rust/crates/rusty-claude-cli/src/main.rs

@@ -372,7 +372,14 @@ fn run() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
             model_flag_raw,
             permission_mode,
             output_format,
-        } => print_status_snapshot(&model, model_flag_raw.as_deref(), permission_mode, output_format)?,
+            allowed_tools,
+        } => print_status_snapshot(
+            &model,
+            model_flag_raw.as_deref(),
+            permission_mode,
+            output_format,
+            allowed_tools.as_ref(),
+        )?,
         CliAction::Sandbox { output_format } => print_sandbox_status_snapshot(output_format)?,
         CliAction::Prompt {
             prompt,
@@ -510,6 +517,7 @@ enum CliAction {
         model_flag_raw: Option<String>,
         permission_mode: PermissionMode,
         output_format: CliOutputFormat,
+        allowed_tools: Option<AllowedToolSet>,
     },
     Sandbox {
         output_format: CliOutputFormat,
@@ -844,9 +852,14 @@ fn parse_args(args: &[String]) -> Result<CliAction, String> {
     if let Some(action) = parse_local_help_action(&rest) {
         return action;
     }
-    if let Some(action) =
+    if let Some(action) = parse_single_word_command_alias(
-        parse_single_word_command_alias(&rest, &model, model_flag_raw.as_deref(), permission_mode_override, output_format)
+        &rest,
-    {
+        &model,
+        model_flag_raw.as_deref(),
+        permission_mode_override,
+        output_format,
+        allowed_tools.clone(),
+    ) {
         return action;
     }
 
@@ -1051,6 +1064,7 @@ fn parse_single_word_command_alias(
     model_flag_raw: Option<&str>,
     permission_mode_override: Option<PermissionMode>,
     output_format: CliOutputFormat,
+    allowed_tools: Option<AllowedToolSet>,
 ) -> Option<Result<CliAction, String>> {
     if rest.is_empty() {
         return None;
@@ -1095,6 +1109,7 @@ fn parse_single_word_command_alias(
             model_flag_raw: model_flag_raw.map(str::to_string), // #148
             permission_mode: permission_mode_override.unwrap_or_else(default_permission_mode),
             output_format,
+            allowed_tools,
         })),
         "sandbox" => Some(Ok(CliAction::Sandbox { output_format })),
         "doctor" => Some(Ok(CliAction::Doctor { output_format })),
@@ -3226,6 +3241,7 @@ fn run_resume_command(
                     default_permission_mode().as_str(),
                     &context,
                     None, // #148: resumed sessions don't have flag provenance
+                    None,
                 )),
             })
         }
@@ -5417,6 +5433,7 @@ fn print_status_snapshot(
     model_flag_raw: Option<&str>,
     permission_mode: PermissionMode,
     output_format: CliOutputFormat,
+    allowed_tools: Option<&AllowedToolSet>,
 ) -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
     let usage = StatusUsage {
         message_count: 0,
@@ -5450,6 +5467,7 @@ fn print_status_snapshot(
                 permission_mode.as_str(),
                 &context,
                 Some(&provenance),
+                allowed_tools,
             ))?
         ),
     }
@@ -5467,6 +5485,7 @@ fn status_json_value(
     // that don't have provenance (legacy resume paths) pass None, in which
     // case both new fields are omitted.
     provenance: Option<&ModelProvenance>,
+    allowed_tools: Option<&AllowedToolSet>,
 ) -> serde_json::Value {
     // #143: top-level `status` marker so claws can distinguish
     // a clean run from a degraded run (config parse failed but other fields
@@ -5476,6 +5495,7 @@ fn status_json_value(
     let degraded = context.config_load_error.is_some();
     let model_source = provenance.map(|p| p.source.as_str());
     let model_raw = provenance.and_then(|p| p.raw.clone());
+    let allowed_tool_entries = allowed_tools.map(|tools| tools.iter().cloned().collect::<Vec<_>>());
     json!({
         "kind": "status",
         "status": if degraded { "degraded" } else { "ok" },
@@ -5484,6 +5504,11 @@ fn status_json_value(
         "model_source": model_source,
         "model_raw": model_raw,
         "permission_mode": permission_mode,
+        "allowed_tools": {
+            "source": if allowed_tools.is_some() { "flag" } else { "default" },
+            "restricted": allowed_tools.is_some(),
+            "entries": allowed_tool_entries,
+        },
         "usage": {
             "messages": usage.message_count,
             "turns": usage.turns,
@@ -9807,6 +9832,18 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(error.contains("unsupported tool in --allowedTools: teleport"));
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn rejects_empty_allowed_tools_flag() {
+        for raw in ["", ",,"] {
+            let error = parse_args(&["--allowedTools".to_string(), raw.to_string()])
+                .expect_err("empty allowedTools should be rejected");
+            assert!(
+                error.contains("--allowedTools was provided with no usable tool names"),
+                "unexpected error for {raw:?}: {error}"
+            );
+        }
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn parses_system_prompt_options() {
         let args = vec![
@@ -10261,7 +10298,14 @@ mod tests {
             cumulative: runtime::TokenUsage::default(),
             estimated_tokens: 0,
         };
-        let json = super::status_json_value(Some("test-model"), usage, "workspace-write", &context, None);
+        let json = super::status_json_value(
+            Some("test-model"),
+            usage,
+            "workspace-write",
+            &context,
+            None,
+            None,
+        );
         assert_eq!(
             json.get("status").and_then(|v| v.as_str()),
             Some("degraded"),
@@ -10280,6 +10324,44 @@ mod tests {
         );
         assert!(json.get("workspace").is_some(), "workspace field still reported");
         assert!(json.get("sandbox").is_some(), "sandbox field still reported");
+        assert_eq!(
+            json.pointer("/allowed_tools/source").and_then(|v| v.as_str()),
+            Some("default"),
+            "default status should expose unrestricted tool source: {json}"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            json.pointer("/allowed_tools/restricted").and_then(|v| v.as_bool()),
+            Some(false),
+            "default status should expose unrestricted tool state: {json}"
+        );
+
+        let allowed: super::AllowedToolSet = ["read_file", "grep_search"]
+            .into_iter()
+            .map(str::to_string)
+            .collect();
+        let restricted_json = super::status_json_value(
+            Some("test-model"),
+            usage,
+            "workspace-write",
+            &context,
+            None,
+            Some(&allowed),
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            restricted_json
+                .pointer("/allowed_tools/source")
+                .and_then(|v| v.as_str()),
+            Some("flag"),
+            "flag status should expose allow-list source: {restricted_json}"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            restricted_json
+                .pointer("/allowed_tools/entries")
+                .and_then(|v| v.as_array())
+                .map(Vec::len),
+            Some(2),
+            "flag status should expose allow-list entries: {restricted_json}"
+        );
 
         // Clean path: no config error → status: "ok", config_load_error: null.
         let clean_cwd = root.join("project-with-clean-config");
@@ -10288,8 +10370,14 @@ mod tests {
             super::status_context(None).expect("clean status_context should succeed")
         });
         assert!(clean_context.config_load_error.is_none());
-        let clean_json =
+        let clean_json = super::status_json_value(
-            super::status_json_value(Some("test-model"), usage, "workspace-write", &clean_context, None);
+            Some("test-model"),
+            usage,
+            "workspace-write",
+            &clean_context,
+            None,
+            None,
+        );
         assert_eq!(
             clean_json.get("status").and_then(|v| v.as_str()),
             Some("ok"),
@@ -10366,6 +10454,7 @@ mod tests {
                 model_flag_raw: None, // #148: no --model flag passed
                 permission_mode: PermissionMode::DangerFullAccess,
                 output_format: CliOutputFormat::Text,
+                allowed_tools: None,
             }
         );
         assert_eq!(

rust/crates/tools/src/lib.rs

@@ -240,6 +240,13 @@ impl GlobalToolRegistry {
             }
         }
 
+        if allowed.is_empty() {
+            return Err(format!(
+                "--allowedTools was provided with no usable tool names (got `{}`). Omit the flag to allow all tools.",
+                values.join(" ")
+            ));
+        }
+
         Ok(Some(allowed))
     }
 
@@ -6883,6 +6890,21 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(empty_permission.contains("unsupported plugin permission: "));
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn allowed_tools_rejects_empty_token_lists() {
+        let registry = GlobalToolRegistry::builtin();
+
+        for raw in ["", ",,", "   "] {
+            let err = registry
+                .normalize_allowed_tools(&[raw.to_string()])
+                .expect_err("empty allow-list input should be rejected");
+            assert!(
+                err.contains("--allowedTools was provided with no usable tool names"),
+                "unexpected error for {raw:?}: {err}"
+            );
+        }
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn runtime_tools_extend_registry_definitions_permissions_and_search() {
         let registry = GlobalToolRegistry::builtin()