gh PR comments/reviews and git diff output still truncated, causing repeated fetch attempts by AI agents

[iwata]

Summary

When using rtk with Claude Code, output from `gh` CLI (PR comments, review data) and `git diff` is frequently truncated, forcing the AI agent to retry fetches multiple times before it can begin actual work. This significantly delays productivity.

Related Issues

• gh api output is truncated, breaking programmatic use #199 (closed) — `gh api` output truncation
• Impossible to get full Github Issue content, even by getting the full raw markdown #188 (closed) — GitHub Issue content truncation at ~21 lines
• rtk gh pr view --json ... fails #313 (closed) — `gh pr view --json` failure
• bug: rtk gh api --jq returns type placeholders (int/string) instead of real values #311 (closed) — `gh api --jq` returning type placeholders

These addressed specific cases, but the broader problem persists for PR review comments and large diffs.

Reproduction

1. PR review comments: `gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/pulls/123/comments` — output is truncated when there are many comments, requiring multiple fetch attempts
2. PR review data: `gh pr view 123` with substantial review threads — truncated output
3. git diff: Large diffs are cut off, requiring multiple read attempts before Claude can analyze changes

Impact

• Claude spends significant effort retrying truncated GitHub review comments across multiple sessions, delaying actual code fixes
• Git diff output truncation causes unnecessary back-and-forth before Claude can analyze changes
• Overall workflow is slowed considerably by what should be single-fetch operations

Suggestion

Consider one or more of:

1. Passthrough mode for gh api: Since API responses are consumed programmatically, pass them through unfiltered
2. Pagination-aware filtering: When gh api uses pagination flags (--paginate), preserve full output
3. Per-item fetching: For collections (PR comments), fetch and filter individually rather than truncating the batch
4. Configurable truncation limits: Allow users to set higher thresholds for specific command categories (e.g., gh, git diff)
5. Smart truncation for git diff: Preserve diff structure (file headers, hunk headers) even when truncating content

Environment

• rtk 0.25.0
• gh CLI
• Claude Code
• macOS (darwin arm64)