fix(tasks): preserve empty task json outputs

[pragnyanramtha]

Summary

• preserve an intentionally empty TaskOutput.json_dict when converting task output to a dict
• render empty JSON task output as {} instead of falling back to raw text
• add regression coverage for empty JSON task outputs

Validation

• uv run pytest lib/crewai/tests/test_task.py::test_task_output_str_with_json_dict lib/crewai/tests/test_task.py::test_task_output_str_with_empty_json_dict lib/crewai/tests/test_task.py::test_task_output_to_dict_prefers_empty_json_dict lib/crewai/tests/test_task.py::test_task_output_str_with_pydantic_and_json_dict -q
• uv run ruff check lib/crewai/src/crewai/tasks/task_output.py lib/crewai/tests/test_task.py

Contributor Note

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Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes

  • Empty-but-present JSON outputs are now preserved and included instead of being treated as absent, ensuring empty JSON objects are returned and displayed correctly.

• Tests

  • Added tests verifying behavior when JSON output is empty, confirming both string and dictionary representations reflect an empty JSON object.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

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Run ID: 17bd5c84-3c73-49c9-9eea-8c7ab73ed239

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 308b800 and c48022b.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• lib/crewai/src/crewai/tasks/task_output.py
• lib/crewai/tests/test_task.py

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

TaskOutput.to_dict() and TaskOutput.str now use explicit is not None checks for json_dict and pydantic, so empty-but-present values are treated as present. Tests added assert str(task_output) == "{}" and task_output.to_dict() == {} for empty JSON output.

Changes

TaskOutput empty-value handling

Layer / File(s)	Summary
TaskOutput serialization method updates lib/crewai/src/crewai/tasks/task_output.py	to_dict() and __str__() replace truthiness conditionals with explicit is not None checks for json_dict and pydantic attributes, changing when empty values are included vs. when fallback to raw occurs.
Empty json_dict test coverage lib/crewai/tests/test_task.py	New tests verify str() returns "{}" and to_dict() returns empty dict when output_format is JSON with empty json_dict, validating the updated serialization logic.

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~20 minutes

I nibbled at a boolean bite,
Found None hiding in plain sight.
Empty braces now stand proud and true,
Not swallowed by a falsy view.
A rabbit cheers: empty is new! 🐇

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 16.67% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title 'fix(tasks): preserve empty task json outputs' directly and specifically summarizes the main change: fixing the handling of empty JSON task outputs in TaskOutput conversion methods.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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✨ Finishing Touches

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• Create PR with unit tests

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