When an MCP Tool Returns Too Much: Pagination and Truncation
Dev Communityvia NewsData.io
Quick answer: When an MCP tool returns a large result set in one response, the practical limit is not abstract; transport frames, model context windows, and client memory all cap what is usable, and an oversized payload either gets truncated silently or pushes the model into a confused state where it acts on an incomplete list. The fix is to design the tool for pagination from the start, return a bounded page with an explicit cursor and a hasMore flag, and let the client or agent fetch additional pages on demand. Truncation should be an explicit, documented signal with metadata, never a silent
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