diff --git a/docs/tools_configuration.md b/docs/tools_configuration.md
index 2c7e2ec70..adee9244a 100644
--- a/docs/tools_configuration.md
+++ b/docs/tools_configuration.md
@@ -533,4 +533,4 @@ For example:
 Note: Nested map-style config (for example `tools.mcp.servers.<name>.*`) is configured in `config.json` rather than
 environment variables.
 
-For MCP tools, `tools.mcp.max_inline_text_chars` controls how much text result is kept inline in model context. Above this threshold, PicoClaw saves the MCP text result as a local artifact in the agent workspace and gives the model a short note plus a structured `[file:...]` artifact path instead of injecting the full payload into context.
+For MCP tools, `tools.mcp.max_inline_text_chars` controls how much text result is kept inline in model context. The threshold is counted in Unicode characters (Go runes), not bytes. For example, `16384` means up to 16,384 characters inline, which may occupy more than 16 KB for multibyte text such as CJK. Above this threshold, PicoClaw saves the MCP text result as a local artifact in the agent workspace and gives the model a short note plus a structured `[file:...]` artifact path instead of injecting the full payload into context.
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index 5c5df09f8..7165246e5 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -943,8 +943,8 @@ type MCPServerConfig struct {
 type MCPConfig struct {
 	ToolConfig `                    envPrefix:"PICOCLAW_TOOLS_MCP_"`
 	Discovery  ToolDiscoveryConfig `                                json:"discovery"`
-	// Max controls how much MCP text stays inline before it is saved as an artifact.
-	Max int `json:"max_inline_text_chars,omitempty" env:"PICOCLAW_TOOLS_MCP_MAX_INLINE_TEXT_CHARS"`
+	// MaxInlineTextChars controls how much MCP text stays inline before it is saved as an artifact.
+	MaxInlineTextChars int `json:"max_inline_text_chars,omitempty" env:"PICOCLAW_TOOLS_MCP_MAX_INLINE_TEXT_CHARS"`
 	// Servers is a map of server name to server configuration
 	Servers map[string]MCPServerConfig `json:"servers,omitempty"`
 }
@@ -952,8 +952,8 @@ type MCPConfig struct {
 const DefaultMCPMaxInlineTextChars = 16 * 1024
 
 func (c *MCPConfig) GetMaxInlineTextChars() int {
-	if c.Max > 0 {
-		return c.Max
+	if c.MaxInlineTextChars > 0 {
+		return c.MaxInlineTextChars
 	}
 	return DefaultMCPMaxInlineTextChars
 }
diff --git a/pkg/config/defaults.go b/pkg/config/defaults.go
index 0e8778a1b..c2e1a31f3 100644
--- a/pkg/config/defaults.go
+++ b/pkg/config/defaults.go
@@ -462,8 +462,8 @@ func DefaultConfig() *Config {
 					UseBM25:          true,
 					UseRegex:         false,
 				},
-				Max:     DefaultMCPMaxInlineTextChars,
-				Servers: map[string]MCPServerConfig{},
+				MaxInlineTextChars: DefaultMCPMaxInlineTextChars,
+				Servers:            map[string]MCPServerConfig{},
 			},
 			AppendFile: ToolConfig{
 				Enabled: true,
diff --git a/pkg/tools/mcp_tool.go b/pkg/tools/mcp_tool.go
index 87ee9a40a..1caf390cf 100644
--- a/pkg/tools/mcp_tool.go
+++ b/pkg/tools/mcp_tool.go
@@ -362,6 +362,7 @@ func (t *MCPTool) persistLargeTextArtifact(text string) *ToolResult {
 	if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, 0o700); err != nil {
 		return t.largeTextArtifactFallback(text, err)
 	}
+	// TODO: Add lifecycle cleanup/retention for MCP artifact files.
 
 	pattern := fmt.Sprintf(
 		"%s_%s_*.txt",
diff --git a/pkg/tools/mcp_tool_test.go b/pkg/tools/mcp_tool_test.go
index bc9edb6e1..f2b02d6f6 100644
--- a/pkg/tools/mcp_tool_test.go
+++ b/pkg/tools/mcp_tool_test.go
@@ -783,3 +783,28 @@ func TestMCPTool_Execute_LargeTextArtifactFailureStillOmitsContext(t *testing.T)
 		t.Fatalf("expected no artifact tags on persistence failure, got %+v", result.ArtifactTags)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestMCPTool_Execute_WhitespaceWorkspaceDisablesArtifactPersistence(t *testing.T) {
+	largeText := strings.Repeat("This is a large MCP text payload.\n", 800)
+	manager := &MockMCPManager{
+		callToolFunc: func(ctx context.Context, serverName, toolName string, arguments map[string]any) (*mcp.CallToolResult, error) {
+			return &mcp.CallToolResult{
+				Content: []mcp.Content{
+					&mcp.TextContent{Text: largeText},
+				},
+			}, nil
+		},
+	}
+
+	mcpTool := NewMCPTool(manager, "test_server", &mcp.Tool{Name: "dump_payload"})
+	mcpTool.SetWorkspace(" \n\t ")
+
+	result := mcpTool.Execute(context.Background(), nil)
+
+	if len(result.ArtifactTags) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected no artifact tags for whitespace workspace, got %+v", result.ArtifactTags)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.ForLLM, "This is a large MCP text payload") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected large text to remain inline when workspace is blank, got %q", result.ForLLM)
+	}
+}