feat(mcp): store oversized text results as artifacts (#2308)

* feat(mcp): store oversized text results as artifacts

* feat(mcp): fix doc

* fix(mcp): preserve raw MCP payload in text artifacts

* fix(mcp): avoid leaking large text when artifact persistence fails

* chore(mcp): clarify inline text limit and cover artifact edge cases

docs/tools_configuration.md

@@ -528,6 +528,9 @@ For example:
 - `PICOCLAW_TOOLS_EXEC_ENABLE_DENY_PATTERNS=false`
 - `PICOCLAW_TOOLS_CRON_EXEC_TIMEOUT_MINUTES=10`
 - `PICOCLAW_TOOLS_MCP_ENABLED=true`
+- `PICOCLAW_TOOLS_MCP_MAX_INLINE_TEXT_CHARS=16384`
 
 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. 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.

pkg/agent/loop_mcp.go

@@ -126,6 +126,8 @@ func (al *AgentLoop) ensureMCPInitialized(ctx context.Context) error {
 					}
 
 					mcpTool := tools.NewMCPTool(mcpManager, serverName, tool)
+					mcpTool.SetWorkspace(agent.Workspace)
+					mcpTool.SetMaxInlineTextRunes(al.cfg.Tools.MCP.GetMaxInlineTextChars())
 
 					if registerAsHidden {
 						agent.Tools.RegisterHidden(mcpTool)

pkg/config/config.go

@@ -943,10 +943,21 @@ type MCPServerConfig struct {
 type MCPConfig struct {
 	ToolConfig `                    envPrefix:"PICOCLAW_TOOLS_MCP_"`
 	Discovery  ToolDiscoveryConfig `                                json:"discovery"`
+	// 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"`
 }
 
+const DefaultMCPMaxInlineTextChars = 16 * 1024
+
+func (c *MCPConfig) GetMaxInlineTextChars() int {
+	if c.MaxInlineTextChars > 0 {
+		return c.MaxInlineTextChars
+	}
+	return DefaultMCPMaxInlineTextChars
+}
+
 func LoadConfig(path string) (*Config, error) {
 	logger.Debugf("loading config from %s", path)
 

pkg/config/config_test.go

@@ -198,6 +198,41 @@ func TestAgentConfig_FullParse(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestDefaultConfig_MCPMaxInlineTextChars(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg := DefaultConfig()
+	if cfg.Tools.MCP.GetMaxInlineTextChars() != DefaultMCPMaxInlineTextChars {
+		t.Fatalf(
+			"DefaultConfig().Tools.MCP.GetMaxInlineTextChars() = %d, want %d",
+			cfg.Tools.MCP.GetMaxInlineTextChars(),
+			DefaultMCPMaxInlineTextChars,
+		)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestLoadConfig_MCPMaxInlineTextChars(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	configPath := filepath.Join(dir, "config.json")
+	raw := `{
+		"tools": {
+			"mcp": {
+				"enabled": true,
+				"max_inline_text_chars": 2048
+			}
+		}
+	}`
+	if err := os.WriteFile(configPath, []byte(raw), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("WriteFile(configPath): %v", err)
+	}
+
+	cfg, err := LoadConfig(configPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("LoadConfig() error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if got := cfg.Tools.MCP.GetMaxInlineTextChars(); got != 2048 {
+		t.Fatalf("cfg.Tools.MCP.GetMaxInlineTextChars() = %d, want 2048", got)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestConfig_BackwardCompat_NoAgentsList(t *testing.T) {
 	jsonData := `{
 		"agents": {

pkg/config/defaults.go

@@ -462,6 +462,7 @@ func DefaultConfig() *Config {
 					UseBM25:          true,
 					UseRegex:         false,
 				},
+				MaxInlineTextChars: DefaultMCPMaxInlineTextChars,
 				Servers:            map[string]MCPServerConfig{},
 			},
 			AppendFile: ToolConfig{

pkg/tools/mcp_tool.go

@@ -6,11 +6,14 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"hash/fnv"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
+	"unicode/utf8"
 
 	"github.com/modelcontextprotocol/go-sdk/mcp"
 
+	"github.com/sipeed/picoclaw/pkg/logger"
 	"github.com/sipeed/picoclaw/pkg/media"
 )
 
@@ -30,6 +33,8 @@ type MCPTool struct {
 	serverName         string
 	tool               *mcp.Tool
 	mediaStore         media.MediaStore
+	workspace          string
+	maxInlineTextRunes int
 }
 
 // NewMCPTool creates a new MCP tool wrapper
@@ -38,6 +43,7 @@ func NewMCPTool(manager MCPManager, serverName string, tool *mcp.Tool) *MCPTool
 		manager:            manager,
 		serverName:         serverName,
 		tool:               tool,
+		maxInlineTextRunes: maxMCPInlineTextRunes,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -45,6 +51,18 @@ func (t *MCPTool) SetMediaStore(store media.MediaStore) {
 	t.mediaStore = store
 }
 
+func (t *MCPTool) SetWorkspace(workspace string) {
+	t.workspace = strings.TrimSpace(workspace)
+}
+
+func (t *MCPTool) SetMaxInlineTextRunes(limit int) {
+	if limit > 0 {
+		t.maxInlineTextRunes = limit
+	}
+}
+
+const maxMCPInlineTextRunes = 16 * 1024
+
 // sanitizeIdentifierComponent normalizes a string so it can be safely used
 // as part of a tool/function identifier for downstream providers.
 // It:
@@ -255,14 +273,19 @@ func extractContentText(content []mcp.Content) string {
 
 func (t *MCPTool) normalizeResultContent(ctx context.Context, content []mcp.Content) *ToolResult {
 	llmParts := make([]string, 0, len(content))
+	rawTextParts := make([]string, 0, len(content))
 	mediaRefs := make([]string, 0, len(content))
 
 	for _, c := range content {
 		switch v := c.(type) {
 		case *mcp.TextContent:
-			text := strings.TrimSpace(sanitizeToolLLMContent(v.Text))
+			rawText := strings.TrimSpace(v.Text)
-			if text != "" {
+			if rawText != "" {
-				llmParts = append(llmParts, text)
+				rawTextParts = append(rawTextParts, rawText)
+			}
+			safeText := strings.TrimSpace(sanitizeToolLLMContent(v.Text))
+			if safeText != "" {
+				llmParts = append(llmParts, safeText)
 			}
 		case *mcp.ImageContent:
 			ref, note := t.storeBinaryContent(
@@ -295,10 +318,13 @@ func (t *MCPTool) normalizeResultContent(ctx context.Context, content []mcp.Cont
 		case *mcp.ResourceLink:
 			llmParts = append(llmParts, summarizeResourceLink(v))
 		case *mcp.EmbeddedResource:
-			ref, note := t.storeEmbeddedResource(ctx, v)
+			ref, note, rawText := t.storeEmbeddedResource(ctx, v)
 			if ref != "" {
 				mediaRefs = append(mediaRefs, ref)
 			}
+			if rawText != "" {
+				rawTextParts = append(rawTextParts, rawText)
+			}
 			if note != "" {
 				llmParts = append(llmParts, note)
 			}
@@ -307,34 +333,105 @@ func (t *MCPTool) normalizeResultContent(ctx context.Context, content []mcp.Cont
 		}
 	}
 
+	forLLM := strings.Join(compactStrings(llmParts), "\n")
+	rawText := strings.Join(compactStrings(rawTextParts), "\n")
+	if artifactResult := t.persistLargeTextArtifact(rawText); artifactResult != nil {
+		artifactResult.Media = mediaRefs
+		return artifactResult
+	}
+
 	result := &ToolResult{
-		ForLLM: strings.Join(compactStrings(llmParts), "\n"),
+		ForLLM: forLLM,
 		Media:  mediaRefs,
 	}
 	return result
 }
 
-func (t *MCPTool) storeEmbeddedResource(ctx context.Context, content *mcp.EmbeddedResource) (string, string) {
+func (t *MCPTool) persistLargeTextArtifact(text string) *ToolResult {
+	text = strings.TrimSpace(text)
+	limit := t.maxInlineTextRunes
+	if limit <= 0 {
+		limit = maxMCPInlineTextRunes
+	}
+	size := utf8.RuneCountInString(text)
+	if text == "" || size <= limit || t.workspace == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	dir := filepath.Join(t.workspace, ".artifacts", "mcp")
+	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",
+		sanitizeIdentifierComponent(t.serverName),
+		sanitizeIdentifierComponent(t.tool.Name),
+	)
+	tmpFile, err := os.CreateTemp(dir, pattern)
+	if err != nil {
+		return t.largeTextArtifactFallback(text, err)
+	}
+	path := tmpFile.Name()
+	if _, err = tmpFile.WriteString(text); err != nil {
+		_ = tmpFile.Close()
+		_ = os.Remove(path)
+		return t.largeTextArtifactFallback(text, err)
+	}
+	if err = tmpFile.Close(); err != nil {
+		_ = os.Remove(path)
+		return t.largeTextArtifactFallback(text, err)
+	}
+
+	return &ToolResult{
+		ForLLM: fmt.Sprintf(
+			"[MCP returned a large text result (%d chars); omitted from model context and saved as a local artifact.]",
+			size,
+		),
+		ArtifactTags: []string{"[file:" + path + "]"},
+	}
+}
+
+func (t *MCPTool) largeTextArtifactFallback(text string, err error) *ToolResult {
+	size := utf8.RuneCountInString(text)
+	logger.WarnCF("tool", "Failed to persist large MCP text artifact", map[string]any{
+		"server": t.serverName,
+		"tool":   t.tool.Name,
+		"chars":  size,
+		"error":  err.Error(),
+	})
+	return &ToolResult{
+		ForLLM: fmt.Sprintf(
+			"[MCP returned a large text result (%d chars); omitted from model context because artifact persistence failed.]",
+			size,
+		),
+	}
+}
+
+func (t *MCPTool) storeEmbeddedResource(ctx context.Context, content *mcp.EmbeddedResource) (string, string, string) {
 	if content == nil || content.Resource == nil {
-		return "", "[MCP returned an embedded resource without data.]"
+		return "", "[MCP returned an embedded resource without data.]", ""
 	}
 
 	resource := content.Resource
 	if len(resource.Blob) > 0 {
-		return t.storeBinaryContent(
+		ref, note := t.storeBinaryContent(
 			ctx,
 			"resource",
 			normalizedMIMEType(resource.MIMEType),
 			resource.Blob,
 			content.Annotations,
 		)
+		return ref, note, ""
 	}
 
-	if strings.TrimSpace(resource.Text) != "" {
+	rawText := strings.TrimSpace(resource.Text)
-		return "", sanitizeToolLLMContent(resource.Text)
+	if rawText != "" {
+		return "", sanitizeToolLLMContent(resource.Text), rawText
 	}
 
-	return "", summarizeEmbeddedResource(content)
+	return "", summarizeEmbeddedResource(content), ""
 }
 
 func (t *MCPTool) storeBinaryContent(

pkg/tools/mcp_tool_test.go

@@ -634,3 +634,177 @@ func TestMCPTool_Execute_LargeBase64TextIsOmittedFromContext(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("expected sanitized large base64 note, got %q", result.ForLLM)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestMCPTool_Execute_LargeBase64TextArtifactPreservesRawPayload(t *testing.T) {
+	workspace := t.TempDir()
+	largeBase64 := strings.Repeat("QUJD", 400)
+	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: largeBase64},
+				},
+			}, nil
+		},
+	}
+
+	mcpTool := NewMCPTool(manager, "test_server", &mcp.Tool{Name: "dump_payload"})
+	mcpTool.SetWorkspace(workspace)
+	mcpTool.SetMaxInlineTextRunes(32)
+
+	result := mcpTool.Execute(context.Background(), nil)
+
+	if !strings.Contains(result.ForLLM, "saved as a local artifact") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected artifact note, got %q", result.ForLLM)
+	}
+	if result.ForLLM == largeBase64OmittedMessage {
+		t.Fatalf("expected artifact note instead of sanitized base64 placeholder")
+	}
+	if len(result.ArtifactTags) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 1 artifact tag, got %d", len(result.ArtifactTags))
+	}
+	tag := result.ArtifactTags[0]
+	const prefix = "[file:"
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(tag, prefix) || !strings.HasSuffix(tag, "]") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected file artifact tag, got %q", tag)
+	}
+	path := strings.TrimSuffix(strings.TrimPrefix(tag, prefix), "]")
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected artifact file to be readable: %v", err)
+	}
+	if string(data) != largeBase64 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected artifact file contents to preserve raw MCP payload")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestMCPTool_Execute_LargeTextStoredAsArtifact(t *testing.T) {
+	workspace := t.TempDir()
+	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(workspace)
+
+	result := mcpTool.Execute(context.Background(), nil)
+
+	if strings.Contains(result.ForLLM, "This is a large MCP text payload") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected large MCP text to be omitted from ForLLM, got %q", result.ForLLM)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.ForLLM, "saved as a local artifact") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected artifact note, got %q", result.ForLLM)
+	}
+	if len(result.ArtifactTags) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 1 artifact tag, got %d", len(result.ArtifactTags))
+	}
+	tag := result.ArtifactTags[0]
+	const prefix = "[file:"
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(tag, prefix) || !strings.HasSuffix(tag, "]") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected file artifact tag, got %q", tag)
+	}
+	path := strings.TrimSuffix(strings.TrimPrefix(tag, prefix), "]")
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(path, workspace) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected artifact inside workspace, got %q", path)
+	}
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected artifact file to be readable: %v", err)
+	}
+	if string(data) != strings.TrimSpace(largeText) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected artifact file contents to match source text")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestMCPTool_Execute_CustomInlineTextThreshold(t *testing.T) {
+	workspace := t.TempDir()
+	text := strings.Repeat("small custom threshold text\n", 20)
+	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: text},
+				},
+			}, nil
+		},
+	}
+
+	mcpTool := NewMCPTool(manager, "test_server", &mcp.Tool{Name: "dump_payload"})
+	mcpTool.SetWorkspace(workspace)
+	mcpTool.SetMaxInlineTextRunes(32)
+
+	result := mcpTool.Execute(context.Background(), nil)
+
+	if len(result.ArtifactTags) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected custom threshold to persist artifact, got %+v", result)
+	}
+	if strings.Contains(result.ForLLM, "small custom threshold text") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected text to be omitted from ForLLM, got %q", result.ForLLM)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestMCPTool_Execute_LargeTextArtifactFailureStillOmitsContext(t *testing.T) {
+	workspaceRoot := t.TempDir()
+	workspaceFile := filepath.Join(workspaceRoot, "not-a-directory")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(workspaceFile, []byte("x"), 0o600); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to create workspace file: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	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(workspaceFile)
+
+	result := mcpTool.Execute(context.Background(), nil)
+
+	if strings.Contains(result.ForLLM, "This is a large MCP text payload") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected large MCP text to be omitted from ForLLM, got %q", result.ForLLM)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.ForLLM, "artifact persistence failed") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected persistence failure note, got %q", result.ForLLM)
+	}
+	if len(result.ArtifactTags) != 0 {
+		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)
+	}
+}