Tokens exceeds maximum allowed tokens (25000)

[murdahl]

Really like the MCP server

I keep getting

Error: MCP tool "search_for_pattern" response (32204 tokens) exceeds maximum allowed tokens (25000). Please use pagination,
     filtering, or limit parameters to reduce the response size.

Is there a way to set maximum allowed tokens in settings or make it default to less?

[MischaPanch]

The tool itself already has a parameter max_answer_chars, you can ask your agent to adjust it. If that's not enough for your use-case, we could make the default configurable through serena_config.yml (currently, it is the global var TOOL_DEFAULT_MAX_ANSWER_LENGTH) - would you want to prepare a PR for that?

But I will do a thing now - the default is probably too large, I am going to lower it, which will solve your problem immediately

[agn-7]

How can I fix this issue in Claude Code? I cannot find any file named serena_config.yml to update it!

Also, I told the agent to use this parameter max_answer_chars with 50,000, but still the same issue:

Claude Code output:

⏺ serena - search_for_pattern (MCP)(substring_pattern: "cuaState|CuaState|automation.*state", restrict_search_to_code_files: true, context_lines_after: 1, context_lines_before: 1, max_answer_chars: 100000)
  ⎿  Error: MCP tool "search_for_pattern" response (34549 tokens) exceeds maximum allowed tokens (25000). Please use pagination, filtering, or limit parameters to reduce the response size.

⏺ The issue is not just the Serena max_answer_chars parameter, but also the MCP tool response token limit (25,000 tokens). Even with increased character limit, we're hitting the token limit. Let me try a more specific
  search:

[MischaPanch]

Lower the value for default_max_tool_answer_chars in your HOME/.serena/serena_config.yml

[MischaPanch]

@agn-7 Btw, the problem is probably the dumb use of a greedy regex here automation.*state

@opcode81 FYI, see also discussion in #538

You can also disable the search_for_pattern tool in your serena config if you don't want to use it

[agn-7]

@MischaPanch thanks for the response.

How can I disable a specific tool? Should I write the tool name and pass false to it in the serena_config.yml?

[MischaPanch]

@agn-7 pls have a look at the configuration section in the readme

[PaulRBerg]

we could make the default configurable through serena_config.yml (currently, it is the global var TOOL_DEFAULT_MAX_ANSWER_LENGTH)

This would be great! I stumbled upon this limitation several times