MCP tools exceed token limits when listing or viewing large task sets

[davidpp]

Problem Description

When working with tasks through MCP tools, there's currently no way to retrieve minimal information (just titles, status, metadata) without pulling full task content. This causes token limit errors (25k token limit) when attempting basic operations.

Current Behavior

All MCP task tools return full content:

• task_list returns all task content even when just listing
• parent_get includes all subtask content (fails with 10+ subtasks)
• task_get with format=summary still returns full content

Impact

This makes the MCP interface unusable for:

• Getting project status overview
• Orchestrating parent tasks with many subtasks
• Working in projects with 50+ active tasks
• Basic task monitoring and status checks

Current workarounds require falling back to bash commands and file system operations, which:

• Defeats the purpose of having MCP tools
• Loses access to proper task metadata
• Breaks the abstraction layer

Example Failures

<error>MCP tool "parent_get" response (55658 tokens) exceeds maximum allowed tokens (25000)</error>
<error>MCP tool "task_list" response (45278 tokens) exceeds maximum allowed tokens (25000)</error>

Success Criteria

1. Users can list tasks and see just titles + key metadata without token limit errors
2. Parent task overview is accessible even with 20+ subtasks
3. Bulk status checks are possible without pulling full content
4. The solution maintains backward compatibility with existing tools

Constraints

• Must work within MCP protocol limitations
• Should not require significant changes to task storage format
• Performance should remain acceptable for normal use cases

Potential Solutions (to explore)

• Add field selection parameters to existing tools
• Create lightweight summary-only tools
• Implement pagination for large result sets
• Add response size hints to tools

Related

• Internal task: mcp-list-view-task-06A
• This is blocking effective use of Scopecraft for larger projects