surface/token-budget
The serialized tools/list payload is injected into every conversation that connects the server, before any work happens. Its token cost is a per-message tax.
- Category
- surface
- Default severity
- warn
- Weight
- 15
- Max deduction
- 30
Why this category matters
How much of the context window the tool surface consumes before anyone says anything.
A rule deducts weight points from its category for each non-info finding, capped at maxDeduction. The composite is the mean of the six category scores — so a single noisy rule can never sink a whole surface on its own. Read the full scoring model.
Configuration
Override these in .mcp-surface-lintrc.json to match your own thresholds.
{
"rules": {
"surface/token-budget": {
"options": {
"maxTokens": 10000
}
}
}
}