Query Size Limits

A single tool result should never exceed 25 KB of text. Large results waste context budget that should go to reasoning and conversation.

When querying messages.db or reading files:

• Always use LIMIT — max 50 rows for messages, 20 for other tables
• Pipe large command output through head -100
• If you need more data, query in batches with OFFSET

When reading files:

• Use the offset and limit parameters on the Read tool for large files
• Don't cat entire files into Bash output — use Read with a range instead

If a tool result is unexpectedly large, summarize the relevant portion and discard the rest rather than keeping it all in context.