[FEATURE] Add toolOutputLevel setting to control MCP tool call display verbosity
Preflight Checklist
- [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
- [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)
Problem Statement
When using MCP servers , every tool call displays the full request parameters and response JSON in the output. For plugins that make many API calls, this creates significant visual noise — the user only cares about the result, not the raw payloads.
Proposed Solution
<p style="white-space: pre-wrap; margin-top: 0.1em; margin-bottom: 0.2em; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); font-family: -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Currently there is no way to control how MCP tool calls are rendered in the Claude Code UI (CLI or VSCode extension). Every call shows:</p><div class="codeBlockWrapper_-a7MRw" style="position: relative; margin: 8px 0px; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); font-family: -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><button class="copyButton_CEmTFw copyButton_-a7MRw" title="Copy code" aria-label="Copy code to clipboard" style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); font-family: -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background: none 0% 0% / auto repeat scroll padding-box border-box rgb(31, 31, 31); border-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; border-image: none 100% / 1 / 0 stretch; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0; display: flex; border-radius: 4px; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 4px; transition: opacity 0.15s, background 0.15s; position: absolute; top: 4px; right: 4px;"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" data-slot="icon" class="copyIcon_CEmTFw"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M15.988 3.012A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 18 5.25v6.5A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 15.75 14H13.5v-3.379a3 3 0 0 0-.879-2.121l-3.12-3.121a3 3 0 0 0-1.402-.791 2.252 2.252 0 0 1 1.913-1.576A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 12.25 1h1.5a2.25 2.25 0 0 1 2.238 2.012ZM11.5 3.25a.75.75 0 0 1 .75-.75h1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.75v.25h-3v-.25Z" clip-rule="evenodd"></path><path d="M3.5 6A1.5 1.5 0 0 0 2 7.5v9A1.5 1.5 0 0 0 3.5 18h7a1.5 1.5 0 0 0 1.5-1.5v-5.879a1.5 1.5 0 0 0-.44-1.06L8.44 6.439A1.5 1.5 0 0 0 7.378 6H3.5Z"></path></svg></button><pre style="overflow-x: auto; white-space: pre; box-sizing: border-box; border-radius: 4px; max-width: 100%; margin: 0px; padding: 8px;"><code style="font-family: monospace; color: rgb(208, 208, 208); background-color: rgb(60, 60, 60); padding: 0px; border-radius: 3px; word-break: break-word; font-size: 0.9em;">⏺ ai-project-poc - Ticket_list (MCP)(workspaceId: "69c13422...")
⎿ {"result":[{"tenantId":"69c13422...","workspaceId":"69c13422...","createTime":"03/23/2026",...
</code></pre></div><p style="white-space: pre-wrap; margin-top: 0.1em; margin-bottom: 0.2em; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); font-family: -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">For plugin developers building conversational UX on top of MCP servers, this breaks the experience — users see raw JSON, request bodies, and sometimes tokens in the output.</p><h2 style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); font-family: -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Proposed Solution</h2><p style="white-space: pre-wrap; margin-top: 0.1em; margin-bottom: 0.2em; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); font-family: -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Add a <code style="font-family: monospace; color: rgb(208, 208, 208); background-color: rgb(60, 60, 60); padding: 2px 4px; border-radius: 3px; word-break: break-word; font-size: 0.9em;">toolOutputLevel</code> setting with levels:</p>
Level | Shows
-- | --
full (default) | Tool name + parameters + full response
compact | Tool name + parameters, response collapsed
name-only | Only the tool name
hidden | Tool calls run silently
<p style="white-space: pre-wrap; margin-top: 0.1em; margin-bottom: 0.2em; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); font-family: -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Configurable globally or per-tool pattern:</p><div class="codeBlockWrapper_-a7MRw" style="position: relative; margin: 8px 0px; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); font-family: -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><button class="copyButton_CEmTFw copyButton_-a7MRw" title="Copy code" aria-label="Copy code to clipboard" style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); font-family: -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background: none 0% 0% / auto repeat scroll padding-box border-box rgb(31, 31, 31); border-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; border-image: none 100% / 1 / 0 stretch; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0; display: flex; border-radius: 4px; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 4px; transition: opacity 0.15s, background 0.15s; position: absolute; top: 4px; right: 4px;"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" data-slot="icon" class="copyIcon_CEmTFw"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M15.988 3.012A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 18 5.25v6.5A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 15.75 14H13.5v-3.379a3 3 0 0 0-.879-2.121l-3.12-3.121a3 3 0 0 0-1.402-.791 2.252 2.252 0 0 1 1.913-1.576A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 12.25 1h1.5a2.25 2.25 0 0 1 2.238 2.012ZM11.5 3.25a.75.75 0 0 1 .75-.75h1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.75v.25h-3v-.25Z" clip-rule="evenodd"></path><path d="M3.5 6A1.5 1.5 0 0 0 2 7.5v9A1.5 1.5 0 0 0 3.5 18h7a1.5 1.5 0 0 0 1.5-1.5v-5.879a1.5 1.5 0 0 0-.44-1.06L8.44 6.439A1.5 1.5 0 0 0 7.378 6H3.5Z"></path></svg></button><pre style="overflow-x: auto; white-space: pre; box-sizing: border-box; border-radius: 4px; max-width: 100%; margin: 0px; padding: 8px;"><code class="language-json" style="font-family: monospace; color: rgb(208, 208, 208); background-color: rgb(60, 60, 60); padding: 0px; border-radius: 3px; word-break: break-word; font-size: 0.9em;">{
"toolOutputLevel": {
"default": "full",
"mcp__ai_project_poc__*": "name-only",
"Bash": "compact"
}
}</code></pre></div>
Alternative Solutions
_No response_
Priority
Medium - Would be very helpful
Feature Category
CLI commands and flags
Use Case Example
Building a Claude Code plugin for POC project using an MCP server for all backend calls. The plugin has careful UX rules but raw tool call display undermines the clean experience.
Additional Context
_No response_
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