feat(mcp): return logs as pre-formatted strings to reduce token usage#145
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feat(mcp): return logs as pre-formatted strings to reduce token usage#145
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Replace the structured entries array (objects with timestamp, message, severity fields) with a flat []string where each line is prefixed with an RFC3339 timestamp. The message already contains the severity so there is no information loss, and the token count per log entry drops significantly.
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nathanjcochran
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LGTM! Thanks for making this change!
internal/tiger/mcp/service_tools.go
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| Message: e.Message, | ||
| Severity: e.Severity, | ||
| if !e.Timestamp.IsZero() { | ||
| logs[i] = e.Timestamp.UTC().Format(time.RFC3339) + " " + e.Message |
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Why are we using a different timestamp format here compared to in the CLI command and API? Shouldn't we use the same format everywhere, for consistency?
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Just Claude doing it wrong.
I changed it but made the CLI use local timezone I think that's better in that case?
Let me know if you disagree though and we can change it to UTC too
Use "2006-01-02 15:04:05 UTC" (matching PostgreSQL log format) instead of RFC3339 in MCP output. CLI text output renders in local timezone so users see timestamps in their own timezone; MCP and the public API use UTC.
nathanjcochran
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Apr 10, 2026
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Summary
Improves on the structured log entries introduced in #143. That PR returned an
entriesarray of JSON objects, each withtimestamp,message, andseverityfields. This PR replaces that with a flatlogs []stringwhere each line is an RFC3339 timestamp prepended to the log message.The severity is already embedded in the message text so there is no information loss, but the token count per MCP tool call drops significantly — a JSON object with three named fields per entry becomes a single string.