Too many MCP tools: tool limits in Windsurf, Cursor and VS Code

The error

Why it happens

Agents work best with a limited set of tools, and some clients enforce a hard cap. Windsurf's docs say Cascade has a limit of 100 total tools at any given time. Cursor's and VS Code's current MCP docs don't publish a fixed number, but both let you switch tools off. Big servers like GitHub or AWS can expose dozens of tools each, so a few servers add up quickly.

How to fix it

1. Disable servers you are not using
   Cursor: Customize → MCP, toggle the server off. Windsurf: the MCPs section of the Cascade panel's ... menu shows tool counts per server, with a toggle for each.
2. Turn off individual tools
   VS Code: click Configure Tools in the chat input and untick tools. Windsurf: list tool names in the server's disabledTools array.

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "github": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
         "disabledTools": ["create_repository"]
       }
     }
   }

3. Use server-side toolsets
   Some servers let you load only a subset. GitHub's server supports GITHUB_TOOLSETS.

   "env": { "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "…", "GITHUB_TOOLSETS": "repos,issues,pull_requests" }

Related servers

Sources

• https://docs.windsurf.com/windsurf/cascade/mcp
• https://cursor.com/docs/context/mcp
• https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/mcp-servers
• https://github.com/github/github-mcp-server