Previous behavior: src/mcp/mcp.c:3965 handle_list_projects opened every valid cache database and emitted the complete inventory for every call. On the 046d438 real-cache probe, that path returned 81,646 result bytes and took 6,462.768 ms.
Add MCP_PROJECTS_PAGE_SIZE=50 and MCP_PROJECTS_PAGE_MAX=200, stable filename sorting, lazy valid-database traversal, limit/offset metadata, and an explicit all=true compatibility path. collect_project_db_names frees partial allocations on failure; build_project_json_entry closes lookahead stores without querying counts or Git metadata.
Keep scripts/benchmark-incremental-speed.py:1183 full-inventory scaling semantics explicit with list_projects_arguments={all:true}. Add tests/test_mcp.c:963 coverage for stable pages, next_offset, schema fields, full compatibility, environment restoration, and cache cleanup.
Verification: focused ASAN/UBSan canary 1/1; MCP suite 224/224; tool_consolidation 100/100; benchmark harness unittest 41/41; scripts/check-source-safety.sh passed; git diff --cached --check passed.
Signed-off-by: Andrew Hundt <ATHundt@gmail.com>
Andrew Hundt
d10662a90b