Make CLI buffer limit configurable (#190)

Author: Mng-dev-ai

src/claude_agent_sdk/_internal/transport/subprocess_cli.py

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-_MAX_BUFFER_SIZE = 1024 * 1024  # 1MB buffer limit
+_DEFAULT_MAX_BUFFER_SIZE = 1024 * 1024  # 1MB buffer limit
 
 
 class SubprocessCLITransport(Transport):
@@ -48,6 +48,11 @@ def __init__(
         self._stderr_task_group: anyio.abc.TaskGroup | None = None
         self._ready = False
         self._exit_error: Exception | None = None  # Track process exit errors
+        self._max_buffer_size = (
+            options.max_buffer_size
+            if options.max_buffer_size is not None
+            else _DEFAULT_MAX_BUFFER_SIZE
+        )
 
     def _find_cli(self) -> str:
         """Find Claude Code CLI binary."""
@@ -402,12 +407,13 @@ async def _read_messages_impl(self) -> AsyncIterator[dict[str, Any]]:
                     # Keep accumulating partial JSON until we can parse it
                     json_buffer += json_line
 
-                    if len(json_buffer) > _MAX_BUFFER_SIZE:
+                    if len(json_buffer) > self._max_buffer_size:
+                        buffer_length = len(json_buffer)
                         json_buffer = ""
                         raise SDKJSONDecodeError(
-                            f"JSON message exceeded maximum buffer size of {_MAX_BUFFER_SIZE} bytes",
+                            f"JSON message exceeded maximum buffer size of {self._max_buffer_size} bytes",
                             ValueError(
-                                f"Buffer size {len(json_buffer)} exceeds limit {_MAX_BUFFER_SIZE}"
+                                f"Buffer size {buffer_length} exceeds limit {self._max_buffer_size}"
                             ),
                         )
 
@@ -418,7 +424,7 @@ async def _read_messages_impl(self) -> AsyncIterator[dict[str, Any]]:
                     except json.JSONDecodeError:
                         # We are speculatively decoding the buffer until we get
                         # a full JSON object. If there is an actual issue, we
-                        # raise an error after _MAX_BUFFER_SIZE.
+                        # raise an error after exceeding the configured limit.
                         continue
 
         except anyio.ClosedResourceError:

src/claude_agent_sdk/types.py

@@ -320,6 +320,7 @@ class ClaudeAgentOptions:
     extra_args: dict[str, str | None] = field(
         default_factory=dict
     )  # Pass arbitrary CLI flags
+    max_buffer_size: int | None = None  # Max bytes when buffering CLI stdout
     debug_stderr: Any = (
         sys.stderr
     )  # Deprecated: File-like object for debug output. Use stderr callback instead.

tests/test_subprocess_buffering.py

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 from claude_agent_sdk._errors import CLIJSONDecodeError
 from claude_agent_sdk._internal.transport.subprocess_cli import (
-    _MAX_BUFFER_SIZE,
+    _DEFAULT_MAX_BUFFER_SIZE,
     SubprocessCLITransport,
 )
 from claude_agent_sdk.types import ClaudeAgentOptions
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ def test_buffer_size_exceeded(self) -> None:
         """Test that exceeding buffer size raises an appropriate error."""
 
         async def _test() -> None:
-            huge_incomplete = '{"data": "' + "x" * (_MAX_BUFFER_SIZE + 1000)
+            huge_incomplete = '{"data": "' + "x" * (_DEFAULT_MAX_BUFFER_SIZE + 1000)
 
             transport = SubprocessCLITransport(
                 prompt="test", options=ClaudeAgentOptions(), cli_path="/usr/bin/claude"
@@ -260,6 +260,34 @@ async def _test() -> None:
 
         anyio.run(_test)
 
+    def test_buffer_size_option(self) -> None:
+        """Test that the configurable buffer size option is respected."""
+
+        async def _test() -> None:
+            custom_limit = 512
+            huge_incomplete = '{"data": "' + "x" * (custom_limit + 10)
+
+            transport = SubprocessCLITransport(
+                prompt="test",
+                options=ClaudeAgentOptions(max_buffer_size=custom_limit),
+                cli_path="/usr/bin/claude",
+            )
+
+            mock_process = MagicMock()
+            mock_process.returncode = None
+            mock_process.wait = AsyncMock(return_value=None)
+            transport._process = mock_process
+            transport._stdout_stream = MockTextReceiveStream([huge_incomplete])
+            transport._stderr_stream = MockTextReceiveStream([])
+
+            with pytest.raises(CLIJSONDecodeError) as exc_info:
+                async for _ in transport.read_messages():
+                    pass
+
+            assert f"maximum buffer size of {custom_limit} bytes" in str(exc_info.value)
+
+        anyio.run(_test)
+
     def test_mixed_complete_and_split_json(self) -> None:
         """Test handling a mix of complete and split JSON messages."""