Read the contents of a file from the filesystem. Use this tool when you need to examine existing files, review code, read configuration files, or access any text-based file content.

This tool reads text files with a bounded preview by default. Important notes: - The file must exist and be readable - Binary files cannot be read with this tool - Non-UTF-8 text is decoded into data; reversible mojibake is also returned in security_views - Default budget is max_lines=600 and max_chars=14000 - Large files will be truncated instead of returning full content - Prefer using grep to locate relevant code, then read a narrower range - Use relative or absolute file paths

Path to the file to read. Can be relative to current working directory or absolute path. 1-based line number to start reading from. Defaults to 1. Maximum number of lines to return. Defaults to 600. Maximum number of characters to return. Defaults to 14000. Read mode: preview, range, or full. Full mode only succeeds for files within the budget. Response containing: - success: Whether the file was read successfully - message: Error details when the call fails - path: Resolved file path - start_line/end_line: Returned line range - total_lines: Total number of lines in the file - size_bytes: File size in bytes - returned_chars: Number of returned characters - truncated: Whether the output hit the read budget - summary_hint: Guidance for the next read when truncated - encoding: Detected primary character encoding - security_warnings/security_views: Encoding warnings and reversibly recovered text that must be audited - data: Returned file content within the budget # Preview a configuration file config/settings.json # Read a Python source file from line 120 /home/user/project/main.py 120 range # Attempt a full read for a small file docs/README.md full