# NousResearch/hermes-agent · MCP json.dumps ensure_ascii handling for non-ASCII results

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

One issue reports that Chinese MCP tool results use about three times as many tokens, attributing this to ensure_ascii being set to True in json.dumps in mcp_tool.py. The two pull requests both change ensure_ascii in MCP json.dumps calls, but one titles it as adding True and the other as False, so their intended settings appear to differ.

## TL;DR

- 3 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 1 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 1 merged PR(s), 1 PR(s) closed without merging.
- A fix was merged to main in PR #10512. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #10512 (and any competing PRs below) before filing. Confirm the merged change covers your symptom.

## Maintainer resolution verdict

- Internal-tracker verdict over this cluster's issue members: `resolved` · deciding PR(s): `pr-10512`. This is distinct from the fix status above. Weigh it yourself.

## How this cluster was grouped

- Link evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.
- Pairwise link density `0.67`: the share of member pairs that carry a link, counting a structural link in full and a relevance-only link at 0.36. `1.00` means every pair is linked.

## Closed / duplicate issues

- #10234: When Hermes calls the MCP tool, if the returned result is in Chinese, it will consume three times as many tokens. This is because the ensure_ascii parameter in json.dumps within mcp_tool.py is set to True.

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#10512: fix: add ensure_ascii=False to all MCP json.dumps calls**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `tools/mcp_tool.py`
- **#10329: fix(mcp): add ensure_ascii=True to all json.dumps calls (#10234)**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `superseded_by_pr`; implication `superseded`; refs `#10512`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #10512 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-04-15`. This confirmation is old and may be out of date (a revert/reopen would not have invalidated it here); re-verify.