diff --git a/src/lib/guardrails/visionBridge.ts b/src/lib/guardrails/visionBridge.ts
index 3a27fd3d96..1fc032c374 100644
--- a/src/lib/guardrails/visionBridge.ts
+++ b/src/lib/guardrails/visionBridge.ts
@@ -405,7 +405,11 @@ export class VisionBridgeGuardrail extends BaseGuardrail {
         const description = cached ?? (await callVision(imagePart.imageUrl, describeConfig));
         if (cached === undefined && key && cache) cache.set(key, description);
         recordBridgeUse("vision", { cacheHit: cached !== undefined });
-        return `[Image ${i + 1}]: ${description}`;
+        const capped =
+          runtime.maxChars > 0 && description.length > runtime.maxChars
+            ? description.slice(0, runtime.maxChars) + "…"
+            : description;
+        return `[Image ${i + 1}]: ${capped}`;
       })
     );
 
diff --git a/src/shared/constants/modalityBridgeDefaults.ts b/src/shared/constants/modalityBridgeDefaults.ts
index 4fd98b9d61..e0dcc0aab8 100644
--- a/src/shared/constants/modalityBridgeDefaults.ts
+++ b/src/shared/constants/modalityBridgeDefaults.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ export const MODALITY_BRIDGE_DEFAULTS = {
   cacheEnabled: true,
   cacheTtlMinutes: 60,
   cacheMaxEntries: 200,
+  // 0 = no cap (existing behavior, description is passed through in full).
+  visionMaxChars: 0,
   audioEnabled: true,
   audioModel: "",
   audioTimeoutMs: 60000,
@@ -29,6 +31,7 @@ export interface VisionBridgeRuntimeSettings {
   prompt: string;
   timeoutMs: number;
   maxImages: number;
+  maxChars: number;
   cacheEnabled: boolean;
   cacheTtlMinutes: number;
   cacheMaxEntries: number;
@@ -85,6 +88,7 @@ export function resolveVisionBridgeRuntimeSettings(
     maxImages:
       pickNumber(s.modalityBridgeVisionMaxImages, s.visionBridgeMaxImages) ??
       VISION_BRIDGE_DEFAULTS.maxImagesPerRequest,
+    maxChars: pickNumber(s.modalityBridgeVisionMaxChars) ?? MODALITY_BRIDGE_DEFAULTS.visionMaxChars,
     cacheEnabled:
       pickBoolean(s.modalityBridgeCacheEnabled) ?? MODALITY_BRIDGE_DEFAULTS.cacheEnabled,
     cacheTtlMinutes:
diff --git a/src/shared/validation/settingsSchemas.ts b/src/shared/validation/settingsSchemas.ts
index 167b49dba8..6ac223aaab 100644
--- a/src/shared/validation/settingsSchemas.ts
+++ b/src/shared/validation/settingsSchemas.ts
@@ -349,6 +349,7 @@ export const updateSettingsSchema = z.object({
   modalityBridgeVisionPrompt: z.string().max(5000).optional(),
   modalityBridgeVisionTimeout: z.number().int().min(1000).max(300000).optional(),
   modalityBridgeVisionMaxImages: z.number().int().min(1).max(20).optional(),
+  modalityBridgeVisionMaxChars: z.number().int().min(100).max(50000).optional(),
   modalityBridgeAudioEnabled: z.boolean().optional(),
   modalityBridgeAudioModel: z.string().max(200).optional(),
   modalityBridgeAudioTimeout: z.number().int().min(1000).max(300000).optional(),
diff --git a/tests/unit/vision-bridge-maxchars.test.ts b/tests/unit/vision-bridge-maxchars.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..90d02eb3a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/vision-bridge-maxchars.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+/**
+ * `modalityBridgeVisionMaxChars` — configurable teto for the vision-bridge
+ * describe-path output. 0 (default) means "no cap" (existing behavior
+ * unchanged); a positive value truncates the description with a `…` suffix
+ * before it is spliced back as `[Image N]: <description>`.
+ *
+ * Follows the DI harness pattern from `vision-bridge-cc-no-reroute.test.ts` /
+ * `vision-bridge-mode.test.ts` (settings + vision call injected, no real DB
+ * dependency for the describe path itself).
+ */
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+
+const { VisionBridgeGuardrail } = await import("../../src/lib/guardrails/visionBridge.ts");
+const { resolveVisionBridgeRuntimeSettings } =
+  await import("../../src/shared/constants/modalityBridgeDefaults.ts");
+import type { GuardrailContext } from "../../src/lib/guardrails/base.ts";
+import type { VisionModelConfig } from "../../src/lib/guardrails/visionBridgeHelpers.ts";
+
+const TEXT_ONLY_MODEL = "some/text-only-model";
+const LONG_DESCRIPTION = "x".repeat(500);
+
+function imageBody(uniqueRef: string): Record<string, unknown> {
+  return {
+    model: TEXT_ONLY_MODEL,
+    messages: [
+      {
+        role: "user",
+        content: [
+          { type: "text", text: "what is in the image?" },
+          {
+            type: "image_url",
+            image_url: {
+              url: `data:image/png;base64,${Buffer.from(uniqueRef).toString("base64")}`,
+            },
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    ],
+  };
+}
+
+function findImageDescriptionText(modifiedPayload: unknown): string | undefined {
+  const body = modifiedPayload as { messages?: Array<{ content?: unknown }> } | undefined;
+  const messages = body?.messages ?? [];
+  for (const message of messages) {
+    const parts = message.content;
+    if (!Array.isArray(parts)) continue;
+    for (const part of parts) {
+      const p = part as { type?: string; text?: string };
+      if (p?.type === "text" && typeof p.text === "string" && p.text.startsWith("[Image 1]:")) {
+        return p.text;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return undefined;
+}
+
+test("modalityBridgeVisionMaxChars=120 caps the description with a … suffix", async () => {
+  const guardrail = new VisionBridgeGuardrail({
+    deps: {
+      getSettings: async () => ({
+        visionBridgeEnabled: true,
+        modalityBridgeVisionMaxChars: 120,
+      }),
+      callVisionModel: async (_imageDataUri: string, _config: VisionModelConfig) =>
+        LONG_DESCRIPTION,
+    },
+  });
+
+  const body = imageBody("maxchars-cap-test");
+  const context: GuardrailContext = { model: TEXT_ONLY_MODEL, log: console };
+  const result = await guardrail.preCall(body, context);
+
+  const text = findImageDescriptionText(result.modifiedPayload);
+  assert.ok(text, "expected a [Image 1]: text part in the modified payload");
+  const description = text!.slice("[Image 1]: ".length);
+  assert.ok(
+    description.length <= 121,
+    `capped description should be <= 121 chars (120 + ellipsis), got ${description.length}`
+  );
+  assert.ok(description.endsWith("…"), "capped description must end with an ellipsis suffix");
+});
+
+test("no modalityBridgeVisionMaxChars key: description is passed through in full", async () => {
+  const guardrail = new VisionBridgeGuardrail({
+    deps: {
+      getSettings: async () => ({
+        visionBridgeEnabled: true,
+      }),
+      callVisionModel: async (_imageDataUri: string, _config: VisionModelConfig) =>
+        LONG_DESCRIPTION,
+    },
+  });
+
+  const body = imageBody("maxchars-nokey-test");
+  const context: GuardrailContext = { model: TEXT_ONLY_MODEL, log: console };
+  const result = await guardrail.preCall(body, context);
+
+  const text = findImageDescriptionText(result.modifiedPayload);
+  assert.ok(text, "expected a [Image 1]: text part in the modified payload");
+  const description = text!.slice("[Image 1]: ".length);
+  assert.equal(description, LONG_DESCRIPTION, "without a cap the description must be untouched");
+  assert.ok(!description.endsWith("…"), "unconfigured cap must never add an ellipsis");
+});
+
+test("resolveVisionBridgeRuntimeSettings({}) defaults maxChars to 0 (no cap)", () => {
+  const runtime = resolveVisionBridgeRuntimeSettings({});
+  assert.equal(runtime.maxChars, 0);
+});