diff --git a/packages/core/src/tools/constants.ts b/packages/core/src/tools/constants.ts
index 8251dd1b17..81765ba628 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/tools/constants.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/tools/constants.ts
@@ -3,5 +3,5 @@
  * Copyright 2026 Google LLC
  * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
  */
-export const DEFAULT_TOTAL_MAX_MATCHES = 2000;
+export const DEFAULT_TOTAL_MAX_MATCHES = 100;
 export const DEFAULT_SEARCH_TIMEOUT_MS = 30000;
diff --git a/packages/core/src/tools/ripGrep.ts b/packages/core/src/tools/ripGrep.ts
index be7fbb1665..21fbdd670c 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/tools/ripGrep.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/tools/ripGrep.ts
@@ -513,7 +513,7 @@ export class RipGrepTool extends BaseDeclarativeTool<
     super(
       RipGrepTool.Name,
       'SearchText',
-      'Searches for a regular expression pattern within file contents. Utilize parameters like max_matches_per_file to avoid one file providing excessive results.',
+      'Searches for a regular expression pattern within file contents. Utilize parameters like max_matches_per_file to avoid one file providing excessive results. Defaults to 100 matches.',
       Kind.Search,
       {
         properties: {