diff --git a/src/__tests__/cli-argv.test.ts b/src/__tests__/cli-argv.test.ts
index 8b93a05631..e795a09282 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/cli-argv.test.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/cli-argv.test.ts
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ describe('CLI argv parsing', () => {
     expect(result.stdout).toContain('Usage: firecrawl developer');
     expect(result.stdout).toContain('--limit');
     expect(result.stdout).toContain('--skills-only');
+    expect(result.stdout).not.toContain('--passage-budget');
     expect(result.stderr).not.toContain('unknown command');
   });
 
diff --git a/src/__tests__/commands/developer.test.ts b/src/__tests__/commands/developer.test.ts
index 248246d51b..c4ba98b864 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/commands/developer.test.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/commands/developer.test.ts
@@ -25,8 +25,17 @@ describe('handleDeveloperSearchCommand', () => {
   // Wrap a payload in the axios envelope returned by `client.http.get`.
   // Mirrors the `/v2/search/developer` response shape:
   //   { success, results: [{ id, type, url, title, passages: [{ text }] }] }
-  const mockDeveloperResponse = (results: any[]) => ({
-    data: { success: true, results },
+  const mockDeveloperResponse = (
+    results: any[],
+    passageBudgetApplied?: number
+  ) => ({
+    data: {
+      success: true,
+      results,
+      ...(passageBudgetApplied == null
+        ? {}
+        : { passage_budget_applied: passageBudgetApplied }),
+    },
   });
 
   const sampleResult = {
@@ -56,7 +65,7 @@ describe('handleDeveloperSearchCommand', () => {
   });
 
   describe('API call generation', () => {
-    it('calls /v2/search/developer with the query and integration tag', async () => {
+    it('calls /v2/search/developer without a client passage budget', async () => {
       mockHttpGet.mockResolvedValue(mockDeveloperResponse([sampleResult]));
 
       await handleDeveloperSearchCommand({ query: 'tokio spawn_blocking' });
@@ -125,7 +134,7 @@ describe('handleDeveloperSearchCommand', () => {
       expect(content).toContain('It will panic if this limit is too low.');
     });
 
-    it('joins multiple passages and clips long content', async () => {
+    it('keeps the legacy local cut when the server omits budget metadata', async () => {
       mockHttpGet.mockResolvedValue(
         mockDeveloperResponse([
           {
@@ -143,6 +152,21 @@ describe('handleDeveloperSearchCommand', () => {
       expect(body.length).toBeLessThanOrEqual(1200);
     });
 
+    it('does not cut content after the server applies the passage budget', async () => {
+      const passage = 'x'.repeat(5000);
+      mockHttpGet.mockResolvedValue(
+        mockDeveloperResponse(
+          [{ ...sampleResult, passages: [{ text: passage }] }],
+          4096
+        )
+      );
+
+      await handleDeveloperSearchCommand({ query: 'tokio spawn_blocking' });
+
+      const [content] = vi.mocked(writeOutput).mock.calls[0] as [string];
+      expect(content).toContain(passage);
+    });
+
     it('prints a placeholder when there are no results', async () => {
       mockHttpGet.mockResolvedValue(mockDeveloperResponse([]));
 
diff --git a/src/commands/developer.ts b/src/commands/developer.ts
index 701d22e242..146d11e139 100644
--- a/src/commands/developer.ts
+++ b/src/commands/developer.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import type { DeveloperItem, DeveloperSearchOptions } from '../types/developer';
 // The other mount, /v2/developer/search, rejects keyless callers and may be
 // withdrawn.
 const BASE = '/v2/search/developer';
-const MAX_PASSAGE_CHARS = 1200;
+const LEGACY_MAX_PASSAGE_CHARS = 1200;
 
 async function getDeveloper<T>(
   path: string,
@@ -22,7 +22,10 @@ async function getDeveloper<T>(
   return (response?.data ?? {}) as T;
 }
 
-function fmtDeveloper(results?: DeveloperItem[]): string {
+function fmtDeveloper(
+  results?: DeveloperItem[],
+  passageBudgetApplied?: number
+): string {
   if (!results || results.length === 0) return '(no results)';
 
   return results
@@ -36,7 +39,13 @@ function fmtDeveloper(results?: DeveloperItem[]): string {
         .map((passage) => passage.text ?? '')
         .join('\n---\n')
         .trim();
-      lines.push(body ? body.slice(0, MAX_PASSAGE_CHARS) : '(no content)');
+      // TODO(search#843): Remove this fallback after server passage budgeting
+      // is fully enabled.
+      const renderedBody =
+        passageBudgetApplied == null
+          ? body.slice(0, LEGACY_MAX_PASSAGE_CHARS)
+          : body;
+      lines.push(renderedBody || '(no content)');
       return lines.join('\n');
     })
     .join('\n\n');
@@ -72,11 +81,15 @@ export async function handleDeveloperSearchCommand(
     params.append('query', options.query);
     if (options.k != null) params.append('k', String(options.k));
     if (options.skillsOnly) params.append('skills', 'only');
-    const data = await getDeveloper<{ results?: DeveloperItem[] }>(
-      `${BASE}?${params.toString()}`,
+    const data = await getDeveloper<{
+      results?: DeveloperItem[];
+      passage_budget_applied?: number;
+    }>(`${BASE}?${params.toString()}`, options);
+    writeDeveloperOutput(
+      data,
+      fmtDeveloper(data.results, data.passage_budget_applied),
       options
     );
-    writeDeveloperOutput(data, fmtDeveloper(data.results), options);
   } catch (error) {
     handleError(error);
   }