Improved Sequential Thinking MCP Server Display with Smart Thought Bubble UX

[thedotmack]

Transforms the Sequential Thinking MCP server display from a basic purple JSON box into an intelligent thought bubble interface with emoji progress indicators and enhanced readability.

Problem

The Sequential Thinking MCP server was displaying raw JSON data in a purple box, making it difficult for users to read and monitor thoughts as they scrolled past:

{
  "thought": "Perfect! Now I can see the issue clearly...\\n\\n1. `handleDocumentMouseUp`...",
  "nextThoughtNeeded": true,
  "thoughtNumber": 3,
  "totalThoughts": 5
}

This format bunched up text with escaped newlines (\n) and provided no visual indication of thinking progress or state.

Solution

New SequentialThinkingWidget Component

Created a specialized React component that renders Sequential Thinking data as an intuitive thought bubble with:

• Thought Bubble Design: Well formatted display instead of raw inkiJSON
• Smart Text Formatting: Converts \n escape sequences to proper line breaks
• Emoji Progress Indicators: Visual states based on thinking progress:
  • 🤔 Early thinking (0-20%)
  • 💭 Developing thoughts (20-40%)
  • 🤨 Analyzing/questioning (40-60%)
  • 🧐 Deep analysis (60-80%)
  • 💡 Solution insights (80-100%)
  • 😣 Struggling when complete but more thoughts needed

Enhanced User Experience

• Progress Tracking: Clear "Step 3/5" indicators and "Continuing..." status badges
• Responsive Design: Long thoughts automatically collapse with expand/collapse controls
• Better Readability: Clean typography optimized for scanning during active thinking sessions
• Cohesive Styling: Blue theme that's easy on the eyes during extended use

Intelligent Detection

The system automatically detects Sequential Thinking data in MCP tool results by checking for:

• Required thought property (string)
• Optional progress indicators (thoughtNumber, totalThoughts, nextThoughtNeeded)
• Handles multiple JSON structures and gracefully falls back to standard MCP display

The improvement dramatically enhances the user experience when monitoring Sequential Thinking MCP servers, making the AI's reasoning process more accessible and engaging.

Regular Thinking Design Update

This was updated as well - and it's also set to have the content expanded by default, so that people can scan the thoughts more easily as claudia goes :)