dart_mcp_server 1.0.1

An MCP server for Dart projects, exposing various developer tools to AI models.

The Dart Tooling MCP Server exposes Dart and Flutter development tool actions to compatible AI-assistant clients.

Status

WIP. This package is still experimental and is likely to evolve quickly.

Set up your MCP client

Note: all of the following set up instructions require Dart 3.9.0-163.0.dev or later.

The Dart MCP server can work with any MCP client that supports standard I/O (stdio) as the transport medium. To access all the features of the Dart MCP server, an MCP client must support Tools and Resources. For the best development experience with the Dart MCP server, an MCP client should also support Roots.

Here are specific instructions for some popular tools:

Gemini CLI

To configure the Gemini CLI to use the Dart MCP server, edit the .gemini/settings.json file in your local project (configuration will only apply to this project) or edit the global ~/.gemini/settings.json file in your home directory (configuration will apply for all projects).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dart": {
      "command": "dart",
      "args": [
        "mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

For more information, see the official Gemini CLI documentation for setting up MCP servers.

Gemini Code Assist in VS Code

Note: this currently requires the "Insiders" channel. Follow

instructions to enable this build.

Gemini Code Assist's Agent mode integrates the Gemini CLI to provide a powerful AI agent directly in your IDE. To configure Gemini Code Assist to use the Dart MCP server, follow the instructions to configure the Gemini CLI above.

You can verify the MCP server has been configured properly by typing /mcp in the chat window in Agent mode.

For more information see the official Gemini Code Assist documentation for using agent mode.

Cursor

The easiest way to configure the Dart MCP server with Cursor is by clicking the "Add to Cursor" button above.

Alternatively, you can configure the server manually. Go to Cursor -> Settings -> Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations, and then click "Add Custom MCP" or "New MCP Server" depending on whether you already have other MCP servers configured. Edit the .cursor/mcp.json file in your local project (configuration will only apply to this project) or edit the global ~/.cursor/mcp.json file in your home directory (configuration will apply for all projects) to configure the Dart MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dart": {
      "command": "dart",
      "args": [
        "mcp-server",
        "--experimental-mcp-server" // Can be removed for Dart 3.9.0 or later
      ]
    }
  }
}

For more information, see the official Cursor documentation for installing MCP servers.

GitHub Copilot in VS Code

Note: requires Dart-Code VS Code extension v3.114 or later.

To configure the Dart MCP server with Copilot or any other AI agent that supports the VS Code MCP API, add the following to your VS Code user settings (Command Palette > Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)):

"dart.mcpServer": true

By adding this setting, the Dart VS Code extension will register the Dart MCP Server configuration with VS Code so that you don't have to manually configure the server. Copilot will then automatically configure the Dart MCP server on your behalf. This is a global setting. If you'd like the setting to apply only to a specific workspace, add the entry to your workspace settings (Command Palette > Preferences: Open Workspace Settings (JSON)) instead.

For more information, see the official VS Code documentation for enabling MCP support.

Connecting to Applications

Often, connecting to your running application is as simple as asking your agent to do it, you can say "connect to my flutter web app" or "connect to my web server".

This works by discovering Dart Tooling Daemon instances on your machine, and then discovering dart and flutter applications that are registered with those instances.

See the sections below for specific hints and details for flutter versus dart apps, as well as hints about how to make this work better in multi-app scenarios, or use fewer tokens.

Flutter Applications

Flutter applications are automatically registered with the Dart Tooling Daemon when running in debug/profile mode, unless --no-dds is passed (the Dart Development Service is actually what spawns DTD, so disabling that disables DTD).

Dart Applications

To connect to a pure Dart application, you need to run the application with the --observe flag. This will start the Dart Tooling Daemon (DTD) and register the application with it.

Pass --print-dtd

Both dart and flutter support the --print-dtd flag to get an explicit reference to the DTD URI for that application. This is especially useful when the agent is spawning the process, because it can avoid having to list all available DTD URIs and trying to pick the right one.

It is recommended to put this instruction in a RULES file so that it is always available to the agent. For example, in a GEMINI.md file in your project:

## Launching Dart and Flutter Applications

- Always pass the `--print-dtd` flag to `dart` or `flutter` when spawning an
  application.
- For `dart` applications, always pass the `--observe` flag to enable the app to
  be connected to.
- Both `--print-dtd` and `--observe` must come before the script name or path
  when spawning `dart` applications: `dart --observe --print-dtd bin/main.dart`.

Tools

Tool Name	Title	Description	Categories	Enabled
analyze_files	Analyze projects	Analyzes specific paths, or the entire project, for errors.	analysis	Yes
call_vm_service_method	Invoke VM Service Method	Invoke VM service methods on a connected app. See the Public RPCs section of https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dart-lang/sdk/refs/heads/main/runtime/vm/service/service.md	dart_tooling_daemon	Yes
create_project	Create project	Creates a new Dart or Flutter project.	cli	No
dart_fix	Dart fix	Runs dart fix --apply for the given project roots.	cli	No
dart_format	Dart format	Runs dart format . for the given project roots.	cli	No
dtd	Dart Tooling Daemon	Manage live app connections to Dart and Flutter apps using the Dart Tooling Daemon (DTD). Start by using the listDtdUris command to find available DTD URIs, followed by the connect command with the desired URI to connect to. Apps from a given DTD instance are automatically connected to, and you can use the listConnectedApps command to see the list of connected apps. If you see DTD instances with a working dir that looks like a home directory, these are likely connected to an IDE and you should connect to those to find IDE launched apps.	dart_tooling_daemon	Yes
flutter_driver_command	Flutter Driver	Run a flutter driver command	flutter_driver	Yes
get_active_location	Get Active Editor Location	Retrieves the current active location (e.g., cursor position) in the connected editor. Requires an active DTD connection.	dart_tooling_daemon	No
get_app_logs		Returns the collected logs for a given flutter run process id. Can only retrieve logs started by the launch_app tool.	flutter, flutter_app_lifecycle	No
get_runtime_errors	Get runtime errors	Retrieves the most recent runtime errors that have occurred in the active Dart or Flutter application. Requires an active DTD connection.	dart_tooling_daemon	Yes
hot_reload	Hot reload	Performs a hot reload of the active Flutter application. This will apply the latest code changes to the running application, while maintaining application state. Reload will not update const definitions of global values. Requires an active DTD connection.	flutter	Yes
hot_restart	Hot restart	Performs a hot restart of the active Flutter application. This applies the latest code changes to the running application, including changes to global const values, while resetting application state. Requires an active DTD connection. Doesn't work for Non-Flutter Dart CLI programs.	flutter	Yes
launch_app		Launches a Flutter application and returns its DTD URI.	flutter, flutter_app_lifecycle	No
list_devices		Lists available Flutter devices.	flutter, flutter_app_lifecycle, cli	No
list_running_apps		Returns the list of running app process IDs and associated DTD URIs for apps started by the launch_app tool.	flutter, flutter_app_lifecycle	No
lsp	Language Server Protocol	Interacts with the Dart Language Server Protocol (LSP) to provide code intelligence features like hover, signature help, and symbol resolution. Commands: - hover: Get hover information (docs, types) at a position. Requires: uri, line, column. - signatureHelp: Get signature help at a position. Requires: uri, line, column. - resolveWorkspaceSymbol: Fuzzy search for symbols by name. Requires: query.	analysis	Yes
pub	pub	Runs a pub command for the given project roots, like dart pub get or flutter pub add.	cli, package_deps	Yes
pub_dev_search	pub.dev search	Searches pub.dev for packages relevant to a given search query. The response will describe each result with its download count, package description, topics, license, and publisher.	package_deps	Yes
read_package_uris		Reads "package" and "package-root" scheme URIs which represent paths under Dart package dependencies. "package" URIs are always relative to the "lib" directory and "package-root" URIs are relative to the true root directory of the package. For example, the URI "package:test/test.dart" represents the path "lib/test.dart" under the "test" package. "package-root:test/example/test.dart" represents the path "example/test.dart". This API supports both reading files and listing directories.	package_deps	Yes
rip_grep_packages		Uses ripgrep to find patterns in package dependencies. Note that ripgrep must be installed already, see https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep for instructions.	package_deps	Yes
roots		Manage project roots.	None	Yes
run_tests	Run tests	Run Dart or Flutter tests with an agent centric UX. ALWAYS use instead of dart test or flutter test shell commands.	cli	No
stop_app		Kills a running Flutter process started by the launch_app tool.	flutter, flutter_app_lifecycle	No
widget_inspector	Widget Inspector	Interact with the Flutter widget inspector in the active Flutter application. Requires an active DTD connection.	flutter	Yes