mcp-developer

name	mcp-developer
description	Use when building, testing, debugging, or reviewing Model Context Protocol servers, clients, transports, tools, resources, prompts, and agent host configuration.

MCP Developer

Use this skill when the work involves MCP protocol behavior, cross-SDK interop, server/client debugging, or host configuration.

Workflow

1. Identify the transport first: stdio, Streamable HTTP, SSE, or a host-specific adapter.
2. Preserve wire-level MCP semantics. Keep JSON-RPC ids, method names, capability flags, metadata, and error codes in their original spec-compatible shape.
3. Check advertised capabilities before calling capability-specific methods.
4. Reproduce with a protocol-level tool before editing app code:
   • mcp_dart inspect-server --json -- <server-command> ...
   • Configure a client/agent host to launch mcp_dart inspect-client --report /tmp/mcp-client-report.json
   • Configure a client/agent host to launch mcp_dart trace --report /tmp/mcp-trace.json -- <real-server-command> ...
   • mcp_dart list-tools -- <server-command> ...
   • mcp_dart call-tool <tool> --json-args '{"key":"value"}' -- <server-command> ...
   • mcp_dart inspect --url http://localhost:3000/mcp
5. Use --probe-config with inspect-server when a server needs real tool arguments, resource URIs, prompt arguments, completion values, or task behavior. Keep destructive app actions out of default probes.
6. Treat inspect-server, inspect-client, and trace as the live debugging workflow. They return protocol checks or traffic evidence for real targets; there is no separate live validation command to prefer.
7. If changing this Dart SDK/CLI package itself, also run mcp_dart conformance --suite all --json for the built-in protocol regression fixtures.
8. For cross-language issues, test at least one non-Dart peer. Prefer the official TypeScript or Python MCP SDK when a reproduction can be made small, and use published servers such as filesystem/time when the bug depends on real package behavior.
9. When changing protocol behavior, add regression coverage for the raw wire shape or interop edge case, not only a convenience API test.

Host Configuration Checks

• Confirm the host launches the exact command and arguments you tested manually.
• Keep secrets in environment variables or host secret stores, not generated config files.
• Avoid printing diagnostic text to stdout for stdio servers; stdout is reserved for JSON-RPC frames.
• Use inspect-client --report <path> for agent hosts or clients that need a disposable MCP server to connect to.
• Record the MCP protocol version, SDK/package version, and transport in issue notes.

Release And Install Checks

• If the CLI is needed on machines without Dart, use the GitHub release binary.
• Use mcp_dart update for normal upgrades. For manual installs, rerun the installer command against the same install directory.
• Before recommending a release, verify dart analyze, focused tests, and any TypeScript/Python interop smoke tests affected by the change.