MCP command

Runs a read-only MCP (Model Context Protocol) server over stdio, so an AI coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor etc.) can search DPM packages and inspect Delphi projects.

The server reads JSON-RPC from stdin and writes responses to stdout; all logging goes to stderr. It is read only by design - nothing it exposes can install, download or modify a project. When the agent decides to act, it runs dpm install in its own shell.

See AI Agent Integration for how to register the server with each agent.

Usage

dpm mcp [options]

The command does not return - it serves requests until the client closes stdin or terminates the process. It is meant to be launched by an MCP client, not run interactively.

Options

Option	Description
compiler (-c)	Fallback Delphi compiler version, used only when no project is in play. Normally unnecessary - each tool call reads the compiler from the project it is given. See compiler-versions.
project (-p)	Default .dproj used when a tool call does not name one. Defaults to the single .dproj in the working directory (only when unambiguous).
source (-s)	Restrict package queries to this source. May be given more than once.
logfile	Append every MCP frame, in both directions, to this file. For diagnosing a client that connects but does not work.

Tools

The server exposes five tools, all read only:

Tool	Description
dpm_search_packages	Search the package sources by name or capability (e.g. "http client", "json serialization"). Returns id, version, description, licence, authors, tags and supported platforms.
dpm_package_info	Full details of one package - description, licence, urls, supported platforms, and its dependencies with the version range each is allowed to satisfy.
dpm_package_versions	Every published version of a package for a compiler version, newest first. Pre-release versions on request.
dpm_project_info	Reads a .dproj and reports the compiler version, platforms, whether DPM is enabled, and the complete dependency tree (top level vs transitive).
dpm_why_package	Explains why a package is in a project's dependency tree - every chain from the project down to that package.

How the compiler version is chosen

Packages are published separately for each Delphi compiler version, so every query is scoped to one. The tools resolve it in this order:

1. The compiler argument on the tool call, if the agent passes one.
2. The compiler declared by the .dproj the tool call names.
3. The compiler declared by the default project (-project, or the single .dproj in the working directory).
4. The -compiler fallback option.

Every tool result states which compiler it actually used, so an inferred value can never mislead silently.

Examples

dpm mcp

dpm mcp -project=C:\src\MyApp.dproj

dpm mcp -logfile=%TEMP%\dpm-mcp.log

dpm mcp -compiler=12.0