glider 6.7.0

Glider - Roslyn MCP Server

Glider is a Roslyn-powered MCP server for semantic C# analysis and refactoring.

Installation

Prerequisite: Glider currently requires .NET 10 SDK to be installed.

Run dotnet --version before installing. If dotnet is missing or the installed SDK is below 10, install the .NET 10 SDK first. On Windows you can use winget install -e --id Microsoft.DotNet.SDK.10; on macOS/Linux use the official Microsoft .NET 10 installation guide.

dotnet tool install --global glider

Quick Start

Stdio Transport (default)

claude mcp add --transport stdio glider --scope project -- glider

# Increase the default async-tool timeout(20m) for larger solutions
claude mcp add --transport stdio glider --scope project -- glider --default-timeout 30m

Notes:

• In stdio mode, glider waits for MCP input and stays quiet by default.
• Use --verbose to emit startup/log output on stderr.

HTTP Transport

glider --transport http
# http://localhost:5001/mcp

glider --transport http --port 8080
# http://localhost:8080/mcp

glider --transport http --port 8080 --default-timeout 30m
# http://localhost:8080/mcp

Use the /mcp endpoint with streamable HTTP clients. Glider does not rely on legacy SSE endpoints for HTTP transport.

Useful flags:

glider --default-timeout 45s
glider --help
glider --version
glider --verbose

--default-timeout accepts ms, s, and m suffixes. Use 0 to disable the server-side timeout.

Basic Workflow

1. Call server_status to verify server/workspace state.
2. Call load with a .sln, .slnx, or .csproj path. Workspace MSBuild diagnostics are available via server_status with includeWorkspaceDiagnostics=true when you want to inspect cached messages.
3. Resolve symbols via resolve_symbol or search_symbols.
4. Prefer get_symbol_info after discovery for exact symbolKey-based inspection; use get_method_signature only when you are starting from a method name.
5. Use get_file_contents for root-scoped file reads and write_file for preview-first .cs edits inside the loaded root.
6. After external manual edits: use sync for content-only edits to existing tracked .cs files, use reload for structural changes, and with watcher enabled expect semantic reads to usually ingest pending changes automatically.

Capabilities

• Solution/project lifecycle: load, sync, reload
• Symbol discovery/info: search_symbols, resolve_symbol, get_symbol_at_position, get_symbol_info
• References/relationships: find_unused_symbols, find_unused_parameters, find_references, find_overrides, find_implementations
• Hierarchy/call graph/impact: get_type_hierarchy (primary), get_derived_types (derived-only subset), find_member_in_hierarchy, find_callers, get_outgoing_calls, analyze_change_impact, get_cascade_impact
• Analysis/search/source: semantic_query, search_text, get_type_info, get_method_signature, get_type_source, get_method_source, get_file_contents, get_diagnostics, diagnostic_hotspots
• Refactoring/formatting/file writes: rename_symbol, move_type, move_member, organize_usings, format_document, write_file
• External/dependency/metrics: view_external_definition, find_external_dependency_usages, find_package_usages, get_type_dependencies, get_project_graph, find_unused_project_references, analyze_complexity
• Batch execution: batch

Preferred Tool Choices

• Prefer get_symbol_info once discovery has produced a symbolKey. Keep get_method_signature for name-based method lookup and get_type_info for full type-member inventory.
• Prefer get_type_hierarchy for type relationships. Use get_derived_types only for the derived-only page.
• Prefer get_diagnostics for raw diagnostics and diagnostic_hotspots for grouped planning.
• Prefer find_external_dependency_usages when starting from an assembly/reference and find_package_usages when starting from a package identity.
• Prefer analyze_change_impact for direct impact and get_cascade_impact for bounded transitive impact.

Workflow Examples

• Diagnostics cleanup: load → diagnostic_hotspots → get_diagnostics → fix → format_document
• Dead-code cleanup: find_unused_symbols or find_unused_parameters → get_symbol_info → optional find_references
• Project-graph cleanup: get_project_graph → find_unused_project_references → edit project file → reload
• Refactor planning: analyze_change_impact → get_cascade_impact → get_symbol_info on impacted symbols
• Package investigation: find_package_usages → find_external_dependency_usages → view_external_definition

Version Expiration

Each Glider version expires 1 month after release date. Update when prompted:

dotnet tool update --global glider

Documentation

• Project docs and online playground: glidermcp.com

Troubleshooting

• If dotnet tool install --global glider fails, run dotnet --version first. If dotnet is missing or the installed SDK is below 10, install the .NET 10 SDK before retrying. On Windows you can use winget install -e --id Microsoft.DotNet.SDK.10; on macOS/Linux use the official Microsoft .NET 10 installation guide.
• If glider is not found after install, ensure ~/.dotnet/tools is on PATH.
• If load fails with MSBuild initialization errors, rerun with --verbose and inspect the returned remote build host diagnostics.
• On Windows, prefer a stable Visual Studio installation over preview or Insiders builds when loading legacy or .NET Framework solutions.
• Legacy/non-SDK solutions and .NET Framework 4.x projects are more sensitive to Roslyn build-host and MSBuild compatibility than SDK-style projects.

License

All Rights Reserved