What is Go Dev Mcp

go-dev-mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server designed for Golang development, providing tools and utilities to enhance the development experience.

Use cases

Use cases include building and managing Go applications, searching for and reading Go package documentation, and organizing project structures for better navigation.

How to use

To use go-dev-mcp, you can install it via Go’s install command or build it from source. After installation, configure it in your VSCode settings to integrate it into your development environment.

Key features

Key features include tools for running make commands, returning directory tree structures, searching Go packages on pkg.go.dev, and fetching documentation for specific Go packages.

Where to use

go-dev-mcp is primarily used in software development environments where Golang is the programming language of choice, particularly in projects that require efficient package management and documentation access.

GoDevMCP

Introduction

GoDevMCP provides convenient tools for Go development with Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration.

Installation

Prerequisites

• GitHub gh command is required.

Using go install

You can install GoDevMCP directly using Go’s install command:

go install github.com/fpt/go-dev-mcp/godevmcp@latest

This will download, compile, and install the binary to your $GOPATH/bin directory (typically ~/go/bin). Make sure this directory is in your system’s PATH.

Building from Source

1. Clone the repository
2. Run make build to build the application and make install to install.

MCP setup

Claude code

Run this command to add to user scope

claude mcp add godevmcp -s user godevmcp serve

VSCode

Add this section in your user’s settings.json

    "mcp": {
        "servers": {
            "go-dev-mcp": {
                "type": "stdio",
                "command": "godevmcp",
                "args": [
                    "serve"
                ],
            }
        }
    }

Tools

run_make

Runs make command for common development tasks.

tree_dir

Returns directory tree structure for project navigation.

search_godoc

Searches for Go packages on pkg.go.dev and returns matching results.

Usage:

search_godoc query

Example:

search_godoc html

This will search for packages related to “html” and return a list of matching packages with their descriptions.

read_godoc

Fetches and displays documentation for a specific Go package.

Usage:

read_godoc package_url

Example:

read_godoc golang.org/x/net/html

This will retrieve the documentation for the specified package, including descriptions, functions, types, and examples.

extract_function_names

Extracts exported function names from Go source files in a directory.

Usage:

extract_function_names directory

Example:

extract_function_names ./internal/app

This will recursively scan the directory for .go files (excluding test files) and extract all exported function names, showing both regular functions and methods with their receiver types.

extract_call_graph

Analyzes function call relationships within a single Go file.

Usage:

extract_call_graph file_path

Example:

extract_call_graph ./internal/app/github.go

This will show which functions call which other functions, including external package calls and local function calls. Useful for understanding code dependencies and refactoring impact analysis.

search_local_files

Searches for text within files in a local directory with match limiting to reduce output size.

Usage:

search_local_files path query extension max_matches

Example:

search_local_files ./internal/app "SearchLocalFiles" go 10

This will search for the text “SearchLocalFiles” in all .go files within the ./internal/app directory, showing up to 10 matches per file with line numbers.

get_github_content

Retrieves the content of a specific file from a GitHub repository.

Usage:

get_github_content repo path

Example:

get_github_content owner/repo-name README.md

This will fetch and display the content of the README.md file from the specified GitHub repository.

tree_github_repo

Displays the directory tree structure of a GitHub repository with depth limiting for efficient exploration.

Usage:

tree_github_repo repo path max_depth ignore_dot

Example:

tree_github_repo owner/repo-name "" 3 false

This will show the directory structure of the GitHub repository up to 3 levels deep.

search_github_code

Searches for code patterns in GitHub repositories with compact formatting.

Usage:

search_github_code query language repo

Example:

search_github_code "func main" go owner/repo-name

This will search for “func main” in Go files within the specified repository, returning results in a compact format.

get_current_datetime

Returns the current date and time.

Usage:

get_current_datetime

This tool requires no parameters and returns the current timestamp.

Instructions

1. Build the application

   make build
   

2. Run the application

   make run
   

Available Make Commands

• make run - Run the application
• make build - Build the application and install to ~/bin
• make test - Run unit tests
• make fmt - Format code using gofumpt
• make lint - Run golangci-lint
• make inspect - Run in MCP inspector
• make help - Display help information

Development

Project Structure

.
├── godevmcp/       # Application entry point
│   └── main.go     # Main application entry point
├── doc/            # Documentation files
├── internal/       # Private application and library code
│   ├── app/        # Application core functionality
│   ├── infra/      # Infrastructure code
│   ├── mcptool/    # MCP tooling implementations
│   ├── repository/ # Repository implementations
│   └── subcmd/     # Subcommand implementations
├── output/         # Build artifacts
│   └── godevmcp    # Compiled binary
├── pkg/            # Public library code
│   └── dq/         # Document query utility package
├── Makefile        # Build automation
├── go.mod          # Go module definition
└── go.sum          # Go module checksum

Package Dependencies

The following Mermaid graph shows the internal package dependencies within the project:

graph TD
    %% Entry point
    main[godevmcp/main] --> subcmd[internal/subcmd]
    
    %% Core application layer
    subcmd --> app[internal/app]
    subcmd --> mcptool[internal/mcptool]
    mcptool --> app
    
    %% Application modules
    app --> repository[internal/repository]
    app --> infra[internal/infra]
    app --> contentsearch[internal/contentsearch]
    app --> model[internal/model]
    app --> dq[pkg/dq]
    
    %% MCP layer
    mcptool --> infra
    
    %% Infrastructure dependencies
    infra --> repository
    contentsearch --> model
    
    %% External dependencies (key ones)
    subcmd -.-> subcommands[google/subcommands]
    mcptool -.-> mcp[mark3labs/mcp-go]
    infra -.-> github[google/go-github]
    app -.-> errors[pkg/errors]
    app -.-> goldmark[yuin/goldmark]
    app -.-> cache[patrickmn/go-cache]
    
    %% Styling
    classDef entryPoint fill:#e1f5fe
    classDef coreLayer fill:#f3e5f5
    classDef appLayer fill:#e8f5e8
    classDef infraLayer fill:#fff3e0
    classDef external fill:#fce4ec,stroke-dasharray: 5 5
    
    class main entryPoint
    class subcmd,mcptool coreLayer
    class app,repository,infra,contentsearch,model appLayer
    class dq infraLayer
    class subcommands,mcp,github,errors,goldmark,cache external

This graph illustrates:

• Entry Point: main package coordinates subcommands
• Core Layer: subcmd (CLI) and mcptool (MCP server) provide user interfaces
• Application Layer: app contains business logic, supported by infrastructure packages
• Infrastructure Layer: Shared utilities and external integrations
• External Dependencies: Key third-party packages (shown with dashed lines)

Common Development Workflow

1. Make changes to the code
2. Run make fmt to format code
3. Run make lint to check for issues
4. Run make test to ensure tests pass
5. Build with make build

For AI Development

• Follow instructions in CONTRIBUTING.md
• Use run_make and tree_dir tools rather than using shell commands.
• Use search_godoc and read_godoc tools to understand how to use depending packages.
• Use tree_github_repo, search_github_code, get_github_content to inspect github repository.
• Remember to update README.md when making significant changes