Development Environment MCP Server

Mission: This MCP server ensures users have a seamless experience with their prompts by automatically providing rich, context-aware environment information to AI agents and tools.

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✨ Features

• 🔍 Automatic Environment Detection - Windows, Linux, and macOS
• 🐚 Shell-Aware Commands - PowerShell, Bash, Zsh syntax optimization
• 🤖 VS Code Insiders MCP Integration - Seamless integration with GitHub Copilot
• 🌐 Cross-Platform - Works everywhere you develop
• 📦 Multiple Installation Methods - NPM, PyPI, Docker Hub
• 🔧 Extensible - Easy to customize and extend
• 🖥️ Architecture-Aware - Always detects and reports system architecture
• 🚀 Production Ready - Comprehensive test coverage and automated CI/CD

🚀 Quick Start

NPM (Recommended)

# Install globally
npm install -g dev-env-copilot

# Or use without installing
npx dev-env-copilot

Python/PyPI

# Install from PyPI
pip install dev-env-copilot

# Run the server
python -m dev_environment_mcp.server

Docker (Easiest)

# Run from Docker Hub (no installation needed)
docker run -i 0nilinkz/dev-env-copilot

# Or from GitHub Container Registry
docker run -i ghcr.io/yourusername/dev-env-copilot

# Test with a simple MCP request
echo '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/list", "id": 1}' | docker run -i 0nilinkz/dev-env-copilot

🔧 VS Code Insiders Integration

MCP Server Setup (Recommended)

Add to your VS Code Insiders MCP configuration file:

Windows: %APPDATA%\Code - Insiders\User\globalStorage\rooveterinaryinc.roo-cline\settings\cline_mcp_settings.json macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Code - Insiders/User/globalStorage/rooveterinaryinc.roo-cline/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json Linux: ~/.config/Code - Insiders/User/globalStorage/rooveterinaryinc.roo-cline/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-environment": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["dev-env-copilot"]
    }
  }
}

See VSCODE_INSIDERS_MCP_SETUP.md for complete setup instructions.

Alternative Integration Methods

Method 1: Docker Integration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-env-copilot-docker": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "--rm", "--interactive",
        "0nilinkz/dev-env-copilot"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Method 2: Python Installation

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-env-copilot-python": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "dev_environment_mcp.server"]
    }
  }
}

Example Usage with Copilot

User: "Run the tests"
Copilot: (detects Windows PowerShell) "python -m pytest test/"

User: "Run the tests" 
Copilot: (detects Linux) "python3 -m pytest test/"

User: "Set environment variable"
Copilot: (Windows) "$env:PYTHONPATH = 'c:\dev\project'"
Copilot: (Linux) "export PYTHONPATH=/home/user/project"

📊 Production Ready

Automated CI/CD Pipeline

• ✅ Multi-platform testing - Ubuntu, Windows, macOS
• ✅ Multi-version support - Python 3.8-3.12
• ✅ Automated publishing - NPM, PyPI, Docker Hub
• ✅ Stage-based deployment - Tests must pass before deployment
• ✅ Independent deployments - Each registry deploys separately

Comprehensive Test Coverage

# All installation methods verified
✅ Python/PyPI     - Native execution
✅ NPM/Node.js     - Cross-platform wrapper
✅ Docker          - Multi-architecture builds
✅ MCP Protocol    - Full protocol compliance

See DEPLOYMENT_SETUP.md for deployment architecture details.

Available Tools

The MCP server exposes these tools:

detect_environment

Detects current OS, shell, hardware, and provides environment context.

Parameters:

• format (string): Output format - "json", "summary", "copilot"

get_command_syntax

Provides correct command syntax for the current environment.

Parameters:

• operation (string): Operation type - "test", "build", "deploy", "install"
• target (string, optional): Target environment - "local", "remote", "pi"
• format (string): Output format - "shell", "explanation", "examples"

format_command

Formats a generic command for the current environment.

Parameters:

• command_template (string): Template command with placeholders
• variables (object): Variables to substitute in template

get_project_context

Analyzes current project structure and provides relevant context.

Parameters:

• include_files (boolean): Include file listing in output
• analyze_dependencies (boolean): Analyze package.json/requirements.txt

Configuration

Environment Variables

• DEV_ENV_MCP_CONFIG: Path to custom configuration file
• DEV_ENV_MCP_LOG_LEVEL: Logging level (DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR)
• DEV_ENV_MCP_CACHE_TTL: Cache TTL for environment detection (seconds)

Custom Configuration

Create a dev-env-mcp.json config file:

{
  "detection": {
    "cache_ttl": 300,
    "enable_hardware_detection": true,
    "custom_environments": {
      "my-docker": {
        "detect_command": "cat /.dockerenv",
        "shell": "bash",
        "python_cmd": "python3"
      }
    }
  },
  "commands": {
    "custom_operations": {
      "my-build": {
        "windows": "msbuild /p:Configuration=Release",
        "linux": "make build",
        "macos": "xcodebuild -configuration Release"
      }
    }
  }
}

💻 Command Line Usage

Standalone Commands

# Environment detection
npx dev-env-copilot detect-environment --format json

# Command syntax help
npx dev-env-copilot get-command-syntax --operation test --target local
npx dev-env-copilot get-command-syntax --operation deploy --target pi --format explanation

# MCP server modes
npx dev-env-copilot --mcp-mode --transport stdio
npx dev-env-copilot --mcp-mode --transport http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 9000

Advanced Configuration

Environment Variables

• DEV_ENV_MCP_LOG_LEVEL: Set logging level (DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR)
• DEV_ENV_MCP_CACHE_TTL: Cache duration for environment detection (seconds)
• DEV_ENV_MCP_CONFIG: Path to custom configuration file

Custom Configuration File

Create ~/.config/dev-env-mcp/config.json:

{
  "detection": {
    "cache_ttl": 300,
    "enable_hardware_detection": true,
    "custom_project_roots": [
      "/custom/dev/path",
      "c:\\custom\\dev\\path"
    ]
  },
  "commands": {
    "custom_operations": {
      "my-test": {
        "windows": "npm test",
        "linux": "npm test",
        "pi": "sudo npm test"
      }
    }
  },
  "logging": {
    "level": "INFO",
    "file": "~/.local/logs/dev-env-mcp.log"
  }
}

🔥 Integration Examples

GitHub Copilot Chat

The server enhances GitHub Copilot with environment awareness:

👤 User: "How do I run tests in this project?"
🤖 Copilot: Based on your Windows PowerShell environment and package.json, run:
         npm test
         
👤 User: "Set up a Python virtual environment"  
🤖 Copilot: For Windows PowerShell:
         python -m venv venv
         .\venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

Terminal Command Generation

👤 User: "Install dependencies and start dev server"
🤖 Copilot: (detects Node.js project on Windows)
         npm install && npm run dev
         
👤 User: "Same command but for production"
🤖 Copilot: npm ci && npm run build && npm start

🛠 API Reference

MCP Tools

detect_environment

Returns comprehensive environment information.

Response:

{
  "os": "windows",
  "shell": "powershell", 
  "architecture": "x64",
  "python_version": "3.11.0",
  "node_version": "18.17.0",
  "hardware": "desktop"
}

get_command_syntax

Parameters:

• operation: "test" | "build" | "deploy" | "install" | "run"
• target: "local" | "remote" | "pi" | "docker"
• format: "shell" | "explanation" | "examples"

format_command

Parameters:

• command_template: Template with {variables}
• variables: Object with substitution values

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"Command not found" errors

# Check NPM installation
npm list -g dev-env-copilot

# Reinstall if needed
npm install -g dev-env-copilot

# Check Python installation
pip show dev-env-copilot

VS Code Insiders MCP integration not working

1. Verify MCP configuration file location and format
2. Restart VS Code Insiders after configuration changes
3. Check VS Code Developer Console for errors (Help > Toggle Developer Tools)
4. Ensure you're using VS Code Insiders (not regular VS Code)

Docker permission issues

# Linux/macOS - add user to docker group
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

# Windows - ensure Docker Desktop is running

MCP Protocol Issues

# Test MCP server directly
echo '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/list", "id": 1}' | npx dev-env-copilot

# Test Python server
echo '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/list", "id": 1}' | python -m dev_environment_mcp.server

Debug Mode

Enable detailed logging:

# Set environment variable
export DEV_ENV_MCP_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG

# Or create config file with debug logging
echo '{"logging": {"level": "DEBUG"}}' > ~/.config/dev-env-mcp/config.json

📚 Additional Documentation

• VS Code Insiders MCP Setup - Complete integration guide
• Deployment Setup - CI/CD pipeline and workflow architecture
• Docker Setup - Container deployment guide
• Docker VS Code Integration - Advanced containerized setup
• Integration Guide - Technical integration details
• Distribution Summary - Deployment and publishing overview

🏗️ Development & Contributing

Quick Development Setup

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/dev-env-copilot.git
cd dev-env-copilot

# Install dependencies
npm install
pip install -e .

# Run tests
python tests/test_mcp_proper.py
node bin/dev-env-copilot.js < echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"initialize","id":1,"params":{}}'

Workflow Structure

Our CI/CD uses GitHub Actions with a modern stage-based architecture:

Test Stage (test-and-build.yml)
├── Multi-platform testing (Ubuntu, Windows, macOS)
├── Multi-version testing (Python 3.8-3.12)
└── MCP protocol compliance verification

Deploy Stage (on release)
├── deploy-pypi.yml    → PyPI publishing
├── deploy-npm.yml     → npm registry  
└── docker-deploy.yml  → Docker Hub + GHCR

Key Features:

• 🔒 Reliable: No deployment without passing tests
• 🔧 Modular: Each deployment type is independent
• ⚡ Efficient: Reusable workflows, no duplication
• 🎯 Flexible: Deploy to specific registries independently

Contributing

We welcome contributions! The project is well-structured with:

• ✅ Comprehensive test coverage
• ✅ Automated quality checks
• ✅ Clear documentation
• ✅ Modern development workflow

Please open an issue or pull request to get started.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Model Context Protocol (MCP) by Anthropic
• GitHub Copilot team for MCP integration
• Cross-platform development community

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Questions? Open an issue or start a discussion!