Use GliderMCP with Pi coding agent

GliderMCP

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Pi Setup

Configure Glider with Pi coding agent.

Pi

Prerequisite: .NET 10 SDK must be installed before running dotnet tool install --global glider.

dotnet tool install --global glider

Pi starts stdio MCP servers through the configured command. Make sure glider is available on PATH.

# bash/zsh
export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.dotnet/tools"
which glider

Pi uses the pi-mcp-adapter extension for MCP. Pi packages execute code, so review package source and trust before installing.

pi install npm:pi-mcp-adapter

Create .mcp.json in your project. Pi reads this shared project config automatically and keeps servers lazy by default, so Glider starts when the agent actually uses it. Pi MCP adapter docs: pi.dev/packages/pi-mcp-adapter.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "glider": {
      "command": "glider",
      "args": ["--default-timeout", "30m"]
    }
  }
}

Use ~/.config/mcp/mcp.json for user-global shared MCP servers. Use .pi/mcp.json or ~/.pi/agent/mcp.json when you want Pi-specific project or user overrides.

If you prefer Streamable HTTP, start Glider yourself and configure Pi with http://localhost:5001/mcp. The adapter keeps servers lazy by default for either transport.

glider --transport http --default-timeout 30m

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "glider": {
      "url": "http://localhost:5001/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Pi keeps MCP tools behind one proxy tool by default to save context. If you want selected Glider tools exposed directly, add directTools with the original MCP tool names.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "glider": {
      "command": "glider",
      "args": ["--default-timeout", "30m"],
      "directTools": [
        "load",
        "find_code",
        "get_diagnostics",
        "find_references",
        "analyze_change_impact"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Restart Pi after installing the adapter, open the MCP panel, and search for Glider tools.

pi
# Run: /mcp
# Ask: "Search MCP tools for glider diagnostics references."

After connecting GliderMCP, add this product-specific instruction to your MCP client system prompt or project instructions so the agent chooses the right tool surface first.

When working in C#/.NET workspaces, prefer glider mcp semantic tools before shell text search for code navigation and refactoring. Use GliderMCP for symbol lookup, references, implementations, overrides, callers, call graphs, type and project dependencies, diagnostics, impact analysis, and preview-first refactors. Use grep, rg, or find only for non-C# assets, files outside the loaded workspace, generated output, or after GliderMCP cannot load or cannot answer the question.

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