Project Dependency Source Tools

Tools for searching and inspecting source code of Gradle dependencies.

read_dependency_sources

Reads source files and explores directory structures of external library dependencies, plugins, or Gradle's internal engine; use instead of shell tools which cannot locate remote dependency sources. Supports dot-separated package paths via the symbol index. Use search_dependency_sources to find paths first. path without dependency: must include group/artifact prefix. With dependency: relative to library root. Sources are CAS-cached (immutable). Use fresh=true for dependency changes; forceDownload=true only to recover corrupt/missing files. ALWAYS scope with dependency, projectPath, configurationPath, or sourceSetPath — unscoped access indexes ALL dependencies and is VERY EXPENSIVE on large projects. Returns the absolute path of the sources root. Dependency directories are symlinked; pass --follow to rg (e.g., rg --follow <pattern> <path>).

Examples

• Browse all deps: {}
• Browse single dep: { dependency: "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib" }
• Read file: { dependency: "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib", path: "kotlin/collections/List.kt" }
• Read package: { dependency: "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib", path: "kotlin.collections" }
• Plugin sources: { configurationPath: ":buildscript:classpath" }
• Gradle internals: { gradleSource: true }

Input schema

{
  "properties": {
    "projectRoot": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Absolute path to Gradle project root. Auto-detected from MCP roots or GRADLE_MCP_PROJECT_ROOT when present, must be specified otherwise (usually)."
    },
    "projectPath": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Targeting a specific project path (e.g., ':app'). If null, all dependencies are included."
    },
    "configurationPath": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Authoritatively targeting a configuration (e.g., ':app:debugCompileClasspath'). Higher precedence."
    },
    "sourceSetPath": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Authoritatively targeting a source set (e.g., ':app:main'). Highest project precedence."
    },
    "dependency": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Single dependency filter by GAV (e.g., 'group:name'). Excludes transitive dependencies."
    },
    "gradleSource": {
      "type": "boolean",
      "description": "Targets Gradle's own source code; HIGHEST overall precedence."
    },
    "path": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "File, dir, or package path. Requires group/artifact prefix unless 'dependency' is set."
    },
    "forceDownload": {
      "type": "boolean",
      "description": "Force re-download and re-indexing. EXPENSIVE — only use when sources are corrupt or missing, not for version changes."
    },
    "fresh": {
      "type": "boolean",
      "description": "Retrieve a fresh dependency list from Gradle. Use this (not forceDownload) when dependencies change."
    },
    "pagination": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": [],
      "properties": {
        "offset": {
          "type": "integer",
          "minimum": -2147483648,
          "maximum": 2147483647
        },
        "limit": {
          "type": "integer",
          "minimum": -2147483648,
          "maximum": 2147483647
        }
      },
      "description": "Pagination. offset = zero-based start index (default 0); limit = max items/lines to return."
    }
  },
  "required": [],
  "type": "object"
}

search_dependency_sources

Searches for symbols or text across the source code of ALL external library dependencies, plugins, or Gradle's internal engine; use instead of shell grep which cannot find remote dependency sources. Sources are CAS-cached (immutable). Use fresh=true for dependency changes; forceDownload=true only to recover corrupt/missing files. ALWAYS scope with dependency, projectPath, configurationPath, or sourceSetPath — unscoped search indexes ALL dependencies and is VERY EXPENSIVE on large projects. Returns the absolute path of the sources root. Dependency directories are symlinked; pass --follow to rg (e.g., rg --follow <pattern> <path>).

Search Modes

• DECLARATION: Finds class, method, or interface definitions. All symbol searches are case-sensitive.
• Fields: Matches against name (simple name, e.g., MyClass) and fqn (fully qualified name, e.g., com.example.MyClass).
• Unqualified Queries: A query without a field prefix (e.g., query: "MyClass") searches BOTH name and fqn fields.
• Prefix Syntax: Use name:X for simple names or fqn:x.y.Z for precision. Supports Lucene wildcards (*, ?).
• FQN Matching: fqn is NOT tokenized (it matches the full string literal), so use fqn:*.MyClass for partial matches.
• Regex: Wrap query in / for a full regular expression on the fqn field (e.g., query: "/.*\.internal\..*/").
• FULL_TEXT (default): Exhaustive text search using a Lucene query. Case-insensitive. Escape special characters like :, =, +.
• GLOB: Locates files by name or extension using Java glob syntax. Case-insensitive (e.g., query: "**/AndroidManifest.xml").

Examples

• All deps: { query: "CoroutineScope", searchType: "DECLARATION" }
• Full-text: { query: "TIMEOUT_MS" }
• Single dep: { dependency: "org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-core", query: "launch", searchType: "DECLARATION" }
• Gradle internals: { gradleSource: true, query: "DefaultProject", searchType: "DECLARATION" }
• Plugins: { configurationPath: ":buildscript:classpath", query: "MyPlugin", searchType: "DECLARATION" }
• Files: { query: "**/plugin.properties", searchType: "GLOB" }

Once found, read content with read_dependency_sources.

Input schema

{
  "properties": {
    "projectRoot": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Absolute path to Gradle project root. Auto-detected from MCP roots or GRADLE_MCP_PROJECT_ROOT when present, must be specified otherwise (usually)."
    },
    "projectPath": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Targeting a specific project path (e.g., ':app'). If null, all dependencies are searched."
    },
    "configurationPath": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Authoritatively targeting a configuration (e.g., ':app:debugCompileClasspath'). Higher precedence."
    },
    "sourceSetPath": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Authoritatively targeting a source set (e.g., ':app:main'). Highest project precedence."
    },
    "dependency": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Single dependency filter by GAV (e.g., 'group:name'). Excludes transitive dependencies."
    },
    "gradleSource": {
      "type": "boolean",
      "description": "Search Gradle Build Tool's own source code."
    },
    "query": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Search query: name/FQN/glob/regex (DECLARATION), Lucene query (FULL_TEXT), or glob (GLOB, e.g., '**/Job.kt')."
    },
    "searchType": {
      "enum": [
        "DECLARATION",
        "FULL_TEXT",
        "GLOB"
      ],
      "description": "Search mode: FULL_TEXT (default), DECLARATION (symbol names), or GLOB (file paths).",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "forceDownload": {
      "type": "boolean",
      "description": "Force re-download and re-indexing. EXPENSIVE — only use when sources are corrupt or missing, not for version changes."
    },
    "fresh": {
      "type": "boolean",
      "description": "Retrieve a fresh dependency list from Gradle. Use this (not forceDownload) when dependencies change."
    },
    "pagination": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": [],
      "properties": {
        "offset": {
          "type": "integer",
          "minimum": -2147483648,
          "maximum": 2147483647
        },
        "limit": {
          "type": "integer",
          "minimum": -2147483648,
          "maximum": 2147483647
        }
      },
      "description": "Pagination. offset = zero-based start index (default 0); limit = max items/lines to return."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "query"
  ],
  "type": "object"
}