cmcpdelphiide

Delphi IDE Remote MCP - field guide for agents

You are talking to a Windows machine that has RAD Studio installed. The projects, the compiler, the devices and the files all live THERE. You build, edit, deploy and drive apps through tools; you never need Delphi on your side.

First contact (always, in this order)

1. delphi_workspace - your allowed roots, your access level, and the path model. Server paths use virtual drive units: srvd:\..., srvc:\.... They only exist inside this MCP. Always send paths in that form; never invent local-looking paths of your own.
2. delphi_components - what the server's RAD Studio has installed to program with (design packages, any install channel). Check BEFORE writing uses clauses for third-party libraries. Base RTL/VCL/FMX are always available and not listed. filter= narrows (e.g. filter=FMX).
3. If a vault is announced in the instructions, vault_read its index - it holds the operator's conventions and project context.

Reading files and logs

• delphi_read pages at 400 lines per call - read in RANGES.
• delphi_search / delphi_list to locate; never read whole trees.
• Big dumps (logcat, long outputs) have a file mode (out=): use it, then read the file in ranges or download it.
• Getting a file onto YOUR machine (an installer, an .apk, a screenshot PNG, a long unit to grep locally): call delphi_fetch once and use the download field it returns - a GET /files?path=... on the same host:port as /mcp, with the same Authorization: Bearer header: curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -o file "http://host:port/files?path=...". Verify with sha256sum against the X-File-SHA256 header. This is the standard way for any size; files over 4 MB answer with the link only. Inline base64 chunks (maxbytes<=1048576, loop offset until eof) are for clients without a shell.

Editing safely (delphi_edit)

• Anchor edits: old must be copied EXACTLY from a fresh delphi_read, as small and unique as possible. An edit error is a diagnosis - re-read and fix the anchor; do not retry blindly.
• Pascal traps: a method signature exists TWICE (interface + implementation); there are TWO uses clauses; one single end. at the file end. Half an edit is not an edit.
• .fmx/.dfm are DATA, not code. The compiler only checks their text grammar - a wrong property name or enum value compiles fine and then crashes the form at load time on the target, silently. The server lints designer edits against tables generated from the framework's own metadata: an AVISO DESIGNER warning in the edit result is measured truth - fix it before building. FMX property spelling is not VCL: Size.Width (not Size.X), TextSettings.Font.Size (not Font.Size), TextSettings.HorzAlign = Center (not taCenter).
• Binary designer files (TPF0 stream or $FF resource wrapper) are refused - they belong to the IDE. Do not try to work around it.
• Prefer Align/anchors over absolute Position/Size in forms: absolute coordinates designed on a desktop form overflow phone screens.