glider-trace 0.16.0

GliderTrace - Runtime Evidence MCP Server

GliderTrace is a runtime evidence MCP server for .NET workspaces. It runs workspace-scoped commands and tests, stores bounded evidence, and summarizes failures, exceptions, counters, and runtime traces.

Install

Prerequisite: .NET 10 SDK.

dotnet tool install --global glider-trace

If install fails, run dotnet --version first. If dotnet is missing or below 10, install .NET 10 from: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/10.0

Keep CLI tools on PATH (for example ~/.dotnet/tools on Linux/macOS) before running glider-trace.

To update:

dotnet tool update --global glider-trace

Run Modes

GliderTrace exposes two transports:

Stdio (default)

glider-trace

Run this when an MCP client starts a local MCP stdio process.

HTTP

glider-trace --transport http

HTTP MCP endpoint is http://localhost:5003/mcp (or your chosen --port).

Common CLI arguments

MCP Tools

• trace_status — Server readiness, workspace/artifact state, retention/redaction defaults, expiration status, telemetry and feedback state, and which build/test/restore runners are usable here (pass includeEnvironment=true to resolve executables).
• trace_run — Executes one command in the workspace and stores runtime session evidence.
• send_feedback — Reports a missing capability, a wrong result, an error, or praise to the GliderTrace developers as a public GitHub issue. The report is abstract text the agent writes; the tool refuses code, paths, source and config file names, secrets, and stack traces. Disabled by GLIDER_FEEDBACK=0, --no-telemetry, and DO_NOT_TRACK=1.
• Every tool that creates a session accepts an optional label, so trace_list_sessions can find that session again by name.
• trace_import_otlp — Imports bounded OpenTelemetry JSON or NDJSON evidence from a workspace file.
• trace_import_artifacts — Imports existing TRX, MSBuild binlog, log, counters, nettrace, dump, or GC dump files into a stored session.
• trace_start — Starts a long-running workspace command and begins evidence capture.
• trace_stop — Stops an active session started by trace_start and finalizes evidence.
• trace_list_processes — Lists local .NET processes that can be attached for diagnostics.
• trace_attach — Captures a bounded runtime trace artifact from a running .NET process.
• trace_capture_dump — Captures a sensitive process dump artifact for a running process.
• trace_capture_gcdump — Captures a sensitive GC dump artifact for a running process.
• trace_build — Builds a solution or project (dotnet build, or Visual Studio MSBuild with runner: "msbuild"), captures a sensitive build.binlog artifact, and stores normalized build error/warning evidence.
• trace_restore — Restores packages (dotnet restore, or a workspace-local NuGet.exe with runner: "nuget"), separating NU warnings from failures with a structured restored/up-to-date/failed summary.
• trace_run_tests — Runs tests (dotnet test, or dotnet vstest against prebuilt assemblies with runner: "vstest"), can rerun safely identified failures, and stores test evidence, artifacts, results, and flaky candidates.
• trace_get_session — Returns stored session metadata, summaries, and artifact references.
• trace_query_events — Returns filtered evidence events for a session.
• trace_compare_sessions — Compares two stored sessions and returns fixed, new, and persisting evidence.
• trace_export — Exports session summaries, CI summaries, and artifact bundle references.
• trace_list_sessions — Lists stored sessions from the local index, filtered by mode, status, label, or start time.
• trace_pin_session — Pins or unpins a session. Retention never deletes a pinned session, and a pinned-bytes quota bounds the pinned set.
• trace_correlate_code — Maps runtime evidence stack frames to C# symbols.
• trace_exceptions — Returns grouped exception evidence for a session.
• trace_counters — Returns summarized counters.csv evidence for a session.
• trace_hotspots — Returns summarized CPU hotspot evidence from runtime traces.

Local Dependencies

Required runtime:

• .NET 10 SDK
• dotnet on PATH

Optional features:

• dotnet-counters — enables collectCounters in trace_run.
• dotnet-gcdump — enables trace_capture_gcdump.

Test support depends on the project/test setup (dotnet test + TRX-capable logger configuration).

Version Expiration

Each glider-trace version expires 1 month after release date.

dotnet tool update --global glider-trace

Troubleshooting

• glider-trace command not found: ensure the global tool folder is on PATH (for example ~/.dotnet/tools).
• trace_run rejects command: by default only dotnet is allowed. For legacy .NET Framework toolchains, start the server with --allow-executable msbuild, --allow-executable nuget-workspace, or --allow-executable vstest to admit those executable categories with path validation.
• trace_list_processes returns no processes: no local .NET process is currently published to diagnostics IPC.
• trace_capture_dump or trace_capture_gcdump blocked: set acknowledgeSensitive=true and confirm optional tools are installed.
• Counter capture fails: install dotnet-counters and rerun with collectCounters=true.
• trace_run_tests misses TRX evidence: verify test project and logger configuration for TRX support.
• trace_run_tests only records flaky candidates when rerunFailed is greater than 0 and failed tests have safe exact identifiers.
• Long operations cancel unexpectedly: increase --default-timeout or set 0 to disable.

License

Free for personal use, open-source work, education, and a 30-day organizational evaluation under the GliderMCP EULA. Commercial use requires a paid license once plans are on sale; until then the EULA permits it free of charge. The full terms are in the LICENSE file inside this package.