# How Flutter AI tools work > Learn how agent skills, the Dart and Flutter MCP server, and package skills interact to assist your development workflow. Flutter and Dart provide an integrated suite of tools designed to help AI coding assistants understand your codebase, follow best practices, and execute development tasks accurately. ## Tooling ecosystem overview The Flutter AI tooling ecosystem consists of six complementary components: 1. **Agent skills**: task-oriented blueprints that teach assistants how to perform specific workflows (such as creating responsive layouts or writing tests). 2. **Dart and Flutter MCP server**: a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server exposing real-time SDK diagnostics, symbol resolution, and runtime introspection to assistants. 3. **Developer Knowledge MCP server**: a cloud-hosted documentation search server giving assistants direct access to official Flutter and Dart docs. 4. **Package skills**: skills published directly inside third-party `pub.dev` packages, giving assistants instant expertise on specific libraries. 5. **Specialized agents**: dedicated agent personas equipped with focused tools and system instructions for isolated workflows, such as accessibility auditing. 6. **Agent rules**: persistent rules added to the context window every time you start a new session with your assistant (such as instructing the assistant to proactively trigger hot reload when modifying Flutter widgets). --- ## Agent skills [Agent skills](https://agentskills.io/) provide a standardized way to equip AI assistants with procedural domain expertise. ### Progressive disclosure Skills use **progressive disclosure** to conserve model context: * **Discovery phase**: The assistant initially reads only skill metadata (name and short description) from the `.agents/skills` directory. * **Execution phase**: When the assistant determines a skill is relevant to your prompt, it loads the complete instructions (`SKILL.md`) and supporting reference scripts. ### Official skills repositories * [**flutter/agent-plugins**](https://github.com/flutter/agent-plugins): Provides skills for Flutter development, including widget construction, declarative navigation, responsive design, and state management. * [**dart-lang/skills**](https://github.com/dart-lang/skills): Provides skills for Dart development, including unit test authoring, dependency resolution, and static analysis remediation. --- ## Dart and Flutter MCP server The [Dart and Flutter MCP server]( https://github.com/dart-lang/ai/tree/main/pkgs/dart_mcp_server) implements the open Model Context Protocol (MCP), connecting AI assistants to live Dart SDK and Flutter tooling over standard I/O (stdio). Key capabilities provided by the MCP server include: * **Static analysis & diagnostics**: Inspect and fix analyzer errors and warnings across your project. * **Symbol resolution**: Resolve symbols to their definitions, signatures, and documentation. * **Runtime introspection**: Query the state of a running Flutter application during active debugging sessions. * **Package management**: Search [pub.dev](https://pub.dev) and manage dependencies in `pubspec.yaml`. * **Testing & formatting**: Execute unit and widget tests and format code using `dart format` rules. --- ## Developer Knowledge MCP server While the local Dart and Flutter MCP server focuses on local codebase analysis and runtime debugging, you can also equip your assistant with search access to official online documentation. The [Developer Knowledge MCP server]( https://developers.google.com/knowledge/mcp) connects AI assistants to Google's developer documentation corpus, including [docs.flutter.dev](https://docs.flutter.dev), [dart.dev](https://dart.dev), and official API references. This allows assistants to retrieve up-to-date guides, migration notes, and API references directly during conversation. --- ## Package skills In addition to core Flutter skills, library authors can bundle official skills directly inside their packages on [pub.dev](https://pub.dev). When you add a dependency to your project, you can discover and install its skills using the `skills` CLI: ```bash dart run skills@ get ``` To learn how to discover and install package skills, check out [Package skills](https://dart.dev/ai/package-skills). To bundle skills with your own package, check out [Ship skills with packages](https://dart.dev/tools/pub/package-skills). --- ## Specialized agents **Specialized agents** (referred to as custom agents in platforms like Antigravity) are AI assistants configured with dedicated system prompts, curated tool sets, and focused skill subsets. While agent skills guide general-purpose assistants during active coding, specialized agents run in isolated contexts to perform deep, single-purpose workflows without cluttering your primary conversation history. ### Flutter Accessibility agent The **Flutter Accessibility (`a11y`) agent** is an official specialized agent designed to audit Flutter widget trees and recommend accessibility improvements. The accessibility agent is currently available in [Google Antigravity](https://antigravity.google). Key capabilities of the accessibility agent include: * **Semantic label inspection**: identifies interactive widgets (such as `IconButton` or `InkWell`) that lack descriptive semantic labels. * **Touch target validation**: flags interactive elements with hit test areas smaller than the recommended 48x48 logical pixels. * **Contrast and visual checks**: highlights potential contrast ratio issues and missing focus indicators. * **Automated code fixes**: generates idiomatic Flutter fixes (such as wrapping widgets in `Semantics` or adjusting tap bounds) that you can review and accept. ### Using the accessibility agent in Antigravity After installing the official [Dart and Flutter plugin]( https://antigravity.google/docs/build-with-google/#dart-and-flutter) in Antigravity, you can invoke the accessibility agent directly when chatting with Antigravity by selecting the **Flutter Accessibility Agent** from the agent picker, mentioning `@flutter_a11y_agent`, or asking your assistant to review your code for accessibility: ```text @flutter_a11y_agent Audit this screen for accessibility issues. ``` --- ## Agent rules **Agent rules** are persistent rules added to the context window every time you start a new session with your assistant. Rules establish project conventions and common constraints across your codebase. To explore official Flutter rules, visit the [rules directory](https://github.com/flutter/agent-plugins/tree/main/rules) in the flutter/agent-plugins repository. --- ## When to use what Use the following mental model to understand how different AI mechanisms interact: | Mechanism | Scope and behavior | Best suited for | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | **Agent skill** | On demand | Multi-step recipes, patterns | | **Dart MCP server** | Local SDK tools | Diagnostics, tests, runtime | | **Developer Knowledge MCP** | Online search | Live docs, API references | | **Package skill** | From dependencies | Library APIs, code generation | | **Specialized agent** | Isolated subagent | Accessibility audits | | **Agent rule** | Persistent context | Project conventions, constraints | {:.table .table-striped} ## Next steps * Follow the [Get started with AI](/ai/get-started) guide to install official plugins in your editor. * Learn how to install skills with [Package skills](https://dart.dev/ai/package-skills). * Learn how to distribute skills with [Ship skills with packages](https://dart.dev/tools/pub/package-skills).