packages/devtools_server/docs/daemon.md

# DevTools Server Daemon

## Overview

The `devtools` tool supports running in a server mode for use by IDEs and other
tools.

```
pub global run devtools --machine
```

This runs a persistent, JSON-RPC based server. IDEs and other tools can start
DevTools in this mode in order to launch browser windows (or reuse existing
ones) and track which DevTools instances are connected to VMs.

### Additional Command-Line Flags

- `--enable-notifications`. This flag causes DevTools to request browser
  notification permissions immediately at startup. This supports the IDE
  requesting to show notifications when DevTools windows are re-used so that the
  user can easily find them if they're not visible on the screen. This flag
  itself does not cause any notifications be sent, it controls only whether
  permissions are requested at startup - the IDE sends a flag with each request
  to control whether notifications should be shown.

- `--try-ports {numPorts}`. This option tells the server to try binding to
  ascending ports if it fails to bind to the requested port up to `{numPorts}`.
  This is preferred over random ports because each new port will result in a new
  permissions request. Sticking to the default port (or the few after it) will
  reduce the chances of the user seeing too many permissions prompts.

### Events

Events are sent as objects with a string `event` field and a json object
`params` field.

#### Example

```js
{
	'event': 'server.started',
	'params': {
		'host': 'localhost',
		'port': 9100,
		'pid': 9876,
	}
}
```

#### server.started Event

This event is sent when the server starts up and has bound to a port. Each event
contains the following params:

- `host` - the hostname/IP the server is listening on
- `port` - the port the server bound to (this may differ from the supplied
  `--port` if `--try-ports` was used)
- `pid` - the PID of the current process (supplied to improve reliability of
  sending kill signals since the process handle the IDE has may be a shell)
- `protocolVersion` - the version number for this protocol (if this field is
  missing it is protocol version `1.0.0`)

<!--
This request is only used for testing purposes so is currently "undocumented"

### client.launch Event

This event is sent when the server launches a new client in response to a call
to `launchDevTools`. `params` contains the following fields:

- `reused` - whether an existing DevTools instance was reused (otherwise a new
  browser was launched)
- `notified` - whether or not a notification was shown
- `pid` - the pid of the launched instance of Chrome (omitted if Chrome was not
  not launched or an existing Chrome instance was reused)
-->

### Requests

### `vm.register` Request

This request is used to tell the server about a new VM service it should connect
to and register the `launchDevTools` service into. The request takes the
following params:

- `uri` - the URI of the VM service to register with

<!--
This request is only used for testing purposes so is currently "undocumented"

### `client.list` Request

This request lists all DevTools instances that are currently connected back to
the server along with which VM services they're connected to and the pages they
are showing. The request requires no `params`.
-->

### devTools.launch Request

DevTools can be launched in a browser using the `devTools.launch` request with
the following parameters.

- `vmServiceUri` - the URI of the VM service that DevTools should connect to
- `reuseWindows` - whether an existing DevTools instance that is not connected
  to a VM (or is connected to the same one) should be reused
- `notify` - whether to send a browser notification to the user in the case
  where a DevTools instance is reused, to help them find the window
- `page` - the page to launch DevTools on (matches the IDs used in DevTools that
  show in the URL fragments) or - if reusing a window - to switch to
- `queryParams` - an object of additional query parameters that may be added to
  the query string that may influence DevTools behaviour, such as:
  - `theme` - allows using the `dark` theme
  - `ide` - the client (eg. `VSCode`) to be logged in analytics
  - `hide` - IDs of pages to hide (eg. `debugger` when launching from an IDE
    with its own debugger)

#### Example

```js
{
	'id': '123',
	'method': 'devTools.launch',
	'params': {
		'vmServiceUri': 'ws://127.0.0.1/ABCDEF=/ws',
		'notify': true,
		'page': 'inspector',
		'queryParams': {
			'hide': 'debugger',
			'ide': 'VSCode',
			'theme': 'dark'
		},
		'reuseWindows': true
	}
}
```

### launchDevTools VM Service

DevTools can also be launched via the VM Service protocol by calling the
`launchDevTools` service. It takes the same parameters as the `devTools.launch`
request, except without the `vmServiceUri` parameter since that's already known
by the service.

#### Example

```js
{
	'id': '123',
	// The `method` field is populated based on the ServiceRegistered VM event
	'method': 's2.launchDevTools',
	'params': {
		'notify': true,
		'page': 'inspector',
		'queryParams': {
			'hide': 'debugger',
			'ide': 'VSCode',
			'theme': 'dark'
		},
		'reuseWindows': true
	}
}
```

## Changelog

- 1.1.0: Add a `devTools.launch` request to launch DevTools directly via the
  server API
- 1.0.0: Initial documentation for DevTools server API