Vara MCP Server

Build Vara Network smart programs 40-100x faster with AI-assisted development in Cursor IDE.

A production-ready Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that lets you scaffold, compile, test, and generate TypeScript clients for Vara Network smart programs using natural language.

🚀 Before vs After

❌ Before: Traditional Vara Development

📋 Manual Steps Required                           ⏱️ Time
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1. Research Sails docs & examples                  30-60 min
2. Manually create Cargo.toml, lib.rs, build.rs   15-30 min  
3. Write service, program, events from scratch     30-60 min
4. Debug build errors (targets, crate-types)       15-45 min
5. Run cargo build, fix errors, repeat             5-10 min
6. Research gear-js API for client code            45-90 min
7. Write TypeScript client from scratch            30-45 min
8. Set up tests with gtest                         20-30 min
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Total: 3-6 hours for a basic counter program 😫

✅ After: With vara-mcp-server

💬 Just Ask in Cursor                              ⏱️ Time
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
"Create a Vara MVP called my-counter"              ~2 min
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
✓ Complete Rust program with Sails
✓ Service with state, commands, queries, events
✓ Proper Cargo.toml with all dependencies
✓ Build script for WASM compilation
✓ TypeScript client with full API
✓ Ready to deploy!

Total: ~2 minutes 🚀

📊 Speed Comparison

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                Time to First Working Program                    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                 │
│  Traditional    ████████████████████████████████████  3-6 hours │
│                                                                 │
│  With MCP       ██  ~2 minutes                                  │
│                                                                 │
│                 └─────────────────────────────────────────────  │
│                           40-100x faster                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

📦 Installation

npm install -g vara-mcp-server

⚙️ Cursor IDE Setup

Add to your .cursor/mcp.json (project) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vara-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["vara-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Cursor after adding the configuration.

🛠️ Available Tools

| Tool | Description | Example | |------|-------------|---------| | vara_scaffold_program | Create new Vara program from template | "Create a counter program called my-dapp" | | vara_compile | Compile to optimized WASM | "Compile my-dapp in release mode" | | vara_test | Run program tests | "Run tests for my-dapp" | | vara_client_scaffold | Generate TypeScript client | "Generate a client for my-dapp" | | vara_docs_search | Search Vara/Sails documentation | "How do I emit events in Sails?" |

💬 Available Prompts

Create a Vara MVP

Runs the complete workflow automatically:

Scaffold → Compile → Test → Generate Client

Add Feature to Program

Get guidance on adding new features to existing programs with code suggestions.

📚 Available Resources

Access bundled documentation directly in Cursor:

• Vara Sails Quickstart - Getting started guide
• Build Targets & Gotchas - Common issues and solutions
• Gear-JS Interaction Basics - JavaScript SDK guide

🎯 Example Usage

1. Create a New Program

In Cursor chat:

Create a Vara smart program called "my-token" using the counter template

2. Compile to WASM

Compile my-token in release mode

Output:

✓ my_token.opt.wasm (73 KB)
✓ my_token.idl

3. Generate TypeScript Client

Generate a TypeScript client for my-token

4. Use the Client

import { MyTokenClient } from './my-token-client';

const client = new MyTokenClient();
await client.connect('wss://testnet.vara.network');
await client.initKeyring(process.env.VARA_SEED);

// Upload program
const programId = await client.uploadProgram({
  wasmPath: './target/wasm32-gear/release/my_token.opt.wasm'
});

// Interact
await client.sendMessage({ payload: { Counter: { Increment: null } } });
const state = await client.readState();

🔒 Security

This server implements strict security measures:

| Feature | Implementation | |---------|----------------| | Command Allowlist | Only cargo, node, npm/pnpm/yarn, rustup allowed | | Path Sandboxing | All file operations restricted to workspace root | | No Shell Execution | Commands spawned directly with shell: false | | No Secret Persistence | Secrets read from env vars only, never logged |

See security.md for details.

🧪 Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• pnpm 9+
• Rust toolchain (for testing builds)

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Adityaakr/vara-mcp-server.git
cd vara-mcp-server
pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm test

Run Locally

node packages/server/dist/index.js

📁 Project Structure

vara-mcp-server/
├── packages/
│   ├── server/      # MCP server entry point
│   ├── runtime/     # Safe execution utilities
│   ├── templates/   # Sails program templates
│   └── chain/       # TypeScript client generator
├── docs/
│   ├── cursor-setup.md
│   ├── security.md
│   └── troubleshooting.md
└── README.md

🐛 Troubleshooting

cargo not found

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

WASM target not installed

cargo build --release  # output: target/wasm32-gear/release/ (.wasm, .opt.wasm, .idl)

Server not connecting in Cursor

1. Check path in .cursor/mcp.json
2. Restart Cursor completely
3. Enable debug mode: "env": { "VARA_DEBUG": "true" }

See troubleshooting.md for more solutions.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

📄 License

MIT © Aditya Kumar

🔗 Links

• npm Package
• GitHub Repository
• Vara Network
• Sails Framework
• Model Context Protocol