Google Maps Platform Code Assist toolkit

Description

The Google Maps Platform Code Assist toolkit is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enhances the responses from large language models (LLMs) used for developing applications with the Google Maps Platform by grounding the responses in the official, up-to-date documentation and code samples.

Since the MCP server accesses the content when the model is prompted, the LLM's context regarding Google Maps Platform does not have to be limited to the available data at the model's training date.

Google Maps Platform resources that the MCP server can access include:

Google Maps Platform Documentation
Google Maps Platform Terms of Service
Google Maps Platform Trust Center
Code repositories in Google Maps Platform official GitHub organizations

Developers

🪄 Make your favorite AI assistant or IDE a Google Maps Platform expert. With Code Assist, AI Agents like Gemini CLI, Claude Code, and Cursor can generate code and answer developer questions grounded in up-to-date, official Google Maps Platform documentation and code samples -- directly in your dev workflow.
🚀 Whether you are making precision AI-Assisted code changes or vibecoding a new app prototype - Code Assist can help you accomplish your task faster and easier.

🔧 Tools Provided

The MCP server exposes the following tools for AI clients:

retrieve-instructions: A helper tool used by the client to get crucial system instructions on how to best reason about user intent and formulate effective calls to the retrieve-google-maps-platform-docs tool.
retrieve-google-maps-platform-docs: The primary tool. It takes a natural language query and submits it to a hosted Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) engine. The RAG engine searches fresh versions of official Google Maps Platform documentation, tutorials, and code samples, returning relevant context to the AI to generate an accurate response.

🛠️ Supported MCP Transports

This server supports two standard MCP communication protocols:

stdio: This is the default transport used when a client invokes the server via a command. It communicates over the standard input/output streams, making it ideal for local command-line execution.
Streamable HTTP: The server exposes a /mcp endpoint that accepts POST requests. This is used by clients that connect via a url and is the standard for remote server connections. Our implementation supports streaming for real-time, interactive responses.

🚀 Usage

You can run the Code Assist MCP server either on your local development machine or remotely on Google Cloud Run.

Requirements

In order to use the Google Maps Platform Code Assist toolkit, you need an environment with Node.js (LTS version recommended) and npm installed in order to clone and run the server, as well as an MCP client to access the server.

Use Code Assist as a Local MCP Server with `stdio` transport (Recommended)

Run the server on your local machine and connect clients using stdio protocol for use with AI-assisted IDEs (like VS Code, Android Studio, Cursor) or desktop AI applications (like Gemini CLI). This is the simplest and most common setup.

Configure Your Client

Add the server to your preferred AI client's MCP configuration file. Find your client below for specific, verified instructions.

Gemini Code Assist & Gemini CLI
- Option 1 - Add the server directly from your command line (assuming you have Gemini CLI already installed):
```
 gemini mcp add google-maps-platform-code-assist npx -y @googlemaps/code-assist-mcp@latest
```
  - Verify the installation by running gemini mcp list.
- Option 2 - Install Code Assist as a Gemini CLI extension with static preamble, the MCP tool, and basic Google Maps theme:
```
gemini extensions install https://github.com/googlemaps/platform-ai.git
```
- Option 3 - Add the MCP server config manually to your ~/.gemini/settings.json file.
```
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-maps-platform-code-assist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@googlemaps/code-assist-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}
```

Claude Code

Option 1 - Add the server directly from your command line (assuming you have Claude Code already installed):
```
    claude mcp add google-maps-platform-code-assist -- npx -y @googlemaps/code-assist-mcp@latest
```
- Verify the installation by running claude mcp list.
- Windows Users: On native Windows (not WSL), you must use the cmd /c wrapper for npx commands to work correctly.
```
claude mcp add google-maps-platform-code-assist -- cmd /c "npx -y @googlemaps/code-assist-mcp@latest"
```
Option 2 - Add the sever manually to your Claude config file ~/.claude.json

"mcpServers": {
    "google-maps-platform-code-assist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y", "@googlemaps/code-assist-mcp@latest"
      ]
    }
  }

Cursor
- <-- If you already have Cursor installed, click here to install Google Maps Platform Code Assist MCP directly.
- Otherwise, add it to your workspace's .cursor-settings/mcp.json file.
```
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-maps-platform-code-assist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@googlemaps/code-assist-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}
```

Firebase Studio

with Code Assist MCP installed
Add to your project's mcp.json file in the .idx folder in your Firebase Studio workspace

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-maps-platform-code-assist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@googlemaps/code-assist-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Android Studio

Create a mcp.json file and place it in the configuration directory of Android Studio. Add the Code Assist server to the list:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-maps-platform-code-assist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@googlemaps/code-assist-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Cline
- Option 1: install using the Cline MCP GUI
- Option 2: manually / programatically install using the Cline MCP config file. The config file is located at:
  - macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
  - Windows: %APPDATA%/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
  - Linux: ~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
  - Add the following to your MCP configuration in cline_mcp_settings.json:
```
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-maps-platform-code-assist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@googlemaps/code-assist-mcp@latest"]
    },
    "alwaysAllow": [
      "retrieve-instructions",
      "retrieve-google-maps-platform-docs"
    ]
  }
}
```
Roo Code
- Option 1: install using the Roo MCP GUI
- Option 2: manually / programatically install using the Roo Code config file. The config file is located at:
  - macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/rooveterinaryinc.roo-cline/settings/mcp_settings.json
  - Windows: %APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage\rooveterinaryinc.roo-cline\settings\mcp_settings.json
  - Linux: ~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/rooveterinaryinc.roo-cline/settings/mcp_settings.json
  - Add the following to your MCP configuration in mcp_settings.json:
```
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-maps-platform-code-assist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@googlemaps/code-assist-mcp@latest"]
    },
    "alwaysAllow": [
      "retrieve-instructions",
      "retrieve-google-maps-platform-docs"
    ]
  }
}
```
Microsoft Copilot
- When in Agent mode, Click "Tools" and then in the top header "Configure Tools" then "Install from an NPM package name" (See screenshots below)
- Enter pacakge name @googlemaps/code-assist-mcp and ENTER, accepting the install and using the default port 3000, then ENTER one last time to confirm the change
Windsurf
- Similar to Cursor instructions above.
Kilo Code
- Similar to the Cline and Roo Code instructions above