diff --git a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/create.dart b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/create.dart
index d70865fe31a..0c32adfd3b7 100644
--- a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/create.dart
+++ b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/create.dart
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ class CreateCommand extends FlutterCommand {
       generatedCount += _renderTemplate('package', dirPath, templateContext);
 
       if (argResults['pub'])
-        await pubGet(directory: dirPath);
+        await pubGet(context: 'create_pkg', directory: dirPath);
 
       final String relativePath = fs.path.relative(dirPath);
       printStatus('Wrote $generatedCount files.');
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ class CreateCommand extends FlutterCommand {
       generatedCount += _renderTemplate('plugin', dirPath, templateContext);
 
       if (argResults['pub'])
-        await pubGet(directory: dirPath);
+        await pubGet(context: 'create_plugin', directory: dirPath);
 
       if (android_sdk.androidSdk != null)
         gradle.updateLocalProperties(projectPath: dirPath);
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ class CreateCommand extends FlutterCommand {
     );
 
     if (argResults['pub']) {
-      await pubGet(directory: appPath);
+      await pubGet(context: 'create', directory: appPath);
       injectPlugins(directory: appPath);
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/packages.dart b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/packages.dart
index 00ed183cda8..262db72ceac 100644
--- a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/packages.dart
+++ b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/packages.dart
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ class PackagesGetCommand extends FlutterCommand {
       );
     }
 
-    await pubGet(
+    await pubGet(context: 'get',
       directory: target,
       upgrade: upgrade,
       offline: argResults['offline'],
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ class PackagesTestCommand extends FlutterCommand {
   }
 
   @override
-  Future<Null> runCommand() => pub(<String>['run', 'test']..addAll(argResults.rest), retry: false);
+  Future<Null> runCommand() => pub(<String>['run', 'test']..addAll(argResults.rest), context: 'run_test', retry: false);
 }
 
 class PackagesPassthroughCommand extends FlutterCommand {
diff --git a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/update_packages.dart b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/update_packages.dart
index 2e8faabf28a..7cf7502c07a 100644
--- a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/update_packages.dart
+++ b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/update_packages.dart
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ class UpdatePackagesCommand extends FlutterCommand {
         fakePackage.createSync();
         fakePackage.writeAsStringSync(_generateFakePubspec(dependencies.values));
         // First we run "pub upgrade" on this generated package:
-        await pubGet(directory: temporaryDirectory.path, upgrade: true, checkLastModified: false);
+        await pubGet(context: 'update_packages', directory: temporaryDirectory.path, upgrade: true, checkLastModified: false);
         // Then we run "pub deps --style=compact" on the result. We pipe all the
         // output to tree.fill(), which parses it so that it can create a graph
         // of all the dependencies so that we can figure out the transitive
@@ -154,6 +154,7 @@ class UpdatePackagesCommand extends FlutterCommand {
         // each package.
         await pub(
           <String>['deps', '--style=compact'],
+          context: 'update_pkgs',
           directory: temporaryDirectory.path,
           filter: tree.fill,
           retry: false, // errors here are usually fatal since we're not hitting the network
@@ -210,7 +211,7 @@ class UpdatePackagesCommand extends FlutterCommand {
     int count = 0;
 
     for (Directory dir in packages) {
-      await pubGet(directory: dir.path, checkLastModified: false);
+      await pubGet(context: 'update_packages', directory: dir.path, checkLastModified: false);
       count += 1;
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/upgrade.dart b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/upgrade.dart
index 7722dc85e9d..b78bda97abf 100644
--- a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/upgrade.dart
+++ b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/upgrade.dart
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ class UpgradeCommand extends FlutterCommand {
     final String projRoot = findProjectRoot();
     if (projRoot != null) {
       printStatus('');
-      await pubGet(directory: projRoot, upgrade: true, checkLastModified: false);
+      await pubGet(context: 'upgrade', directory: projRoot, upgrade: true, checkLastModified: false);
     }
 
     // Run a doctor check in case system requirements have changed.
diff --git a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/dart/pub.dart b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/dart/pub.dart
index 57bc0d10495..b1376b58844 100644
--- a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/dart/pub.dart
+++ b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/dart/pub.dart
@@ -29,7 +29,10 @@ bool _shouldRunPubGet({ File pubSpecYaml, File dotPackages }) {
   return false;
 }
 
+/// [context] provides extra information to package server requests to
+/// understand usage. It must match the regular expression `[a-z][a-z_]*[a-z]`.
 Future<Null> pubGet({
+  @required String context,
   String directory,
   bool skipIfAbsent: false,
   bool upgrade: false,
@@ -59,6 +62,7 @@ Future<Null> pubGet({
     try {
       await pub(
         args,
+        context: context,
         directory: directory,
         filter: _filterOverrideWarnings,
         failureMessage: 'pub $command failed',
@@ -84,7 +88,11 @@ typedef String MessageFilter(String message);
 ///
 /// The `--trace` argument is passed to `pub` (by mutating the provided
 /// `arguments` list) unless `showTraceForErrors` is false.
+///
+/// [context] provides extra information to package server requests to
+/// understand usage. It must match the regular expression `[a-z][a-z_]*[a-z]`.
 Future<Null> pub(List<String> arguments, {
+  @required String context,
   String directory,
   MessageFilter filter,
   String failureMessage: 'pub failed',
@@ -102,7 +110,7 @@ Future<Null> pub(List<String> arguments, {
       _pubCommand(arguments),
       workingDirectory: directory,
       mapFunction: filter,
-      environment: _pubEnvironment,
+      environment: _createPubEnvironment(context),
     );
     if (code != 69) // UNAVAILABLE in https://github.com/dart-lang/pub/blob/master/lib/src/exit_codes.dart
       break;
@@ -125,7 +133,7 @@ Future<Null> pubInteractively(List<String> arguments, {
   final int code = await runInteractively(
     _pubCommand(arguments),
     workingDirectory: directory,
-    environment: _pubEnvironment,
+    environment: _createPubEnvironment('interactive'),
   );
   if (code != 0)
     throwToolExit('pub finished with exit code $code', exitCode: code);
@@ -137,9 +145,12 @@ List<String> _pubCommand(List<String> arguments) {
 }
 
 /// The full environment used when running pub.
-Map<String, String> get _pubEnvironment => <String, String>{
+///
+/// [context] provides extra information to package server requests to
+/// understand usage. It must match the regular expression `[a-z][a-z_]*[a-z]`.
+Map<String, String> _createPubEnvironment(String context) => <String, String>{
   'FLUTTER_ROOT': Cache.flutterRoot,
-  _pubEnvironmentKey: _getPubEnvironmentValue(),
+  _pubEnvironmentKey: _getPubEnvironmentValue(context),
 };
 
 final RegExp _analyzerWarning = new RegExp(r'^! \w+ [^ ]+ from path \.\./\.\./bin/cache/dart-sdk/lib/\w+$');
@@ -147,10 +158,15 @@ final RegExp _analyzerWarning = new RegExp(r'^! \w+ [^ ]+ from path \.\./\.\./bi
 /// The console environment key used by the pub tool.
 const String _pubEnvironmentKey = 'PUB_ENVIRONMENT';
 
+final RegExp _validContext = new RegExp('[a-z][a-z_]*[a-z]');
+
 /// Returns the environment value that should be used when running pub.
 ///
 /// Includes any existing environment variable, if one exists.
-String _getPubEnvironmentValue() {
+///
+/// [context] provides extra information to package server requests to
+/// understand usage. It must match the regular expression `[a-z][a-z_]*[a-z]`.
+String _getPubEnvironmentValue(String pubContext) {
   final List<String> values = <String>[];
 
   final String existing = platform.environment[_pubEnvironmentKey];
@@ -165,6 +181,11 @@ String _getPubEnvironmentValue() {
 
   values.add('flutter_cli');
 
+  if (!_validContext.hasMatch(pubContext)) {
+    throw new ArgumentError.value(pubContext, 'pubContext', 'Must match RegExp ${_validContext.pattern}');
+  }
+  values.add('ctx_$pubContext');
+
   return values.join(':');
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/runner/flutter_command.dart b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/runner/flutter_command.dart
index ca37fd7d02d..82aa9b45537 100644
--- a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/runner/flutter_command.dart
+++ b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/runner/flutter_command.dart
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ abstract class FlutterCommand extends Command<Null> {
       await cache.updateAll();
 
     if (shouldRunPub)
-      await pubGet();
+      await pubGet(context: 'verify');
 
     setupApplicationPackages();
 
diff --git a/packages/flutter_tools/test/commands/analyze_continuously_test.dart b/packages/flutter_tools/test/commands/analyze_continuously_test.dart
index ad72fe178a3..b36ab2eb51a 100644
--- a/packages/flutter_tools/test/commands/analyze_continuously_test.dart
+++ b/packages/flutter_tools/test/commands/analyze_continuously_test.dart
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ void main() {
     testUsingContext('AnalysisServer success', () async {
       _createSampleProject(tempDir);
 
-      await pubGet(directory: tempDir.path);
+      await pubGet(context: 'flutter_tests', directory: tempDir.path);
 
       server = new AnalysisServer(dartSdkPath, <String>[tempDir.path]);
 
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ void main() {
   testUsingContext('AnalysisServer errors', () async {
     _createSampleProject(tempDir, brokenCode: true);
 
-    await pubGet(directory: tempDir.path);
+    await pubGet(context: 'flutter_tests', directory: tempDir.path);
 
     server = new AnalysisServer(dartSdkPath, <String>[tempDir.path]);
 
diff --git a/packages/flutter_tools/test/dart/pub_get_test.dart b/packages/flutter_tools/test/dart/pub_get_test.dart
index cb4acd27a98..7756ab42100 100644
--- a/packages/flutter_tools/test/dart/pub_get_test.dart
+++ b/packages/flutter_tools/test/dart/pub_get_test.dart
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import 'dart:async';
 
 import 'package:file/file.dart';
 import 'package:file/memory.dart';
+import 'package:flutter_tools/src/base/context.dart';
 import 'package:flutter_tools/src/base/io.dart';
 import 'package:flutter_tools/src/dart/pub.dart';
 import 'package:mockito/mockito.dart';
@@ -18,8 +19,12 @@ import '../src/context.dart';
 void main() {
   testUsingContext('pub get 69', () async {
     String error;
+
+    final MockProcessManager processMock = context.getVariable(ProcessManager);
+
     new FakeAsync().run((FakeAsync time) {
-      pubGet(checkLastModified: false).then((Null value) {
+      expect(processMock.lastPubEnvironmment, isNull);
+      pubGet(context: 'flutter_tests', checkLastModified: false).then((Null value) {
         error = 'test completed unexpectedly';
       }, onError: (dynamic error) {
         error = 'test failed unexpectedly';
@@ -30,6 +35,7 @@ void main() {
         'Running "flutter packages get" in /...\n'
         'pub get failed (69) -- attempting retry 1 in 1 second...\n'
       );
+      expect(processMock.lastPubEnvironmment, contains('flutter_cli:ctx_flutter_tests'));
       time.elapse(const Duration(milliseconds: 500));
       expect(testLogger.statusText,
         'Running "flutter packages get" in /...\n'
@@ -83,6 +89,8 @@ class MockProcessManager implements ProcessManager {
 
   final int fakeExitCode;
 
+  String lastPubEnvironmment;
+
   @override
   Future<Process> start(
     List<dynamic> command, {
@@ -92,6 +100,7 @@ class MockProcessManager implements ProcessManager {
     bool runInShell: false,
     ProcessStartMode mode: ProcessStartMode.NORMAL,
   }) {
+    lastPubEnvironmment = environment['PUB_ENVIRONMENT'];
     return new Future<Process>.value(new MockProcess(fakeExitCode));
   }