diff --git a/pkg/kernel/lib/kernel.dart b/pkg/kernel/lib/kernel.dart
index 48af8f45c6d..e3c04e1c633 100644
--- a/pkg/kernel/lib/kernel.dart
+++ b/pkg/kernel/lib/kernel.dart
@@ -66,9 +66,15 @@ void writeLibraryToText(Library library, {String path}) {
 }
 
 void writeProgramToText(Program program,
-    {String path, bool showExternal: false, bool showOffsets: false}) {
+    {String path,
+    bool showExternal: false,
+    bool showOffsets: false,
+    bool showMetadata: false}) {
   StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
-  new Printer(buffer, showExternal: showExternal, showOffsets: showOffsets)
+  new Printer(buffer,
+          showExternal: showExternal,
+          showOffsets: showOffsets,
+          showMetadata: showMetadata)
       .writeProgramFile(program);
   if (path == null) {
     print(buffer);
diff --git a/pkg/kernel/lib/text/ast_to_text.dart b/pkg/kernel/lib/text/ast_to_text.dart
index 449301e1d38..482e553c7d3 100644
--- a/pkg/kernel/lib/text/ast_to_text.dart
+++ b/pkg/kernel/lib/text/ast_to_text.dart
@@ -222,11 +222,13 @@ class Printer extends Visitor<Null> {
   final NameSystem syntheticNames;
   final StringSink sink;
   final Annotator annotator;
+  final Map<String, MetadataRepository<dynamic>> metadata;
   ImportTable importTable;
   int indentation = 0;
   int column = 0;
   bool showExternal;
   bool showOffsets;
+  bool showMetadata;
 
   static int SPACE = 0;
   static int WORD = 1;
@@ -237,16 +239,19 @@ class Printer extends Visitor<Null> {
       {NameSystem syntheticNames,
       this.showExternal,
       this.showOffsets: false,
+      this.showMetadata: false,
       this.importTable,
-      this.annotator})
+      this.annotator,
+      this.metadata})
       : this.syntheticNames = syntheticNames ?? new NameSystem();
 
-  Printer._inner(Printer parent, this.importTable)
+  Printer._inner(Printer parent, this.importTable, this.metadata)
       : sink = parent.sink,
         syntheticNames = parent.syntheticNames,
         annotator = parent.annotator,
         showExternal = parent.showExternal,
-        showOffsets = parent.showOffsets;
+        showOffsets = parent.showOffsets,
+        showMetadata = parent.showMetadata;
 
   bool shouldHighlight(Node node) {
     return false;
@@ -387,7 +392,8 @@ class Printer extends Visitor<Null> {
     }
 
     endLine();
-    var inner = new Printer._inner(this, imports);
+    var inner =
+        new Printer._inner(this, imports, library.enclosingProgram?.metadata);
     library.typedefs.forEach(inner.writeNode);
     library.classes.forEach(inner.writeNode);
     library.fields.forEach(inner.writeNode);
@@ -396,7 +402,7 @@ class Printer extends Visitor<Null> {
 
   void writeProgramFile(Program program) {
     ImportTable imports = new ProgramImportTable(program);
-    var inner = new Printer._inner(this, imports);
+    var inner = new Printer._inner(this, imports, program.metadata);
     writeWord('main');
     writeSpaced('=');
     inner.writeMemberReferenceFromReference(program.mainMethodName);
@@ -504,6 +510,9 @@ class Printer extends Visitor<Null> {
       if (showOffsets && node is TreeNode) {
         writeWord("[${node.fileOffset}]");
       }
+      if (showMetadata && node is TreeNode) {
+        writeMetadata(node);
+      }
 
       node.accept(this);
 
@@ -519,6 +528,17 @@ class Printer extends Visitor<Null> {
     }
   }
 
+  void writeMetadata(TreeNode node) {
+    if (metadata != null) {
+      for (var md in metadata.values) {
+        final nodeMetadata = md.mapping[node];
+        if (nodeMetadata != null) {
+          writeWord("[@${md.tag}=${nodeMetadata}]");
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   void writeAnnotatedType(DartType type, String annotation) {
     writeType(type);
     if (annotation != null) {
diff --git a/pkg/vm/bin/dump_kernel.dart b/pkg/vm/bin/dump_kernel.dart
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e2bbb61ea45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/vm/bin/dump_kernel.dart
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2017, the Dart project authors.  Please see the AUTHORS file
+// for details. All rights reserved. Use of this source code is governed by a
+// BSD-style license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+import 'dart:io';
+
+import 'package:kernel/kernel.dart' show Program, writeProgramToText;
+import 'package:kernel/binary/ast_from_binary.dart'
+    show BinaryBuilderWithMetadata;
+
+import 'package:vm/metadata/direct_call.dart' show DirectCallMetadataRepository;
+
+final String _usage = '''
+Usage: dump_kernel input.dill output.txt
+Dumps kernel binary file with VM-specific metadata.
+''';
+
+main(List<String> arguments) async {
+  if (arguments.length != 2) {
+    print(_usage);
+    exit(1);
+  }
+
+  final input = arguments[0];
+  final output = arguments[1];
+
+  final program = new Program();
+
+  // Register VM-specific metadata.
+  program.addMetadataRepository(new DirectCallMetadataRepository());
+
+  final List<int> bytes = new File(input).readAsBytesSync();
+  new BinaryBuilderWithMetadata(bytes).readProgram(program);
+
+  writeProgramToText(program, path: output, showMetadata: true);
+}
diff --git a/pkg/vm/lib/metadata/direct_call.dart b/pkg/vm/lib/metadata/direct_call.dart
index 46f1fea5944..570e30354e4 100644
--- a/pkg/vm/lib/metadata/direct_call.dart
+++ b/pkg/vm/lib/metadata/direct_call.dart
@@ -8,10 +8,19 @@ import 'package:kernel/ast.dart';
 
 /// Metadata for annotating method invocations converted to direct calls.
 class DirectCallMetadata {
-  final Member target;
+  final Reference _targetReference;
   final bool checkReceiverForNull;
 
-  DirectCallMetadata(this.target, this.checkReceiverForNull);
+  DirectCallMetadata(Member target, bool checkReceiverForNull)
+      : this.byReference(getMemberReference(target), checkReceiverForNull);
+
+  DirectCallMetadata.byReference(
+      this._targetReference, this.checkReceiverForNull);
+
+  Member get target => _targetReference.asMember;
+
+  @override
+  String toString() => "${target}${checkReceiverForNull ? '??' : ''}";
 }
 
 /// Repository for [DirectCallMetadata].
@@ -32,11 +41,12 @@ class DirectCallMetadataRepository
 
   @override
   DirectCallMetadata readFromBinary(BinarySource source) {
-    var target = source.readCanonicalNameReference()?.getReference()?.asMember;
-    if (target == null) {
+    final targetReference = source.readCanonicalNameReference()?.getReference();
+    if (targetReference == null) {
       throw 'DirectCallMetadata should have a non-null target';
     }
-    var checkReceiverForNull = (source.readByte() != 0);
-    return new DirectCallMetadata(target, checkReceiverForNull);
+    final checkReceiverForNull = (source.readByte() != 0);
+    return new DirectCallMetadata.byReference(
+        targetReference, checkReceiverForNull);
   }
 }
diff --git a/pkg/vm/tool/dump_kernel b/pkg/vm/tool/dump_kernel
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..bd3dc31afd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/vm/tool/dump_kernel
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Copyright (c) 2017, the Dart project authors.  Please see the AUTHORS file
+# for details. All rights reserved. Use of this source code is governed by a
+# BSD-style license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+# Script for dumping kernel files with VM-specific metadata.
+
+set -e
+
+function follow_links() {
+  file="$1"
+  while [ -h "$file" ]; do
+    # On Mac OS, readlink -f doesn't work.
+    file="$(readlink "$file")"
+  done
+  echo "$file"
+}
+
+# Unlike $0, $BASH_SOURCE points to the absolute path of this file.
+PROG_NAME="$(follow_links "$BASH_SOURCE")"
+
+# Handle the case where dart-sdk/bin has been symlinked to.
+CUR_DIR="$(cd "${PROG_NAME%/*}" ; pwd -P)"
+
+SDK_DIR="$CUR_DIR/../../.."
+
+if [[ `uname` == 'Darwin' ]]; then
+  OUT_DIR="$SDK_DIR/xcodebuild"
+else
+  OUT_DIR="$SDK_DIR/out"
+fi
+
+export DART_CONFIGURATION=${DART_CONFIGURATION:-ReleaseX64}
+BIN_DIR="$OUT_DIR/$DART_CONFIGURATION"
+
+"$BIN_DIR"/dart "${SDK_DIR}/pkg/vm/bin/dump_kernel.dart" "$@"