How to connect MCP servers to VS Code

Create a .vscode directory in your project root (if it does not already exist) and add an mcp.json file. The critical difference from Cursor and Claude Desktop is that VS Code uses 'servers' as the top-level key, not 'mcpServers'. Each server entry has a type field (usually 'stdio'), command, args, and optional env.

1// .vscode/mcp.json
2{
3  "servers": {
4    "filesystem": {
5      "type": "stdio",
6      "command": "npx",
7      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/path/to/directory"]
8    }
9  }
10}

Add additional servers to the configuration. Each server gets a unique key name. Use the env field for API keys and secrets. VS Code launches all configured servers and makes their tools available to Copilot.

1// .vscode/mcp.json
2{
3  "servers": {
4    "filesystem": {
5      "type": "stdio",
6      "command": "npx",
7      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/Users/you/projects"]
8    },
9    "github": {
10      "type": "stdio",
11      "command": "docker",
12      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm",
13        "-e", "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN",
14        "ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server"],
15      "env": {
16        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "ghp_your_token_here"
17      }
18    },
19    "brave-search": {
20      "type": "stdio",
21      "command": "npx",
22      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-brave-search"],
23      "env": {
24        "BRAVE_API_KEY": "your-brave-api-key"
25      }
26    }
27  }
28}

You can also configure MCP servers in VS Code's settings.json instead of a separate mcp.json file. Use the 'mcp' key in settings.json with the same 'servers' structure. The mcp.json file takes precedence if both exist.

1// .vscode/settings.json
2{
3  "mcp": {
4    "servers": {
5      "filesystem": {
6        "type": "stdio",
7        "command": "npx",
8        "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/Users/you/projects"]
9      }
10    }
11  }
12}

For remote servers, use type 'sse' or specify a url field. VS Code supports connecting to MCP servers running on remote machines via Streamable HTTP transport.

1{
2  "servers": {
3    "remote-api": {
4      "type": "sse",
5      "url": "https://mcp.your-company.com/api"
6    }
7  }
8}

After saving the configuration, reload VS Code (Cmd+Shift+P then 'Developer: Reload Window'). Open the GitHub Copilot chat panel and check the available tools. MCP tools should appear in the tools list when you are in agent mode. You can also check the Output panel (View > Output) and select 'MCP' from the dropdown to see server connection logs.

Open GitHub Copilot chat (Cmd+Shift+I or the Copilot icon) and switch to agent mode. Ask a question that would benefit from an MCP tool. Copilot will detect available tools and use them to answer your question. For example, with the filesystem server, ask about your project's file structure.

1// Example prompts for Copilot with MCP tools:
2// With filesystem: "What is the folder structure of this project?"
3// With GitHub: "Show me recent pull requests on this repository"
4// With Brave Search: "Search for the latest MCP protocol documentation"