VSCode MCP

Connect VSCode with MCP (Model Context Protocol) for enhanced AI assistant capabilities

Design Motivation • Available Tools • Installation • Architecture • License

Overview

VSCode MCP is a comprehensive monorepo solution that enables MCP (Model Context Protocol) clients to access rich VSCode context information in real-time. This project bridges the gap between AI assistants and your development environment, providing accurate code analysis, diagnostics, and intelligent code navigation.

Design Motivation

VSCode MCP Bridge primarily serves AI IDEs (like Cursor) and AI coding agents, helping them develop and analyze code more efficiently.

Traditional AI coding agents often need to execute time-consuming commands when validating code modifications:

• tsc --noEmit - TypeScript type checking
• eslint . - Code style checking
• npm run build - Project building

These commands run slowly in large projects, severely impacting AI development efficiency. VSCode MCP Bridge provides real-time LSP (Language Server Protocol) information, allowing AI agents to:

• Get fast diagnostics (get-diagnostics) - Replace time-consuming type checking and lint commands
• Access comprehensive LSP information (get-symbol-lsp-info) - Get definition, hover, signatures, and type info in one call
• Navigate code efficiently (get-references) - Understand code structure and dependencies with usage context
• Safe file operations - Rename symbols across files with automatic import updates

Core Advantages

1. Real-time: Leverage VSCode's LSP for real-time code state without executing slow commands
2. Accuracy: Precise analysis based on language servers, more reliable than static analysis
3. Efficiency: Significantly reduce AI coding agent wait times
4. Integration: Deep integration with VSCode ecosystem, supporting multiple languages and extensions

Available Tools

VSCode MCP provides the following tools through the MCP protocol:

Tool	Description
execute_command	⚠️ Execute VSCode commands with JSON string arguments
get_symbol_lsp_info	Get comprehensive LSP info (definition, hover, signatures, etc.)
get_diagnostics	Get real-time diagnostics, replace slow tsc/eslint
get_references	Find symbol references with usage context code
health_check	Test connection to VSCode MCP Bridge extension
list_workspaces	List all available VSCode workspaces
open_files	Open multiple files with optional editor display
rename_symbol	Rename symbols across all files in workspace

⚠️ Security Warning: The execute_command tool can execute arbitrary VSCode commands and potentially trigger dangerous operations. Use with extreme caution and only with trusted AI models.

Installation

🚨 IMPORTANT: Before installing the MCP server, you must first install the VSCode MCP Bridge extension in your VSCode instance. The extension is required for the MCP server to communicate with VSCode.

Step 1: Install VSCode Extension

Install the VSCode MCP Bridge extension using ID: YuTengjing.vscode-mcp-bridge

Or search for "VSCode MCP Bridge" in the VSCode Extensions marketplace.

Step 2: Install MCP Server

Codex

Add the following configuration to your ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.vscode-mcp]
command = "bunx"
args = ["-y", "@vscode-mcp/vscode-mcp-server@latest"]
env = { "VSCODE_MCP_DISABLED_TOOLS" = "health_check,list_workspaces,open_files" }
startup_timeout_ms = 16_000

Claude Code

Claude Code (claude.ai/code) provides built-in MCP support. Simply run:

claude mcp add vscode-mcp -- npx -y @vscode-mcp/vscode-mcp-server@latest

This command will automatically configure the MCP server in your Claude Code environment.

Cursor

Click the button to install

Or install manually

Go to Cursor Settings -> Tools & Integrations -> New MCP Server. Name to your liking, use command type with the command npx @vscode-mcp/vscode-mcp-server@latest. You can also verify config or add command line arguments via clicking Edit.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vscode-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@vscode-mcp/vscode-mcp-server@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Gemini CLI

Add the following configuration to your ~/.gemini/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vscode-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@vscode-mcp/vscode-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {},
      "includeTools": [
        "get_symbol_lsp_info",
        "get_diagnostics",
        "get_references",
        "health_check",
        "rename_symbol"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Tool Filtering

You can control which tools are available using command-line arguments or environment variables:

Command-line arguments:

• --enable-tools - Comma-separated list of tools to enable (whitelist mode). If specified, only these tools will be available.
• --disable-tools - Comma-separated list of tools to disable (blacklist mode). Applied after --enable-tools.

Environment variables:

• VSCODE_MCP_ENABLED_TOOLS - Same as --enable-tools
• VSCODE_MCP_DISABLED_TOOLS - Same as --disable-tools

Architecture

Once installed and configured, VSCode MCP works seamlessly with MCP-compatible clients:

1. VSCode Extension: Runs in your VSCode instance and provides access to LSP data
2. MCP Server: Translates MCP protocol calls to VSCode extension requests

All tools require the workspace_path parameter to target specific VSCode instances. Each VSCode workspace gets its own socket connection for multi-window support.

License

This project is licensed under the Anti 996 License.