How to add MCP servers to GitHub Copilot in VS Code

To add an MCP server to GitHub Copilot, run MCP: Add Server from VS Code’s Command Palette, or add the server under servers in .vscode/mcp.json. An HTTP server needs a type and a url; a local server needs the command that starts it. Then use Configure Tools in the Copilot chat input to choose which of its tools Copilot can use.

MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is how GitHub Copilot’s chat and agent mode in VS Code call tools outside your editor. Copilot reads its servers from VS Code’s MCP config. The steps below follow VS Code’s MCP documentation.

1. Pick workspace or user config

VS Code also reads a portable .mcp.json at the workspace root, which uses mcpServers in place of servers.

2. Add a server with the guided flow

Open the Command Palette and run MCP: Add Server. Choose Command (stdio) for a program VS Code starts on your machine, or HTTP for a remote server, then give it an ID and choose where to save it. The flow writes the same JSON you would write by hand.

3. Or write the JSON yourself

A remote server needs type and url; a local one needs type, command and args:

{
  "servers": {
    "polylane": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.polylane.com/mcp"
    },
    "playwright": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@playwright/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Avoid hardcoding API keys in the file. VS Code supports input variables and environment files for secrets, so the version you commit holds a reference and the value stays on your machine.

4. Trust and confirmation

Workspace servers inherit Workspace Trust, so in a trusted workspace they start without a separate prompt. For servers that don’t come from your trusted workspace, VS Code asks when a server first starts or its configuration changes. Decline and the server doesn’t start; Copilot carries on without its tools.

You might be asked to confirm each tool invocation. Read the first few: it is the quickest way to learn what a server actually does.

5. Choose which tools Copilot can use

Select Configure Tools in the Copilot chat input to see every server’s tools and turn them on or off. Fewer tools means less for the model to choose between, so turn off the ones a project doesn’t need.

The first server in the example is Polylane’s. It lets GitHub Copilot debug production: logs, traces and deploys from every provider you connect, through one HTTP server.

Using GitHub Copilot? See how to give GitHub Copilot production context with Polylane.