VS Code MCP Server: Setup and Security

Visual Studio Code has shipped a built-in MCP client since version 1.99, so you can point Copilot Chat's agent mode at any Model Context Protocol server without an extension. It can also expose editor context — open files, selection, diagnostics — as a server to other clients.

What it connects

• As a client: any stdio or HTTP MCP server you list in .vscode/mcp.json (workspace) or your user settings.json.
• As a server: editor state, surfaced to other MCP clients on the machine.

Setup

Create .vscode/mcp.json in your project:

{
  "servers": {
    "linear": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.linear.app/mcp" }
  }
}

Workspace config is committed with the repo, so never put a secret in it — use the inputs prompt or an environment variable instead.

Security notes

VS Code does not encrypt or sandbox stdio servers — it launches them as child processes with your user's permissions. Every hardening decision is per-server: prefer HTTP servers with OAuth, keep tokens out of mcp.json, and review what each server can reach before enabling agent mode.

See the full trust breakdown for this server.