Brief Product Strategy Agent

Brief is a product strategy agent that answers from the workspace's decisions, personas, strategy, customers, and competitive landscape.

Install

Requires VS Code 1.101 or later and GitHub Copilot Chat with Agent mode.

Install from the Marketplace

Install Brief Product Strategy Agent from the Visual Studio Marketplace, or search for Brief Product Strategy Agent in VS Code's Extensions view.

You can also install it from a terminal:

code --install-extension Brief.brief-vscode-extension

If you have a VSIX file, open the Extensions view, select Views and More Actions..., then Install from VSIX... and choose the file.

The extension ID is Brief.brief-vscode-extension.

Alternative: Manual MCP configuration

Without the extension, add this to .vscode/mcp.json in your project root, or open MCP: Open User Configuration to edit your user mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "brief": {
      "url": "https://app.briefhq.ai/mcp",
      "type": "http"
    }
  }
}

VS Code opens a browser window for OAuth on first tool call — no API key required. Tokens are managed by VS Code and refresh automatically.

Authenticate

Run the command Brief: Sign In from the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P).
Choose Sign in with browser (recommended — VS Code's built-in OAuth) or Paste API key.
For Paste API key, run brief login, then brief token in a terminal. Paste the output of brief token into the input box. The extension saves it in VS Code SecretStorage.
Select Open Chat in Agent Mode in the notification. Chat opens in Agent mode with "Use Brief to get onboarding context for this workspace." filled in. Send the message to use a Brief tool and start the server. For browser sign-in, follow VS Code's authorization prompts and complete sign-in in your browser.

Sign In refreshes the server definition; it does not start the server. Sign-in starts when Chat in Agent mode uses a Brief tool. MCP: List Servers still shows Brief's status. The Brief status bar item is a shortcut to sign-in or reconnect, not a connection status check.

If you used the manual .vscode/mcp.json method, VS Code triggers OAuth automatically when Copilot first tries to use Brief tools.

Connection state

Use Copilot Chat in Agent mode to start the Brief server, complete authentication, and use Brief's top-level tools:

brief_get_onboarding_context — strategic snapshot (decisions, features, personas, velocity). Call at session start.
brief_ask — intentional agent-to-agent delegation to Brief for a strategic conversation grounded in your org's data. Use mode: 'check' to validate an approach against existing decisions.
brief_search — universal search across decisions, documents, and features (pass types: 'decision' to narrow).
brief_browse — browse folders and documents.
brief_record_decision / brief_confirm_decision / brief_reject_decision / brief_archive_decision — decision lifecycle. confirm/reject also accept a pending decision suggestion's uuid (BRI-8111); approving one still requires a signed-in web session or a verified Slack/Teams turn, so confirm on a uuid always errors with a pointer to /decisions.
brief_list_pending_decisions — list decisions awaiting confirmation AND pending decision suggestions, each tagged source.
brief_update_product_context — partial updates to product context, including the product address.
brief_read_operation / brief_write_operation — escape hatch for operations not in the flat tool list above.

Don't use both install paths

Use one setup path. Installing the extension alongside a manual workspace or user mcp.json entry can expose duplicate Brief servers in Copilot. Remove the manual Brief entry when using the extension.

Reconnect

The extension registers its server definition on VS Code startup. If the connection drops, run Brief: Reconnect from the command palette. This refreshes the definition and offers Open Chat in Agent Mode. Send the prefilled message to use a Brief tool and reconnect. Follow any authorization prompts. MCP: List Servers shows Brief's status.

Copilot instructions

For persistent agent instructions, create .github/copilot-instructions.md in your repo root. See Setup for Brief MCP configuration guidance.

Troubleshooting

Brief tools don't appear in Copilot Chat:

Ensure you're in Agent mode (not Ask or Edit mode).
Run Brief: Reconnect, select Open Chat in Agent Mode, then send the prefilled message to use a Brief tool.
Check Brief's status with MCP: List Servers. The status bar label alone does not confirm a connection.

Browser sign-in doesn't open a browser:

Select Open Chat in Agent Mode, then send the prefilled message to use a Brief tool and follow VS Code's authorization prompts. Selecting Sign in with browser only refreshes the server definition.
On VS Code 1.145, starting Brief from MCP: List Servers can connect without opening browser sign-in. Start sign-in from Chat in Agent mode by asking it to use a Brief tool.

"Unauthorized" errors:

Run Brief: Sign Out then Brief: Sign In to refresh your token.
For Paste API key, run brief login, then brief token in a terminal and paste the new output. Pasted access tokens are not refreshed automatically by the extension.
After Brief: Sign In, select Open Chat in Agent Mode, send the prefilled message, and complete any authorization prompts.
If that doesn't clear it, you may be stuck on a stale dynamic-provider session. Brief: Sign Out can't revoke VS Code's OAuth session directly under the dynamic-provider model. Run Authentication: Remove Dynamic Authentication Providers from the Command Palette, remove the Brief-related dynamic provider entry (the exact label is minted by VS Code at runtime), then run Brief: Sign In for a fresh flow.

Tools appear but return errors:

Check that your Brief workspace has an active subscription at app.briefhq.ai/integrations.
Run Brief: Sign Out then Brief: Sign In to refresh your OAuth session. If that doesn't help, follow the hard-reset flow above to clear the dynamic-provider session.

VS Code auto-discovered Brief from another tool:

If chat.mcp.discovery.enabled is on, VS Code may import Brief from Claude Desktop. Disable discovery or remove the duplicate entry if you want the extension to be your only Brief server.

Links and support

Brief is made by Brief Labs Inc. Contact support@briefhq.ai.