VS Code LM Tools → MCP Bridge

A VS Code extension that exposes Language Model tools (vscode.lm.tools) from any installed extension as MCP tools - making them accessible to Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and any other MCP-compatible CLIENT!.

Unlike other VS Code → MCP bridges that hand-wrap a fixed set of operations, this one dynamically mirrors the entire vscode.lm.tools registry. Install a new AI-aware extension and its tools appear in your MCP client automatically - no code changes here.

[!IMPORTANT] Run the bridge inside stock VS Code.

Cursor, Windsurf, and other VS Code forks do not implement the vscode.lm.tools API, so installing this extension inside them shows an empty tools panel. You can still connect to the bridge from Cursor or Windsurf as MCP clients — just run the extension itself in VS Code on the same machine.

⚠️ Tool Compatibility

Not every tool in the registry can be invoked from outside a chat session. Most read-only tools (file lookups, diagnostics, symbol search) work fine. Tools that need to write progress, prompts, or rich UI back into Copilot Chat (copilot_createNewJupyterNotebook, run_in_terminal, copilot_insertEdit, …) will fail because there is no ChatResponseStream available outside an active chat request.

There is no way to know in advance which tools require a stream — the only signal is runtime behaviour. If a tool fails, the MCP client receives an error message explaining the cause.

Quick Start

1. Install from the VS Code Marketplace (search "LM Bridge") or build from source.
2. Open the LM Bridge panel in the Activity Bar and check the tools you want to expose. All tools are hidden by default.

3. Run LM Bridge: Copy Connection Config and paste the JSON into your MCP client's config.

Tools Panel

The LM Bridge panel in the Activity Bar lists all tools from all installed extensions, grouped by source. Check individual tools or whole groups; settings persist across restarts. Connected MCP clients are notified of changes immediately — no server restart needed. Tools that VS Code itself has disabled (extension not activated, gated by a when clause) appear with a lock icon.

[!NOTE] Changes to the tool list are not picked up by an already-running AI session. To see added or removed tools, start a new conversation in Claude Code or use Developer: Reload Window in VS Code to restart the extension host.

[!NOTE] LM Bridge checkboxes are independent from Copilot's "Configure Tools" panel. Enabling or disabling a tool here only controls its visibility to MCP clients (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, etc.). It has no effect on whether the tool appears or works in GitHub Copilot Chat — and vice versa.

If a client calls a hidden or broken tool, the bridge returns an explanatory error and VS Code surfaces a notification with a button to open the panel.