DASE ORM Designer MCP

Give your AI agent hands on the data model: read, edit and organize the .dsorm diagram open in DASE — through 43 Model Context Protocol tools.

Overview

DASE turns VS Code into a visual ORM modeling workbench. This extension publishes DASE's whole API as an MCP server, so GitHub Copilot agent mode — and any other MCP client — can work on the live diagram: the tables it adds appear on the canvas immediately, positioned, colored and validated.

Install it and the server shows up ready to use; there is nothing to configure, no port to pick and no JSON to paste into mcp.json.

"Add an Invoice table with the usual audit fields, point it at Customer, and put it next to the other billing tables" — one prompt, applied to the open designer.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.101 or newer (the version that lets extensions contribute MCP servers)
• The DASE extension — installed automatically as a dependency
• A DASE window with the model open; the tools act on the designer that owns your workspace

Getting started

1. Install the extension (DASE comes with it).
2. Open a .dsorm file — that starts DASE's agent bridge.
3. Open Chat, switch to Agent mode, and open the tools picker: the DASE ORM Designer server is listed with its tools already enabled.
4. Ask for what you want. Run DASE MCP: Show Bridge Status from the Command Palette if you ever need to confirm the connection.

What the agent can do

43 tools — the same surface DASE exposes to itself:

Destructive tools are annotated as such, so the client can ask before running them. Every tool accepts an optional document, which targets a specific model — opening it when needed — instead of whichever designer happens to be focused.

Full reference: docs/MCP_API_SPEC.md.

Settings

Both settings exist for unusual setups; leave them empty and discovery does the right thing.

Commands: DASE MCP: Show Bridge Status and DASE MCP: Refresh MCP Server.

How it works

Copilot agent mode ──stdio──> dase-mcp server ──HTTP (dase-bridge/1)──> DASE agent bridge
   (or Claude Code,            server/dase-mcp.cjs                       (VS Code extension host)
    Cursor, Windsurf…)         │  discovery: bridge-endpoint.<hash>.json           │
                               └── globalStorage/hermessilva.dase ◄─── written by ─┘

The full MCP implementation — server, 43 tools, protocol handling — lives outside VS Code, in src/server/. DASE itself carries no MCP code: it only exposes a loopback agent bridge (plain JSON over HTTP) and writes discovery files into its global storage. Each tool call becomes one HTTP round trip; when a call fails (say, the ephemeral port changed after a reload), the server re-discovers and retries once.

This extension is the thin part: it tells VS Code how to spawn that same server, hands it the workspace folder as cwd — which is how the right DASE window gets picked when several are open — and points it at DASE's exact global-storage directory.

Bridge protocol: POST /bridge with { "method": "...", "args": [...] } → { "ok": true, "result": ... } or { "ok": false, "error": "..." }. GET /bridge lists the available methods. The bridge binds to 127.0.0.1 only and checks the Origin header; it is on by default (dase.agentBridge.enabled).

Other MCP clients

The same server drives DASE from outside VS Code. As a Claude Code plugin:

/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/HermesSilva/DASE-MCP
/plugin install dase-mcp

The editor registers MCP servers in-process, so the Claude Code CLI does not inherit this extension's server — it reads its own config. Run DASE MCP: Register with Claude Code CLI from the Command Palette to point the CLI at the bundle already installed here:

claude mcp add dase --scope user -e "DASE_MCP_DISCOVERY_DIR=<globalStorage>\hermessilva.dase" -- node "<extension>\server\dase-mcp.cjs"

For Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf or any generic client, run the bundle over stdio:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dase": { "command": "node", "args": ["<repo>/claude-plugin/server/dase-mcp.cjs"] }
  }
}

Environment overrides: DASE_BRIDGE_URL (skip discovery), DASE_MCP_DISCOVERY_DIR (extra discovery directory).

Troubleshooting

Build

npm install
npm run build   # typecheck + esbuild: server bundle, staged copy, extension bundle
npm run smoke   # fake bridge + stdio round trip

claude-plugin/server/dase-mcp.cjs is a committed build artifact — Claude Code plugin installs clone the repo and must not need npm install. server/ and out/ are generated, and only those two (plus media/) ship inside the VSIX.

Release

Two channels, one version — both call scripts/Set-Version.ps1, which writes package.json, the Claude plugin manifest and SERVER_VERSION:

./build-package.ps1            # VSIX          (no -Version → increments the build)
./publish-package.ps1 -Pat …   # VS Code Marketplace
./prepare-release.ps1          # npm tarball + Claude Code plugin zip

License

MIT © Hermes Silva. Integration and security notes: docs/MCP_INTEGRATION.md.