tpu-mcp -- encoding-safe file I/O for Copilot
This extension bundles the tpu-mcp
MCP (Model Context Protocol) server and registers it with VS Code so that
GitHub Copilot Chat (and any other MCP consumer) can use it for
encoding-aware file operations: read, write, replace, search, validate,
edit, and more.
tpu-mcp correctly handles UTF-8, UTF-16LE/BE, Windows-1252, and Shift-JIS
files; preserves the file's original line endings (CRLF / LF / CR); writes
atomically with a .bak backup; and refuses to introduce mojibake.
Use it in place of Get-Content / Set-Content / cat / shell
redirection from Copilot to avoid encoding corruption.
Installation
Install from the VS Code Marketplace:
code --install-extension MikeGrierTools.tpu-mcp
or search for tpu-mcp in the Extensions view.
The extension auto-registers itself as an MCP server on startup; no
.vscode/mcp.json editing is required.
After install, reload the window (Command Palette \u2192 Developer: Reload
Window) and the tpu-mcp server will appear under
MCP: List Servers.
The extension makes the tpu_* tools available, but Copilot still needs to
know it should prefer them over Get-Content / Set-Content / cat /
shell redirection. The most reliable way to do that is a short managed
section in your repository's Copilot instruction file
(.github/copilot-instructions.md).
You have three ways to inject (or refresh) that section:
- Command Palette \u2014
Ctrl+Shift+P \u2192 tpu-mcp: Open Copilot
setup chat. Opens Copilot Chat with a one-shot prompt that asks the
agent to call the tpu_setup MCP tool against your workspace's
.github/copilot-instructions.md. Review the diff Copilot proposes,
accept, and commit.
- Extension settings page \u2014 search settings for tpu-mcp; the
top section (titled tpu-mcp) contains a single Getting started
entry with a clickable Open Copilot setup chat link that does the
same thing. The remaining technical settings appear in a second
tpu-mcp section below.
- From the CLI \u2014 if you have the
tpu binary on your PATH,
tpu setup --inject writes the block directly without going through
Copilot. Useful in scripted setup.
The injected block is delimited by
<!-- tpu-mcp:setup:begin --> / <!-- tpu-mcp:setup:end --> markers, so
re-running setup is idempotent: it replaces the managed section in place
and leaves any surrounding content untouched.
Why is this step necessary? MCP tool descriptions are only visible to
Copilot after it has already chosen how to carry out a task. A repository
instruction file is loaded before that decision, so it reliably
intercepts the choice before Copilot reaches for a terminal. Without it
Copilot may use tpu_* correctly in isolation but fall back to PowerShell
in the middle of a multi-step workflow, silently corrupting non-ASCII
files.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Purpose |
tpu-mcp.verifyDelayMs |
100 |
Delay (ms) after a write before re-reading file metadata, to detect Windows Defender minifilter reverts. Set to 0 once a Defender exclusion is in place. |
tpu-mcp.binaryPath |
"" |
Override the bundled binary path (developer use, against a locally-built tpu-mcp). |
tpu-mcp.extraArgs |
[] |
Extra CLI args appended to the server invocation. |
tpu-mcp.errorMode |
continue |
Default error policy for tpu_find / tpu_copy_file when an entry can't be read. Per-call on_error overrides. |
tpu-mcp.progressDetail |
each-file |
How much walk-error detail tree-walking tools include in their results. |
Commands
- tpu-mcp: Open Copilot setup chat \u2014 opens Copilot Chat with a
prompt that asks the agent to run the
tpu_setup MCP tool and inject
the managed guidance block into .github/copilot-instructions.md.
- tpu-mcp: Copy bundled server binary path \u2014 puts the absolute
path on the clipboard, useful for external MCP clients.
- tpu-mcp: Show bundled server version \u2014 displays the version of
the bundled
tpu-mcp binary.
The full list and JSON schemas are documented in the
tpu-mcp README.
A short summary:
| Tool |
Description |
tpu_read_file, tpu_read_head, tpu_read_tail |
Read text with optional line-range / line numbers. |
tpu_read_file_binary, tpu_read_file_escaped |
Binary or escaped-text reads. |
tpu_write_file, tpu_append_file |
Encoding-preserving writes. |
tpu_replace_in_file, tpu_edit_file |
Regex and targeted edits, CRLF-transparent. |
tpu_find, tpu_count_file, tpu_validate_file |
Search, counting, pre-edit validation. |
tpu_stat_file |
Cheap metadata stat for write verification. |
License
MIT -- see LICENSE.
