MCP Bridge
Bridge MCP servers to VS Code Copilot Chat — expose any MCP tool as a native Copilot Chat tool via vscode.lm.registerTool().
In corporate environments where native MCP support in VS Code Chat is blocked by policy, MCP Bridge provides an alternative path: it connects to MCP servers as a regular VS Code extension and exposes their tools to Copilot Chat.
✨ Features
- 🔌 Multi-server support — Connect to any number of MCP servers simultaneously
- 🚀 All transports — Stdio, SSE, and Streamable HTTP
- 🛠️ Tool bridging — MCP tools appear as VS Code language model tools accessible in Copilot Chat
- 🔒 OAuth 2.1 + PKCE — Built-in authentication for HTTP-based MCP servers
- 🔄 Auto-reconnection — Exponential backoff reconnection when servers disconnect
- 🔍 Server discovery — Automatically detect servers from VS Code, Claude Desktop, and Cursor configs
- 🌲 Sidebar TreeView — Visual management of servers, tools, resources, and prompts
- 🎯 Dual registration — Generic bridge tool + individual per-server tools
- 🔐 SecretStorage — OAuth tokens stored securely via VS Code SecretStorage
🚀 Quick Start
- Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace
- Add a server via the command palette (
MCP Bridge: Add Server) or in settings.json:
{
"mcpBridge.servers": {
"my-server": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@anthropic/mcp-server-atlassian"],
"env": {
"ATLASSIAN_API_TOKEN": "${env:ATLASSIAN_API_TOKEN}"
}
}
}
}
- Use in Copilot Chat — Reference
#mcpTool or use @mcp /tools to discover available tools
⚙️ Configuration
Add MCP servers to your VS Code settings.json under mcpBridge.servers:
{
"mcpBridge.servers": {
"atlassian": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@anthropic/mcp-server-atlassian"],
"env": {
"ATLASSIAN_API_TOKEN": "${env:ATLASSIAN_API_TOKEN}"
},
"enabled": true
},
"my-api": {
"type": "sse",
"url": "http://localhost:3000/sse",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer ${env:MY_API_TOKEN}"
}
},
"remote": {
"type": "streamable-http",
"url": "https://mcp.example.com/api"
}
}
}
Server Options
| Property |
Type |
Required |
Description |
type |
"stdio" \| "sse" \| "streamable-http" |
Yes |
Transport type |
command |
string |
stdio only |
Command to run |
args |
string[] |
No |
Command arguments |
env |
object |
No |
Environment variables (stdio). Supports ${env:VAR} |
url |
string |
sse/http |
Server URL |
headers |
object |
No |
HTTP headers. Supports ${env:VAR} |
oauth |
object |
No |
OAuth 2.1 configuration for HTTP transports |
enabled |
boolean |
No |
Enable/disable (default: true) |
Global Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
mcpBridge.toolCallTimeout |
30000 |
Timeout in ms for MCP tool calls (0 = no timeout) |
🌐 Supported Transports
| Transport |
Use Case |
Auth |
| stdio |
Local CLI tools (npx, python, etc.) |
Env vars |
| SSE |
Server-Sent Events endpoints |
Headers, OAuth 2.1 |
| streamable-http |
Modern HTTP-based MCP servers |
Headers, OAuth 2.1 |
MCP Bridge registers 9 management tools accessible via Copilot Chat:
| Tool |
Reference |
Description |
mcp-bridge_call_tool |
#mcpTool |
Call any MCP tool by server + tool name |
mcp-bridge_list_servers |
#mcpList |
List all servers with status and counts |
mcp-bridge_add_server |
#mcpAdd |
Add a new MCP server |
mcp-bridge_remove_server |
#mcpRemove |
Remove a server |
mcp-bridge_toggle_server |
#mcpToggle |
Enable/disable a server |
mcp-bridge_reconnect_server |
#mcpReconnect |
Reconnect a server |
mcp-bridge_get_server_logs |
#mcpLogs |
Get recent server logs |
mcp-bridge_diagnose_server |
#mcpDiagnose |
Run comprehensive server diagnosis |
mcp-bridge_list_tools |
#mcpTools |
List tools from connected servers |
💬 Commands
| Command |
Description |
MCP Bridge: Add Server |
Add a new MCP server via UI wizard |
MCP Bridge: Remove Server |
Remove a server configuration |
MCP Bridge: Reconnect Server |
Reconnect a specific server |
MCP Bridge: Enable/Disable Server |
Toggle a server on/off |
MCP Bridge: Reconnect All Servers |
Reconnect all servers at once |
MCP Bridge: Refresh Server List |
Refresh the sidebar view |
MCP Bridge: Scan for MCP Servers |
Discover servers from external configs |
MCP Bridge: Import Discovered Server |
Import a discovered server |
MCP Bridge: Import All Discovered Servers |
Import all discovered servers |
🏗️ Architecture Overview
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ VS Code │
│ │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │
│ │ Copilot │◄──►│ MCP Bridge │◄──►│ Sidebar │ │
│ │ Chat │ │ Extension │ │ TreeView │ │
│ └──────────┘ └──────┬───────┘ └──────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ vscode.lm.registerTool() │
└─────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
│
┌───────────┼───────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼
┌────────┐ ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐
│ stdio │ │ SSE │ │ HTTP │
│ server │ │ server │ │ server │
└────────┘ └────────┘ └────────┘
src/
├── extension.ts # Activation — wires all modules
├── types.ts # Shared TypeScript interfaces
├── mcp/
│ ├── transport.ts # Transport factory (Stdio/SSE/StreamableHTTP)
│ ├── client.ts # MCP Client wrapper
│ └── manager.ts # Multi-connection manager with reconnection
├── tools/
│ └── provider.ts # Tool registration bridge (vscode.lm.registerTool)
├── sidebar/
│ ├── tree-provider.ts # TreeDataProvider
│ └── commands.ts # Sidebar commands
└── config/
└── settings.ts # Configuration management
🤝 Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
- Fork the repository
- Create your feature branch (
git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
- Commit your changes (
git commit -m 'feat: add amazing feature')
- Push to the branch (
git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
- Open a Pull Request
Development
npm install
npm run build # Production build with esbuild
npm run watch # Watch mode for development
npm run compile # Type check
npm run test # Run tests
📄 License
This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.
