Bot Bridge Webcam

Give GitHub Copilot Chat and VS Code agents a local webcam — one click, no cloud.

Bot Bridge Webcam is a thin VS Code extension that registers the local webcam MCP server with VS Code. Once installed, agent mode can take a photo from your webcam so it can see your desk, a whiteboard, a device under test, or an error on a second screen.

Capture is local-only. The extension itself never opens the camera and never sends an image anywhere — the local webcam_mcp process opens the device, encodes one JPEG, and releases the camera. Nothing is uploaded.

• Homepage: https://botbridge.dev/webcam
• Source: https://github.com/1019666077-bit/botbridge-webcam-vscode

Publisher note: this repository ships with a placeholder publisher (botbridge). Before publishing to the Marketplace you must create a real publisher and update package.json — see PUBLISHING.md.

Screenshots

The commands, the environment check and the settings, as they appear in the editor. The environment check resolved the pinned package and listed the MCP tools (webcam_panel, take_photo, record_video) without opening the camera.

Requirements

Python itself does not need to be installed: uv provisions it.

Install

From the Marketplace (once listed)

Search for Bot Bridge Webcam in the Extensions view, or run:

ext install botbridge.botbridge-webcam

From a .vsix

1. Download or build the .vsix (see Building).
2. In VS Code: Extensions view → ... → Install from VSIX…, or run:

code --install-extension botbridge-webcam-0.1.0.vsix

First run

1. Make sure uv is installed and on your PATH (uv --version should print a version).
2. Open the MCP servers view (Command Palette → MCP: List Servers, or the MCP icon in the Chat view). Bot Bridge Webcam is listed automatically.
3. Start it once and confirm the trust prompt. VS Code requires an explicit confirmation before an extension-provided MCP server is launched.
4. In Copilot Chat agent mode, ask for a photo, e.g. "Take a photo with my webcam and tell me what you see."

Run Bot Bridge Webcam: Check Environment from the Command Palette any time to verify uv, the package and the exposed tools.

Permissions and privacy

The one external action is dependency resolution: uv run --with … fetches the webcam MCP package the first time the server starts. Everything after that is local.

Security notes

• The two settings that decide what gets executed — uvPath and packageSpec — are declared with "scope": "machine", and the extension additionally ignores any workspace-level value for them. Opening a cloned repository therefore cannot redirect the executable or inject a Python package that this extension would run.
• The MCP package is pinned to an immutable commit SHA (the commit behind tag v0.2.0), so a moved tag cannot silently swap in different code.
• VS Code still asks you to trust/confirm an extension-provided MCP server before it is launched; this extension cannot and does not bypass that prompt.

Free vs. Pro

This extension is free and MIT-licensed, and covers single snapshots.

The Pro tier and the desktop Helper (system tray / always-on capture) are sold separately and are not part of this extension or its repository. This marketplace listing will never silently enable Pro features.

Settings

Commands

• Bot Bridge Webcam: Check Environment — prints uv version, the resolved package and the tools exposed by the MCP server, without opening the camera.
• Bot Bridge Webcam: Refresh MCP Server — re-registers the server definition so changed settings take effect.
• Bot Bridge Webcam: Open Homepage — opens https://botbridge.dev/webcam.

How it works

VS Code  ──registerMcpServerDefinitionProvider──▶  McpStdioServerDefinition
                                                        │
                        uv run --no-project --with <pkg> python webcam_stdio.py
                                                        │
                                                  webcam_mcp (stdio)
                                                  ├─ take_photo   → one JPEG
                                                  ├─ webcam_panel → in-chat UI
                                                  └─ record_video → Pro placeholder

The bundled scripts/webcam_stdio.py is a few lines: it reads the camera settings from environment variables, builds a ServerConfig, and runs the server over stdio. All capture logic lives upstream in webcam_mcp, which is MIT.

Troubleshooting

Building a .vsix

npm install
npm run package          # -> botbridge-webcam-0.1.0.vsix

See PUBLISHING.md for the full Marketplace submission steps.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Author

Moying Studio · https://botbridge.dev/webcam