OneNote MCP Server for VS Code

Access your Microsoft OneNote notebooks directly from GitHub Copilot using the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

✨ Features

• 🔒 Secure Authentication - Uses Microsoft Device Code Flow with token caching
• 📓 Full Notebook Access - List, create, and manage notebooks
• 📄 Page Operations - Create, edit, delete, move, and copy pages
• 🔍 Powerful Search - Search across all your notes
• ✅ Todo Extraction - Find all todo items across recent pages
• 🏷️ Tag Support - Extract tags like "important", "question", etc.
• 📎 Attachments - Add images and files to pages
• 🌐 Web Capture - Save web pages as OneNote pages

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

Before using this extension, make sure you have:

• ✅ VS Code 1.99.0 or later - Download VS Code
• ✅ GitHub Copilot subscription - Get GitHub Copilot
• ✅ GitHub Copilot Chat extension - Install from VS Code Marketplace
• ✅ Microsoft account - Personal, work, or school account with OneNote access

Option 1: Install from VS Code Marketplace (Recommended)

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Cmd+Shift+X on Mac / Ctrl+Shift+X on Windows)
3. Search for "OneNote MCP Server"
4. Click Install
5. Reload VS Code when prompted

The extension automatically registers the MCP server with VS Code.

Option 2: Manual Configuration via mcp.json

If you prefer to configure the MCP server manually, add it to your VS Code MCP configuration:

User-level (all workspaces): Cmd+Shift+P → "MCP: Open User Configuration"

Workspace-level (current project): Create .vscode/mcp.json

{
  "servers": {
    "onenote": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["${userHome}/.vscode/extensions/vdovnich.vscode-mcp-onenote-0.1.1/out/server.js"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

💡 Note: Replace 0.1.1 with the installed extension version if different.

Step 2: Open GitHub Copilot Chat

1. Click the Copilot icon in the sidebar (or press Cmd+Shift+I / Ctrl+Shift+I)
2. Make sure you're signed into GitHub Copilot

Step 3: Sign In to Microsoft

When you first use a OneNote command, you'll be prompted to authenticate:

1. Type a command like List my OneNote notebooks in Copilot Chat
2. A notification will appear with a device code (automatically copied to clipboard)
3. Click "Open Login URL" - this opens https://microsoft.com/devicelogin
4. Paste the code and press Continue
5. Sign in with your Microsoft account
6. Click Accept to grant permissions
7. Return to VS Code - you're now authenticated! 🎉

💡 Tip: Your login is cached, so you won't need to sign in again for a while.

Step 4: Start Using OneNote with Copilot!

Open GitHub Copilot Chat and try these prompts:

List my OneNote notebooks

Search my notes for "meeting minutes"

Create a new page called "Project Ideas" in my default notebook

Show me all todos from my recent notes

📋 Available Tools

Notebooks

Sections

Section Groups

Pages

Search & Utilities

Media & Resources

Advanced

⚙️ Configuration

🔐 Security & Privacy

• No data storage: Your notes are accessed directly from Microsoft Graph API
• Secure auth: Uses Microsoft's official MSAL library
• Token caching: Tokens are securely stored in VS Code's secret storage
• Minimal permissions: Only requests Notes.ReadWrite and User.Read scopes

🤝 Commands

📝 Example Workflows

Daily Note Taking

Create a daily page for today and add "Meeting at 2pm with team" as a todo

Research Collection

Search my OneNote for all pages about "machine learning" and list them

Todo Review

Show me all incomplete todos from my recent notes

Meeting Notes

Create a new page called "Sprint Planning - Dec 26" with sections for Agenda, Attendees, and Action Items

🐛 Troubleshooting

Tools not appearing in Copilot Chat?

1. Check MCP server status: Run Cmd+Shift+P → "MCP: List Servers" to see if the OneNote server is listed
2. Start the server: If listed but not running, select it and choose "Start Server"
3. Reload VS Code: Press Cmd+Shift+P (Mac) / Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows) → "Developer: Reload Window"
4. Check extension is enabled: Go to Extensions and verify "OneNote MCP Server" is installed and enabled
5. Verify GitHub Copilot: Make sure you have an active Copilot subscription and the Copilot Chat extension installed

MCP server not registering?

If you installed the extension but the MCP server doesn't appear:

1. Open Cmd+Shift+P → "MCP: Open User Configuration"
2. Manually add the server configuration:

{
  "servers": {
    "onenote": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["${userHome}/.vscode/extensions/vdovnich.vscode-mcp-onenote-0.1.1/out/server.js"]
    }
  }
}

Authentication issues?

1. Sign out and sign in again: Run Cmd+Shift+P → "OneNote: Sign Out", then try again
2. Device code expired: The code is valid for 15 minutes. If it expires, try your request again to get a new code
3. Wrong account: Make sure you're signing in with an account that has OneNote access

"No notebooks found"?

• Ensure your Microsoft account has OneNote notebooks
• Try accessing OneNote directly at https://onenote.com to verify your notebooks exist

Check connection status

Run the command: Cmd+Shift+P → "OneNote: Show Connection Status"

This shows:

• Whether you're authenticated
• Your signed-in account
• MCP server status

📝 Known Limitations

• delete_section: Microsoft Graph API does not support deleting sections
• Pagination: Large notebooks may require multiple requests

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

🙏 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a PR on GitHub.

Made with ❤️ for the VS Code and OneNote community