VS Code as an MCP host

VS Code is Microsoft's editor MCP host. MCP support lives inside the GitHub Copilot extension and runs in Copilot Chat's agent mode. Tools GA since v1.99 (March 2025); Resources, Prompts, Auth GA in v1.101 (May 2025); Sampling experimental. Configuration ships in four places — .vscode/mcp.json (workspace, team-shareable, VCS-committable), user profile, remote user, and devcontainer.json. The platform-specific gotcha that bites mixed-OS teams: sandboxing is macOS + Linux only — Windows always runs local MCP servers unsandboxed. Pages below are sourced from code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot and the v1.101 release notes.

• VSC.1 VS Code as an MCP host — the editor that plugs MCP servers into Copilot Chat sourced

  Microsoft's editor surface for MCP servers. The four config locations (workspace .vscode/mcp.json, user profile, dev container, remote user), the trust + sandbox model (per-tool default; sandboxed auto-approve; macOS + Linux only — Windows always unsandboxed), and the gotchas (the mcp.json-direct-start trust bypass, org-policy off by default for Copilot Business/Enterprise, Sampling experimental).