---
title: "Connect VS Code"
description: "Let GitHub Copilot in VS Code work with poddub for you, with a key."
canonical: "https://poddub.com/docs/agents/vscode"
last-updated: "2026-10-29"
---

# Connect VS Code

Let GitHub Copilot in VS Code work with poddub for you, with a key.

VS Code can work with poddub in GitHub Copilot's chat while you work in a project. VS Code connects to poddub with a key: it does not sign in to poddub the way [Claude Code](/docs/agents/claude-code) and [claude.ai](/docs/agents/claude-ai) do. Only an owner makes keys, and a key is its owner's own, so the agent acts as that owner. [Keys](/docs/agents/keys) says what a key is and who makes it.

> **Not tried yet**
>
> This configuration follows VS Code's own instructions, but nobody has run it against poddub yet. If something does not work, the Claude Code page describes the setup that has been tried.

## Add the server

Put the server in `.vscode/mcp.json` in your project. To have it in every project, put it in the `mcp.json` of your VS Code profile instead: run **MCP: Open User Configuration** from the Command Palette to open it.

VS Code's documentation now calls both of those files compatibility locations and prefers a portable `.mcp.json` at the project's root or in your Copilot configuration. Those portable files cannot ask you for the key, so this page keeps the two files VS Code still reads.

```json title=".vscode/mcp.json"
{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "poddub-key",
      "description": "poddub key",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "poddub": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://poddub.com/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:poddub-key}"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

The first time the server starts, VS Code asks for the key and stores it securely for the next time. The key stays out of the file, so the file can be shared with a project, and each person enters their own key.

A server in a project's `.vscode/mcp.json` starts once you trust the project in VS Code. VS Code also reads a `.mcp.json` at the project's root, but that file cannot ask for a key, so keep poddub in `.vscode/mcp.json`. VS Code does not pass a server that asks for a value, such as this key, to Copilot harness sessions: use poddub from the chat in VS Code itself.

## Long calls

Having poddub write a script or a line again happens inside one call and can take a couple of minutes. How long VS Code waits for one call has not been checked. If such a call gives up, the script is unchanged unless poddub finished: read it again with `get_script` before trying again.

## What it can do

The same as any agent: read, paste and correct sources, start an episode and shape its script, retry and publish within your key's role, and never do more than its person can, approve on its own, manage people, touch money, delete anything or put an episode on the public show. See [Agents](/docs/agents) and [Tools](/docs/agents/tools).