Menus and commands may change. These steps match the VS Code documentation as of October 2026. See Use MCP servers in VS Code.
Add the server
- Guided
- Edit mcp.json
- Open the Command Palette and run MCP: Add Server.
- Choose HTTP.
- Paste the server URL from Settings → MCP Server in your admin portal.
- Name it, for example
vacademy, and choose whether to save it for your user or this workspace.
Sign in
1
Start the server
VS Code starts the server when you first use it, or from MCP: List Servers. If VS Code asks whether you trust the server, confirm.
2
Approve in your browser
VS Code asks to sign in and opens a browser tab on your institute’s admin portal. Sign in with your own account and click Approve.
3
Check the connection
In Copilot chat, using agent mode, ask:Copilot calls the
whoami tool to answer.Choose which tools Copilot may use
Click Configure Tools in the chat input to turn individual Vacademy tools on or off. VS Code may ask you to confirm each tool call. Keep confirmations on for edit tools.Using a fixed client ID
Only needed if your organisation requires every app to use a pre-registered client.- An admin creates a client ID in Settings → MCP Server → Client IDs for other apps with VS Code’s redirect URLs. VS Code’s developer guide lists
http://127.0.0.1:33418andhttps://vscode.dev/redirect. Check the VS Code MCP developer guide for the current list. - When VS Code asks for a client ID, paste it. There is no client secret.