Getting it into your agent
One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.
npx agentmods add instructions/user-ic/vscode_mcp/copilot-instructionsgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/user-ic/vscode_mcpWhat it costs to keep this loaded
Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5 | $0.00333 | $0.00333 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00167 | $0.00167 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00067 | $0.00067 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00033 | $0.00033 |
Grade A, and why
vscode_mcp copilot-instructions.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.
A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.
Nothing flagged
None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.
What it actually says
VS Code Editor MCP — Copilot Instructions
This project is a VS Code extension that embeds a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server exposing the editor's state to LLM clients.
Architecture
src/extension.ts— VS Code extension entry point. Listens to editor events and writes the active editor state to a shared JSON file in the OS temp dir.src/server.ts— Standalone MCP server (stdio transport). Reads the shared JSON file and exposes theget_selectiontool.src/state.ts— Shared types and the temp file path used by both sides.
The extension and the MCP server run in separate processes. They communicate
through the JSON state file (vscode-editor-mcp-state.json in os.tmpdir()).
MCP TypeScript SDK (v2)
- Docs: https://ts.sdk.modelcontextprotocol.io/v2/
- Server package:
@modelcontextprotocol/server(McpServer) - Stdio transport:
@modelcontextprotocol/server/stdio(StdioServerTransport) - Tool input schemas use Zod v4 (
import * as z from "zod/v4"). - Spec: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2026-07-28
Rules
- Never use
console.loginserver.ts; stdout corrupts the JSON-RPC stream. Useconsole.error(stderr) for logging. - Keep line/character numbers 1-based in anything user- or LLM-facing.
- Build with
npm run build; output goes toout/.
What this file has done since we first saw it
Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.
- 2d ago First seen · 31 lines · 333 tokens per session scan A 5734cde7325b
vscode_mcp copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository user-ic/vscode_mcp (0 stars, last pushed 21d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 333 tokens to every session, about $0.0017 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.
Other instructions, from other repositories
vscode buildNext.instructions.md
Working notes and architecture documentation for the new esbuild-based build system in build/next. Use when making changes to the new build pipeline (transpile/bundle commands, NLS plugin, source-map handling, resource copying, or self-hosting watch tasks).
spec-kit AGENTS.md
AGENTS.md instructions for github/spec-kit, covering agents.md, about spec kit and specify, quickstart — add a new integration in 5 steps, integration architecture and integrationmanifest — file tracking.
codex AGENTS.md
AGENTS.md instructions for openai/codex, covering rust/codex-rs, the codex-core crate, code review rules, crate api surface and model visible context.
langchain AGENTS.md
AGENTS.md instructions for langchain-ai/langchain, covering global development guidelines for the langchain monorepo, corridor security analysis, project architecture and context, monorepo structure and development tools & commands.
vscode oss-third-party-notices.instructions.md
Instructions for microsoft/vscode, covering vs code oss third-party-notices pipeline, architecture, pipeline flow in ci, applying the notice (cutover) and fallback chain (never fail the build).
next.js AGENTS.md
Instructions for vercel/next.js, covering next.js development guide, codebase structure, monorepo overview, core package: packages/next and other important packages.