MCP Integration

MCP Integration for Copilot CLI Plugins

Integrate external services and APIs into Copilot CLI plugins via MCP servers. Expose external capabilities as tools within Copilot CLI.

• Connect to external services (databases, APIs, file systems)
• Provide 10+ related tools from a single service
• Handle OAuth and complex authentication flows
• Bundle MCP servers with plugins for automatic setup

MCP Server Configuration

Plugins can configure MCP servers in ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json format. Each server requires a type field and a tools array.

Configuration Format

{
  "servers": {
    "database-tools": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "servers/db-server",
      "args": ["--config", "config.json"],
      "tools": ["query", "insert", "update"],
      "env": {
        "DB_URL": "${DB_URL}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Required fields:

• type: Server type (local, stdio, http, sse)
• tools: Array of tool names the server provides

MCP Server Types

stdio (Local Process)

Execute local MCP servers as child processes. Best for local tools and custom servers.

Configuration:

{
  "filesystem": {
    "type": "stdio",
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/allowed/path"],
    "tools": ["read_file", "write_file", "list_directory"],
    "env": {
      "LOG_LEVEL": "debug"
    }
  }
}

Use cases:

• File system access
• Local database connections
• Custom MCP servers
• NPM-packaged MCP servers

Process management:

• Copilot CLI spawns and manages the process
• Communicates via stdin/stdout
• Terminates when Copilot CLI exits

SSE (Server-Sent Events)

Connect to hosted MCP servers with OAuth support. Best for cloud services.

Configuration:

{
  "asana": {
    "type": "sse",
    "url": "https://mcp.asana.com/sse",
    "tools": ["create_task", "search_tasks", "update_task"]
  }
}

Use cases:

• Official hosted MCP servers (Asana, GitHub, etc.)
• Cloud services with MCP endpoints
• OAuth-based authentication
• No local installation needed