VS MCP Server

Let AI assistants like Claude control Visual Studio through the Model Context Protocol!

🤔 What is this?

VS MCP Server exposes Visual Studio features through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), enabling AI assistants like Claude to interact with your IDE programmatically. Open files, read code, build projects, and more - all through natural conversation!

✨ Features

📂 Solution Tools

Tool	Description
`project_info`	Get detailed project information
`project_list`	List all projects in the solution
`solution_close`	Close the current solution
`solution_info`	Get information about the current solution
`solution_open`	Open a solution file
`startup_project_get`	Get the current startup project
`startup_project_set`	Set the startup project for debugging

📝 Document Tools

Tool	Description
`document_active`	Get the active document
`document_cleanup`	Run code cleanup on a document
`document_close`	Close a document
`document_list`	List all open documents
`document_open`	Open a file in the editor
`document_read`	Read document contents
`document_save`	Saves an open document
`document_write`	Write to a document
`file_create`	Create a file on disk and open it in the editor
`folder_create`	Create a folder on disk

✏️ Editor Tools

Tool	Description
`editor_find`	Search within documents
`editor_goto_line`	Navigate to a specific line
`editor_insert`	Insert text at cursor position
`editor_replace`	Find and replace text
`selection_get`	Get the current text selection
`selection_set`	Set the selection range

🔨 Build Tools

Tool	Description
`build_cancel`	Cancel a running build
`build_configuration_get`	Get the active and available build configuration/platform pairs
`build_configuration_set`	Change the active build configuration and platform
`build_project`	Build a specific project
`build_solution`	Build the entire solution
`build_status`	Get current build status
`clean_solution`	Clean the solution

🧭 Navigation Tools

Tool	Description
`find_references`	Find all references to a symbol
`goto_definition`	Navigate to the definition of a symbol
`symbol_document`	Get all symbols defined in a document
`symbol_workspace`	Search for symbols across the solution

🐛 Debugger Tools

Tool	Description
`breakpoint_enable`	Enable or disable a breakpoint at a file and line
`debugger_add_breakpoint`	Add a breakpoint, optionally with a condition and hit-count rule
`debugger_break`	Pause execution (Ctrl+Alt+Break)
`debugger_continue`	Continue execution (F5)
`debugger_evaluate`	Evaluate an expression in the current debug context
`debugger_get_callstack`	Get the call stack
`debugger_get_locals`	Get local variables in current frame
`debugger_launch`	Start debugging (F5), optionally for a specific project
`debugger_launch_without_debugging`	Start without debugger (Ctrl+F5), optionally for a specific project
`debugger_list_breakpoints`	List all breakpoints, including conditions and hit-count rules
`debugger_remove_breakpoint`	Remove a breakpoint
`debugger_set_variable`	Set the value of a local variable
`debugger_status`	Get current debugger state
`debugger_step_into`	Step into (F11)
`debugger_step_out`	Step out (Shift+F11)
`debugger_step_over`	Step over (F10)
`debugger_stop`	Stop debugging (Shift+F5)

🔍 Diagnostics Tools

Tool	Description
`errors_list`	Read build errors, warnings, and messages from the Error List
`output_list_panes`	List all available Output window panes
`output_read`	Read content from an Output window pane
`output_write`	Write a message to an Output window pane

🧪 Test Tools

Tool	Description
`test_cancel`	Cancel the test run in progress
`test_debug`	Debug the tests in a single class or method
`test_debug_all`	Debug every test in the solution
`test_run`	Run the tests in a single class or method
`test_run_all`	Run every test in the solution
`test_stats`	Get passed, failed, skipped, and not-run counts
`test_status`	Get the run state plus current counts

📊 Coverage Tools

Tool	Description
`coverage_analyze`	Run all tests with code coverage collection
`coverage_report`	Read results as a module / class / method tree with line and block counts
`coverage_show`	Open the Code Coverage Results window

ℹ️ Running coverage needs an edition that supports it — Enterprise only through VS 2022, all editions from VS 2026. Reading an existing .coverage file with coverage_report works on every edition.

💻 Terminal Tools

Tool	Description
`terminal_close`	Close a single integrated terminal
`terminal_close_all`	Close every integrated terminal
`terminal_create`	Open an empty terminal using the default profile
`terminal_list`	List the open terminal identifiers
`terminal_run`	Run a command in a new terminal, inside the VS developer environment
`terminal_show`	Bring a terminal into view

⚠️ Terminal output is not captured. The Visual Studio terminal is a raw PTY with no exit code or command boundaries, so terminal_run reports only whether the terminal opened. To read results, redirect output to a file and read it back with document_read.

🪟 Window Tools

Tool	Description
`toolwindow_hide`	Hide (close) a tool window by caption
`toolwindow_show`	Show a tool window by name (SolutionExplorer, ErrorList, Output, Terminal, etc.)
`window_activate`	Activate (focus) a window by caption
`window_list`	List all open windows with caption, kind, visibility, and GUID

🛠️ Installation

Visual Studio Marketplace

Open Visual Studio 2022 or 2026
Go to Extensions > Manage Extensions
Search for "MCP Server"
Click Download and restart Visual Studio

Manual Installation

Download the latest .vsix from the Releases page and double-click to install.

🚀 Usage

▶️ Starting the Server

Open Visual Studio
Go to Tools > MCP Server > Start Server (or enable auto-start in settings)
The MCP server starts on http://localhost:5050

🤖 Configuring Claude Desktop & Claude Code

Add this to your Claude Desktop or Claude Code MCP settings (preferred HTTP method):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "visualstudio": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:5050"
    }
  }
}

Legacy SSE method (deprecated, but still supported):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "visualstudio": {
      "type": "sse",
      "url": "http://localhost:5050/sse"
    }
  }
}

Claude Code (CLI) - alternate installation technique:

   claude mcp add --transport http visualstudio http://localhost:5050

ℹ️ Note: The HTTP method is the preferred standard. SSE (Server-Sent Events) is a legacy protocol and should only be used for backward compatibility.

⚙️ Settings

Configure the extension at Tools > Options > MCP Server:

Setting	Description	Default
Auto-start server	Start the MCP server when Visual Studio launches	Off
Binding Address	Address the server binds to	`localhost`
HTTP Port	Port for the MCP server	`5050`
Server Name	Name reported to MCP clients	`Visual Studio MCP`
Log Level	Minimum log level for output	`Information`
Log Retention	Days to keep log files	`7`

⚠️ terminal_run executes commands on your machine. Combined with a Binding Address other than localhost, this exposes command execution to your network. Leave the binding address at localhost unless you specifically need remote access.

🏗️ Architecture

+------------------+              +----------------------+   named pipes   +------------------+
|  Claude Desktop  |   HTTP/SSE  |  MCPServer.Server    | <-------------> |  VS Extension    |
|  (MCP Client)    | <---------> |  (MCP Server)        |    JSON-RPC     |  (Tool Impl)     |
+------------------+    :5050    +----------------------+                 +------------------+