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Using With GitHub Copilot

Once Personal MCP is configured as a VS Code MCP server, Copilot can use its resources, prompts, and read-only tools.

For general connection details, see Using Personal MCP. For VS Code setup options, see Add and manage MCP servers.

Skills And Documentation

Use MCP: Browse Resources to inspect the server's resources. Skills appear as skill://<name>/SKILL.md; general pages appear under resource://docs/....

For a task that needs guidance:

  1. choose the skill whose description best matches the task
  2. read its main SKILL.md
  3. read _manifest only when supporting material is needed
  4. attach or read only the relevant supporting files

When the current chat surface supports MCP resource attachments, the same resources are available from Add Context.

Prompts

Personal MCP prompts appear as /<server>.<prompt> chat commands. Select a command and fill in its arguments to start the workflow. Arguments with a fixed list of choices offer completion as you type.

Automatic Use

Copilot can use four fallback tools when the chat surface does not expose resources or prompts directly:

  • list_resources and read_resource
  • list_prompts and get_prompt

These tools access the same content as the native features. A repository instruction can guide Copilot toward the intended order:

When a task matches a personal-mcp skill:
1. Prefer an attached skill resource, or browse resources and choose one by description.
2. Read its main file and load supporting material only when needed.
3. Reconcile the guidance with the current repository before editing.

Instructions guide resource use but do not force VS Code to attach resources automatically.

Troubleshooting

  1. Use MCP: List Servers to confirm the server is enabled.
  2. Use MCP: Browse Resources to confirm resources are available.
  3. Restart the MCP server after changing its content.
  4. Reload the VS Code window if the server is healthy but the resource or tool list remains stale.

Further Reading

  1. VS Code MCP configuration
  2. Managing context in VS Code
  3. Using Personal MCP