MCP AI Server for Visual Studio

MCP AI Server for Visual Studio

Other tools read your files. MCP AI Server understands your code.

The first and only Visual Studio extension that gives AI assistants access to the C# compiler (Roslyn) through the Model Context Protocol. 20 tools. 12 powered by Roslyn. Semantic understanding, not text matching.

Install

Install from Visual Studio Marketplace

Or search for "MCP AI Server" in Visual Studio Extensions Manager.

See it in Action

Click to watch on YouTube

Why MCP AI Server?

AI coding tools (Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Cursor, Copilot, Windsurf...) operate at the filesystem level — they read text, run grep, execute builds. They don't understand your code the way Visual Studio does.

MCP AI Server bridges this gap by exposing IntelliSense-level intelligence as MCP tools. Your AI assistant gets the same semantic understanding that powers F12 (Go to Definition), Shift+F12 (Find All References), and safe refactoring.

What becomes possible:

20 Tools

Semantic Navigation (Roslyn-powered)

Code Understanding (Roslyn-powered)

Refactoring (Roslyn-powered)

Project & Build

Editor Integration

Compatible Clients

Works with any MCP-compatible AI tool:

CLI Agents:

• Claude Code — Anthropic's terminal AI coding agent
• Codex CLI — OpenAI's terminal coding agent
• Gemini CLI — Google's open-source terminal agent
• OpenCode — Open-source AI coding agent (45k+ GitHub stars)
• Goose — Block's open-source AI agent
• Aider — AI pair programming in terminal

Desktop & IDE:

• Claude Desktop — Anthropic's desktop app
• Cursor — AI-first code editor
• Windsurf — Codeium's AI IDE
• VS Code + Copilot — GitHub Copilot with MCP
• Cline — VS Code extension
• Continue — Open-source AI assistant

Any MCP client — open protocol, universal compatibility

Quick Start

1. Install from Visual Studio Marketplace
2. Open your .NET solution in Visual Studio
3. Configure port in MCP Server Settings (default: 3010)
4. Add to your MCP client:

"vs-mcp": {
  "type": "http",
  "url": "http://localhost:3010/sdk/"
}

5. Start asking your AI semantic questions about your code

MCP Client Configuration

Any tool supporting Model Context Protocol will work.

Configure AI Preferences (Recommended)

Add these instructions to your project's AI config file (see table above) to ensure your AI automatically prefers MCP tools:

## MCP Tools - ALWAYS PREFER

When `mcp__vs-mcp__*` tools are available, ALWAYS use them instead of Grep/Glob/LS:

| Instead of | Use |
|------------|-----|
| `Grep` for symbols | `FindSymbols`, `FindSymbolUsages` |
| `LS` to explore projects | `GetSolutionTree` |
| Reading files to find code | `FindSymbolDefinition` then `Read` |
| Searching for method calls | `GetMethodCallers`, `GetMethodCalls` |

**Why?** MCP tools use Roslyn semantic analysis - 10x faster, 90% fewer tokens.

Multi-Solution: Understand Your Dependencies

Need the AI to understand a library you depend on? Clone the source from GitHub, open it in a second Visual Studio — each instance runs its own MCP server on a configurable port.

Your project                          → port 3010
Library source (cloned from GitHub)   → port 3011
Framework source                      → port 3012

Your AI connects to all of them. It can trace calls, find usage patterns, and understand inheritance across your code and library code.

MCP client configuration — three options depending on your client:

Clients with native HTTP support (Claude Desktop, Claude Code):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vs-mcp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:3010/sdk/"
    },
    "vs-mcp-whisper": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:3011/sdk/"
    }
  }
}

Clients without HTTP support (via mcp-remote proxy):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vs-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "http://localhost:3010/sdk/"]
    },
    "vs-mcp-whisper": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "http://localhost:3011/sdk/"]
    }
  }
}

Codex CLI (TOML):

[mcp_servers.vs-mcp]
type = "stdio"
command = "npx"
args = ["mcp-remote", "http://localhost:3010/sdk/"]

[mcp_servers.vs-mcp-whisper]
type = "stdio"
command = "npx"
args = ["mcp-remote", "http://localhost:3011/sdk/"]

Settings

Tools → MCP Server Settings

Changes apply on next server start.

vs. Other Approaches

Requirements

• Visual Studio 2022 (17.13+) or Visual Studio 2026
• Windows (amd64 or arm64)
• Any MCP-compatible AI tool

Issues & Feature Requests

Found a bug or have an idea? Open an issue!

About

0ics srl — Italian software company specializing in AI-powered development tools.

Built by Ladislav Sopko — 30 years of software development, from assembler to enterprise .NET.

MCP AI Server: Because your AI deserves the same intelligence as your IDE.