Skip to content
Code Context Engine

VS Code / Copilot

CCE integrates with GitHub Copilot’s chat agent in VS Code through MCP configuration and a Copilot instructions file.

Quick setup

Section titled “Quick setup”
Terminal window
cce init --agent copilot

Or let CCE auto-detect (if .vscode/ exists in your project):

Terminal window
cce init

Files created

Section titled “Files created”

.vscode/mcp.json

Section titled “.vscode/mcp.json”

Registers the CCE MCP server for Copilot’s agent mode.

{
  "servers": {
    "context-engine": {
      "command": "cce",
      "args": ["serve", "--project-dir", "/path/to/your/project"]
    }
  }
}

Note: VS Code uses "servers" as the key, not "mcpServers".

.github/copilot-instructions.md

Section titled “.github/copilot-instructions.md”

Contains instructions for Copilot to use context_search for code questions. The CCE block is wrapped in markers so your own Copilot instructions are preserved during upgrades.

Verify it’s working

Section titled “Verify it’s working”
  1. After cce init, reload VS Code (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P, then “Developer: Reload Window”)
  2. Open Copilot Chat (Ctrl+Shift+I or the Copilot icon)
  3. Switch to Agent mode (click the mode selector at the top of the chat panel)
  4. Ask a code question:
How does the payment processing work?

Copilot should call context_search and return results from your indexed codebase. Check the tool call output to confirm.

Then verify savings:

Terminal window
cce savings

Requirements

Section titled “Requirements”
  • VS Code 1.99+ (MCP support was added in early 2025)
  • GitHub Copilot extension installed and active
  • Agent mode enabled in Copilot Chat settings

If you don’t see MCP tools in Copilot Chat, check that “Agent mode” is enabled: Settings → Extensions → GitHub Copilot → enable “Chat: Agent”

Working with existing MCP servers

Section titled “Working with existing MCP servers”

If you already have a .vscode/mcp.json with other MCP servers, cce init merges the CCE entry without touching your existing servers.

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”
Section titled “Copilot doesn’t use context_search”
  1. Confirm Agent mode is active (not “Edit” or “Chat” mode)
  2. Check .github/copilot-instructions.md exists and contains the CCE block
  3. Reload VS Code window after setup

”cce: command not found”

Section titled “”cce: command not found””

VS Code inherits PATH from how it was launched. If you installed cce with uv tool install:

  • macOS/Linux: Add ~/.local/bin to your shell profile, then launch VS Code from a new terminal with code .
  • Windows: The installer usually adds to PATH automatically. If not, add %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin to your system PATH, then restart VS Code

Windows: UnicodeDecodeError during init

Section titled “Windows: UnicodeDecodeError during init”

Upgrade to CCE v0.4.24+ which fixes Windows encoding issues. Run:

Terminal window
uv tool install "code-context-engine[local]" --upgrade

MCP server starts but Copilot can’t connect

Section titled “MCP server starts but Copilot can’t connect”

Check that no firewall or antivirus is blocking localhost connections. CCE’s MCP server communicates via stdio (not HTTP) by default, so this is rare.