Everything an agent asks for here is answered by VS Code itself — the same diagnostics you see underlined, the same git state, the same debug session. The premium tier is where that gets interesting: hover types, references and call hierarchy come from the language server that already understands the project, which is exactly what a file-reading agent has to guess at.
A VS Code extension that runs an MCP server inside the editor, so an agent works through VS Code instead of around it. The free half spans files, editing, terminal, diagnostics, debug, git, selection, diff, tasks, notifications, settings, refactor, snippets, testing and tab layout. The premium half exposes the Language Server Protocol providers — the data behind IntelliSense.
- Files: list, find, search, read, create, copy, move and delete — 8 tools, plus 3 for replacing lines, inserting text and undo — `list_files`, `read_file`
- Debugging as a first-class surface: sessions, breakpoints, stepping, variables and the call stack — 13 tools
- Git without leaving the conversation: status, diff, log, blame, commit, branch and stash — 9 tools
- Testing: run tests, read results and coverage — 7 tools
- The editor's own state — focus, workspace info, output channels and VS Code commands — 5 tools, with 3 more for errors, warnings and editor state
- Premium, licence required: completion at a position, hover docs and types, signature help, quick fixes and CodeLens, go-to-definition, references and call hierarchy, document and workspace symbols, formatting and rename, semantic tokens and inlay hints — `execute_hover`
- Categories switched on and off at runtime, with the client told to refresh its tool list — `manage_tool_categories`
VS Code 1.85.0 or later. Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace; the server starts automatically on port `3002`. Point any client that speaks Streamable HTTP at `http://localhost:3002/mcp`. Four settings cover the rest — `maestroMcp.port`, `maestroMcp.host` (default `127.0.0.1`), `maestroMcp.autoStart` and `maestroMcp.licenseKey`. The LSP category needs a one-time licence key; everything else is free.