Jesse MCP — connect in VS Code

Keep Jesse running and open its dashboard. The connection guide shows where to find the ready-made setup for your assistant.

These steps assume you use VS Code with GitHub Copilot features that support MCP (product names and menus change over time).

Register Jesse in VS Code

Copy the configuration from the dashboard (recommended)

1. In the Jesse dashboard, open More options (⋮) at the bottom of the sidebar, click AI Assistants, and choose VS Code.
2. Click Copy mcp.json, run MCP: Open User Configuration from the Command Palette, and paste it. If the file already has entries, merge inputs and servers.
3. Start the server. When VS Code asks for Jesse MCP token, click Copy token in the panel’s VS Code steps and paste it.

The copied configuration contains your MCP address but not the token: VS Code prompts for the token once and keeps it in its secure storage, as shown below.

Manual setup

For this manual alternative, copy your token from AI Assistants → Manual connection details. See Manual authentication for terminal-based setup.

VS Code can prompt for the token once and keep it in its secure storage instead of in a file. Open the MCP configuration (.vscode/mcp.json in your workspace, or the user-level MCP configuration from the Command Palette) and add:

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "jesse-mcp-token",
      "description": "Jesse MCP token",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "jesse": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:9000/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:jesse-mcp-token}"
      }
    }
  }
}

1. Use the URL Jesse printed in the terminal. It ends with /mcp and is http://localhost:9000/mcp by default, or <DASHBOARD_URL>/mcp when Jesse runs on another machine (for example http://192.168.1.20:9000/mcp).
2. Start the server from the MCP view or the Start action above the entry. When VS Code asks for Jesse MCP token, paste the token.
3. Reload VS Code if the server does not appear.

Jesse uses a static token, not OAuth. If VS Code offers to authenticate the server, check the token instead. If you change your Jesse PASSWORD, clear the saved input (for example by editing the server’s inputs from the MCP view) and enter the new token.

If something fails, turn on MCP_LOG_IN_TERMINAL in .env while you debug—see Environment variables for MCP.

Agent rules (optional but recommended)

Jesse automatically writes and maintains AGENTS.md at the project root every time you run jesse run. If your Copilot setup reads AGENTS.md you are done; otherwise copy the same contents into .github/copilot-instructions.md. This works when VS Code has the Jesse project folder open. See MCP agent rules for details on the auto-sync, how to add your own notes without losing them on upgrade, and what to do when VS Code runs on another computer.

• Add and manage MCP servers in VS Code

Same machine, same network story

If VS Code runs on Windows and Jesse runs inside WSL (or the other way around), localhost can refer to different machines. If you see connection errors, check Microsoft’s docs and VS Code remote / WSL guidance, or run Jesse and VS Code in the same environment so they share one loopback network.