Using the MCP Server in Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a code editor that, when paired with GitHub Copilot, empowers development with AI-backed features. VS Code can connect with other tools - like Omni! - using MCP. Once successfully connected, you can interact with your Omni data right in VS Code's interface.

Requirements

To follow the steps in this guide, you'll need:

For VS Code:
- To have the latest version of VS Code installed on your computer
- Access to Copilot, which VS Code uses to run its AI in Agent mode
For Omni:
- An API key. Refer to the API documentation for more information.
- Access to the Query APIs
- To have the MCP Server enabled in your Omni instance
Reach out to Omni support for assistance in enabling these features.

Configuring MCP in VS Code

1. Add the MCP Server

In VS Code, open the Command Palette (Mac - ⌘ + Shift + P, Windows - Ctrl + Shift + P).
Search for MCP and select MCP: Add Server.
Select HTTP (HTTP or Server-Sent events) for the MCP Server type and press Enter.
Paste your Omni instance URL and append it with /mcp/https. For example:
```
https://blobsrus.omniapp.co/mcp/https
```
Press Enter.
Enter a name for the MCP Server, such as Omni MCP. Press Enter.
Select Workplace Settings and press Enter.

2. Configure the MCP Server

A .vscode/mcp.json file should have been created in your project.

Open the file. At this point, it should look something like this:

{
  "servers": {
    "Omni": {
      "url": "https://YOUR-OMNI-INSTANCE/mcp/https"
    }
  }
}

Update your mcp.json file to include the inputs and headers objects:

{
  "inputs": {
    "type": "promptString",
    "id": "omni-mcp-key",
    "description": "API key for Omni Data MCP",
    "password": true
  },
  "servers": {
    "Omni": {
      "url": "https://YOUR-OMNI-INSTANCE/mcp/https",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <OMNI_API_KEY>",
        "X-MCP-Model-ID": "<OMNI_MODEL_ID>",
        "X-MCP-Topic-Name": "<OPTIONAL_TOPIC_NAME>"
      }
    }
  }
}

You'll need to make a few changes to complete the setup. In the mcp.json, fill in the following:
- <YOUR_OMNI_INSTANCE> - Required. The URL of your Omni instance, for example: https://blobsrus.omniapp.co. This will be appended with /mcp/https, which tells VS Code what type of MCP Server is being used.
- <OMNI_API_KEY> - Required. Your Omni API key.
- <OMNI_MODEL_ID> - Required. The ID of the model to scope the MCP Server to. You can retrieve this by opening the model in Omni's model IDE and looking at the URL. The string between /models/ and /ide/ is the model ID:
```
https://blobsrus.omniapp.co/models/9d9440e5-8522-4507-b092-1ac26ba26673/ide/model?mode=combined
```
- <OPTIONAL_TOPIC_NAME> - Optional. If provided, the MCP Server will be scoped only to this topic. Remove this parameter to allow dynamic topic switching.
Save the file.

3. Start the MCP Server

Before you can use the server, you'll need to start it:

Open the Command Palette again (Mac - ⌘ + Shift + P, Windows - Ctrl + Shift + P).
Search for MCP and select MCP: List Servers.
The Omni server should display in the list of servers. Click the server.
A list of commands will display. Click Start Server.

You should see logs related to the Omni server begin to stream into the Terminal panel. Logs similar to the following example indicate that the server started successfully:

[info] Starting server Omni
[info] Connection state: Starting
[info] Starting server from LocalProcess extension host
[info] Connection state: Running
[info] Discovered 2 tools

Using MCP in VS Code Copilot

Once the MCP Server is available, VS Code will automatically be able to use it in chat when it receives a relevant prompt. You can prompt VS Code to use Omni by referring to it by name or description.

Open the chat panel (Mac - ⌃ + ⌘ + I, Windows - Ctrl + Alt + P).
Select Agent mode.
Enter a prompt, such as Hey Omni, tell me how many users have been sourced by search and email and submit it to the chat.
By default, when a tool is invoked, you need to confirm the action before VS Code will run it. Click Continue to proceed.
The MCP Server will pick a topic and then run a query to retrieve the data.

Requirements​

Configuring MCP in VS Code​

1. Add the MCP Server​

2. Configure the MCP Server​

3. Start the MCP Server​

Using MCP in VS Code Copilot​