🔧 VS Code Setup

Configure Nexus MCP Server with Visual Studio Code and GitHub Copilot for an optimized development experience with 99 carefully curated tools.

📋 Prerequisites

⚙️ Installation

Step 1: Install MCP Extension

code --install-extension modelcontextprotocol.mcp

Step 2: Configure Settings

Add the following configuration to your VS Code settings.json file:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "nexus": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/nexus-mcp-server/multi_server_minimal.py"],
      "env": {
        "PYTHONPATH": "/absolute/path/to/nexus-mcp-server",
        "MCP_SERVER_NAME": "NexusServer",
        "LOG_LEVEL": "INFO"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Alternative Configuration Files

Nexus provides pre-configured settings files for different use cases:

cp config-vscode.json config.json

cp config-minimal-vscode.json config.json

✅ Verification

Test the Installation

1. Restart VS Code after adding the configuration
2. Open Command Palette (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + P)
3. Type "MCP" to see available MCP commands
4. Check the status in the VS Code status bar

Test Available Tools

Use the command palette to test some Nexus tools:

⚙️ Advanced Configuration

Environment Variables

Customize Nexus behavior with these environment variables:

Tool Selection

VS Code configuration automatically uses the optimized tool set. To customize which tools are available:

1. Edit config.json: Modify the enabled_tools list
2. Use web interface: Dynamic tool management at runtime
3. Environment flags: Set specific tool categories

{
  "enabled_tools": [
    "basic_tools",
    "calculator",
    "system_info",
    "crypto_tools",
    "file_operations",
    "datetime_tools"
  ],
  "client_detection": {
    "vscode_limit": 99,
    "claude_full_access": true
  }
}

🚀 Usage Examples

With GitHub Copilot

When using GitHub Copilot with Nexus, you can reference tools in your comments and code:

# Use Nexus to generate a UUID for this user
user_id = nexus.generate_uuid()

# Calculate the hash of this password
password_hash = nexus.generate_hash("user_password", "sha256")

# Get current system information
system_info = nexus.system_overview()

Command Palette Usage

🔍 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Debugging Steps

1. Enable Debug Logging:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "nexus": {
      "env": {
        "LOG_LEVEL": "DEBUG"
      }
    }
  }
}

2. Check Output Panel:

• Open Output panel (View → Output)
• Select "Model Context Protocol" from dropdown
• Look for connection and error messages

3. Manual Testing:

# Test the server directly
cd /path/to/nexus-mcp-server
python multi_server_minimal.py

# Test with client
python client.py add '{"a": 5, "b": 3}'

⚡ Performance Optimization

Tool Limits

VS Code has performance considerations when loading many tools. Nexus handles this by:

• Automatic Detection: Uses optimized tool set for VS Code
• Lazy Loading: Tools are loaded on-demand
• Caching: Results are cached to improve response times
• Resource Limits: Memory and CPU usage is controlled

Configuration Tips

🎯 Next Steps