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Incompatible mcp.json schema with VSCode #3835

@mankinskin

Description

@mankinskin

Describe the bug

"mcpServers" key in mcp.json incompatible with VSCode "servers" key. requires duplicating mcp server declarations in mcp.json.

also the different locations .github and .vscode require a symlink to point VSCode Copilot Chat and copilot CLI to the same file

Affected version

No response

Steps to reproduce the behavior

  1. create .github/mcp.json with "servers" key
  2. symlink from .vscode/mcp.json to .github/mcp.json
  3. copilot-cli does not find MCP servers, but VS Code Copilot Chat does.
  4. rename "servers" key to "mcpServers"
  5. VS Code Copilot Chat does not find the MCP servers anymore, but copilot-cli does.

Expected behavior

one shared key that is read by both VSCode Copilot Chat and copilot-cli to define mcp servers

Additional context

current Workaround:

duplicate the "servers" object under "mcpServers" in the same file and symlink it or create two files with the same content except for "servers"/"mcpServers".

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    area:configurationConfig files, instruction files, settings, and environment variablesarea:mcpMCP server configuration, discovery, connectivity, OAuth, policy, and registry

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