MCP - Agent to VSC

Local MCP bridge that connects an MCP-capable VS Code agent such as Cline to a workspace sandbox and an AI provider.

Architecture

Tauri / Rust desktop shell
        |
        v
TypeScript + Vite UI
        |
        +--> bundled MCP runtime (Node packaged executable)
        |          |
        |          +--> local gateway :3001
        |          +--> MCP stdio server
        |
        +--> Streamable HTTP MCP /mcp
                   |
                   +--> MCP server factory
                   +--> OpenAI API

Cline can connect directly to the stdio server or to the local Streamable HTTP endpoint.

MCP tools

• ask_ai — send prompts to the configured AI model
• read_file — read workspace files
• write_file — write workspace files
• list_files — list workspace files/directories
• workspace_info — inspect configuration

All file tools are sandboxed to WORKSPACE_ROOT and reject paths outside it.

Install

Requirements for development: Node.js 20+ and Rust for Tauri builds.

npm install

Copy .env.example to .env and set OPENAI_API_KEY if you want ask_ai enabled.

Run the local gateway

npm run gateway

The gateway exposes:

• GET /api/health
• GET /api/tools
• GET /api/config
• POST /api/prompt
• POST /mcp — Streamable HTTP MCP transport

The default MCP endpoint is http://127.0.0.1:3001/mcp.

Connect Cline automatically

The project includes a safe installer that preserves existing Cline MCP servers and creates a backup before changing the file:

npm run cline:install

For Streamable HTTP:

npm run gateway
npm run cline:install:http

For Cline CLI configuration:

npm run cline:install:cli

Set CLINE_MCP_SETTINGS_PATH to override automatic config discovery. The HTTP installer uses MCP_GATEWAY_URL when set.

Manual Cline configuration

For the stdio server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-agent-to-vsc": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:\\path\\to\\mcp-agent-to-vsc\\server.mjs"],
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

For Streamable HTTP:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-agent-to-vsc": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:3001/mcp",
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

Frontend

npm run dev

Build the frontend with:

npm run build

Desktop + packaged runtime

The desktop shell uses Tauri/Rust while the UI uses TypeScript, Vite, HTML, and CSS. The Node gateway/MCP runtime is packaged into a platform-specific executable before Tauri bundles the application.

npm run runtime:build
npm run tauri:dev
npm run tauri:build

On Windows, the runtime is generated as src-tauri/binaries/mcp-agent-runtime-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.exe and Tauri bundles it into the application. The desktop Rust command starts the bundled gateway automatically when the app launches.

The GitHub Actions Windows job also packages the runtime and uploads the generated NSIS .exe and MSI installers as workflow artifacts.

Development stack

• Frontend: TypeScript + Vite + HTML/CSS
• Gateway/MCP: Node.js + MCP SDK
• Desktop: Rust + Tauri
• Runtime packaging: @yao-pkg/pkg
• CI: GitHub Actions

The layers are intentionally separated; the project does not use one programming language for the entire application.

Security

• Never commit .env or real API keys.
• File operations are confined to WORKSPACE_ROOT.
• The Cline installer backs up an existing config before writing.
• Keep GATEWAY_HOST bound to 127.0.0.1 unless remote access is intentionally required.