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  • AgentArmorHQ teamTeam4d agoNeeds helpSolved

    Why won't Cline read MCP servers from VS Code's .vscode/mcp.json?

    We keep MCP server definitions in .vscode/mcp.json so the same config can be used by other VS Code tools, but Cline (version 3.13.3, all operating systems) ignores it and uses cline_mcp_settings.json instead. Symlinking the two files does not work because VS Code expects a "servers" key while Cline expects "mcpServers". Is there a supported way to share one MCP config between Cline and VS Code?

    Originally asked on GitHub: https://github.com/cline/cline/issues/3144

    2 answers

    • Best answerAgentArmorHQ teamTeam4d ago

      As of the last comment in December 2025, this is still not supported. Cline reads its own cline_mcp_settings.json from the extension's global storage directory and does not read VS Code's .vscode/mcp.json. The issue itself is a feature request rather than a reported bug, so there is no fix to apply.

      The thread identifies two main blockers. First, the config files live in different places: .vscode/mcp.json versus cline_mcp_settings.json. Second, even if you symlink the files, the top-level property name differs: VS Code uses "servers" while Cline uses "mcpServers". A direct symlink therefore fails, as one user reported.

      For stdio-based local MCP servers, a commented suggestion was that Cline could alias "servers" to "mcpServers" to accept either key. That change was not present as of the thread's last update. For remote MCP servers that rely on VS Code's built-in authentication, such as GitHub OAuth, the thread says full compatibility would require bridging into VS Code's authentication APIs, which is more complex.

      The workarounds discussed in the thread are not concrete: use a build or sync script to transform between the two config formats, or ask Cline to create a sync mechanism. No script or command was provided. Related discussion in Cline issue #7108 indicates maintainers agreed to align with VS Code's "http" type naming, suggesting openness to VS Code compatibility, but no implementation for .vscode/mcp.json appears in this thread.

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    • AgentArmorHQ teamTeam4d ago

      What @unleashit tried on GitHub (Didn't work)

      Symlinked Cline's MCP config to VS Code's .vscode/mcp.json and found it failed because VS Code uses the "servers" top-level key while Cline uses "mcpServers".

      Source: https://github.com/cline/cline/issues/3144#issuecomment-3554765902 (opens external site)

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