Guide for GitHub Copilot (VS Code)

Integrate GitHub Copilot in VS Code with AI Architect for more accurate, codebase-aware AI assistance.

Use Bito's AI Architect with GitHub Copilot in VS Code to enhance your AI-powered coding experience.

Once connected via MCP (Model Context Protocol), GitHub Copilot can leverage AI Architect’s deep contextual understanding of your project, enabling more accurate code suggestions, explanations, and code insights.

Quick setup (recommended)

Want to get started faster? We offer an automated installer that can configure AI Architect for all your AI coding tools in just a few seconds.

The automated setup will:

• Detect all compatible AI tools installed on your system

• Configure them automatically with your credentials

• Save you time by eliminating manual configuration steps

👉 Try our Quick MCP Integration Guide for automated setup.

Manual setup

If you prefer manual configuration, follow the step-by-step instructions below.

Prerequisites

1. Follow the AI Architect installation instructions. Upon successful setup, you will receive a Bito MCP URL and Bito MCP Access Token that you need to enter in your coding agent.

2. Download BitoAIArchitectGuidelines.md file. You will need to copy/paste the content from this file later when configuring AI Architect.

   • Note: This file contains best practices, usage instructions, and prompting guidelines for the Bito AI Architect MCP server. The setup will work without this file, but including it helps AI tools interact more effectively with the Bito AI Architect MCP server.

3. Requires Visual Studio Code version 1.99 or later

   1. Check VS Code version: code --version

   2. Update VS Code if needed: Help → Check for Updates

4. Enable Agent Mode

   1. Open VS Code Settings (Ctrl/Cmd + ,)

   2. Search: chat.agent.enabled

   3. Check the box to enable Agent Mode

5. Ensure Node.js 20.18.1+ is Installed:

   VS Code's MCP implementation automatically tries to use OAuth for HTTP servers. For static Bearer token authentication (which Bito AI Architect uses), you need to use the mcp-remote proxy tool.

   The mcp-remote proxy requires Node.js 20.18.1 or higher.

   Why Node.js 20+? The mcp-remote proxy depends on undici v7, which requires Node.js 20+ (needs the File global API added in Node 20.0.0). Node.js 18 and earlier will fail with ReferenceError: File is not defined.

   Windows: Download from https://nodejs.org/ (download 20.x LTS)

   macOS:

   brew install node@20
   # Or use nvm: nvm install 20 && nvm use 20

   Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):

   curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
   sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

   Verify:

   node --version  # Should show v20.x.x or higher
   npx --version

6. GitHub Copilot extension installed and enabled

7. GitHub account with Copilot access

Set up AI Architect

VS Code has the same setup process across all platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux, WSL).

Workspace configuration (recommended)

1

Create .vscode directory

In your project root:

mkdir .vscode

2

Create mcp.json

Create .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "BitoAIArchitect": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "<Your-Bito-MCP-URL>",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer <Your-Bito-MCP-Access-Token>",
        "--header",
        "x-email-id: <Your-Email>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Note:

• Replace <Your-Bito-MCP-URL> with the Bito MCP URL you received after completing the AI Architect setup.

  • For the Bito-hosted AI Architect, use the following URL format: https://mcp.bito.ai/<Your-Bito-Workspace-ID>/mcp

    Replace <Your-Bito-Workspace-ID> with your actual Bito workspace ID, which you can find after logging into your Bito account at alpha.bito.ai

• Replace <Your-Bito-MCP-Access-Token> with the Bito MCP Access Token you received after completing the AI Architect setup.

• Replace <Your-Email> with your actual email address.

Important:

• Include "type": "stdio" in the configuration

• VS Code requires mcp-remote proxy for static Bearer token authentication

• The "servers" object is at the root level in workspace configs

• Direct HTTP transport with static Bearer tokens triggers OAuth flows in VS Code

Why mcp-remote? VS Code's MCP implementation automatically initiates OAuth discovery when connecting to HTTP MCP servers. Since BitoAIArchitect uses static Bearer token authentication (not OAuth), we use the mcp-remote proxy to handle the authentication properly.

3

Add guidelines (optional but highly recommended)

The BitoAIArchitectGuidelines.md file contains best practices, usage instructions, and prompting guidelines for the Bito AI Architect MCP server.

The setup will work without this file, but including it helps AI tools interact more effectively with the Bito AI Architect MCP server.

Create .github directory:

mkdir -p .github

Copy the contents of your BitoAIArchitectGuidelines.md file into .github/copilot-instructions.md file:

cp BitoAIArchitectGuidelines.md .github/copilot-instructions.md

4

Start the MCP server

Important: VS Code requires manually starting MCP servers. Follow these steps:

1. Open Copilot Chat (Ctrl/Cmd + I)

2. Click the gear icon in the Copilot Chat panel

3. Select "MCP Servers"

4. Find BitoAIArchitect in the list

5. Click the gear icon next to BitoAIArchitect

6. Select "Start Server"

Alternative method:

1. Open .vscode/mcp.json in VS Code

2. Look for a Start button above the configuration

3. Click Start to initialize the server

5

Verify in Copilot Chat

1. Open Copilot Chat (Ctrl/Cmd + I)

2. Switch to Agent mode (toggle in chat interface)

3. Click the Tools icon (wrench)

4. Verify BitoAIArchitect appears in the tools list

5. Try asking: "What repositories are available?"

User configuration (global)

To make BitoAIArchitect available in ALL projects, create a user-level mcp.json file:

Windows

• Create/edit: %APPDATA%\Code\User\mcp.json

macOS

• Create/edit: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json

Linux

• Create/edit: ~/.config/Code/User/mcp.json

Configuration

Add this to your mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "BitoAIArchitect": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "<Your-Bito-MCP-URL>",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer <Your-Bito-MCP-Access-Token>",
        "--header",
        "x-email-id: <Your-Email>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Note:

• Replace <Your-Bito-MCP-URL> with the Bito MCP URL you received after completing the AI Architect setup.

  • For the Bito-hosted AI Architect, use the following URL format: https://mcp.bito.ai/<Your-Bito-Workspace-ID>/mcp

    Replace <Your-Bito-Workspace-ID> with your actual Bito workspace ID, which you can find after logging into your Bito account at alpha.bito.ai

• Replace <Your-Bito-MCP-Access-Token> with the Bito MCP Access Token you received after completing the AI Architect setup.

• Replace <Your-Email> with your actual email address.

Enable MCP discovery

Also ensure MCP discovery is enabled in your settings.json:

{
  "chat.mcp.discovery.enabled": true
}

Important:

• User-level config uses mcp.json (separate from settings.json)

• Include "type": "stdio" in the configuration

• After saving, manually start the server via Copilot Chat (see Step 4 above)

Troubleshooting VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

Server not appearing in MCP Servers list:

1. Verify mcp.json is in the correct location (see paths above)

2. Ensure "type": "stdio" is included in the configuration

3. Check JSON syntax is valid

4. Restart VS Code completely (Cmd+Q / Alt+F4)

Server not starting:

1. Manually start the server:

   • Open Copilot Chat → gear icon → MCP Servers

   • Click gear icon next to BitoAIArchitect → Start Server

2. Check Node.js version: node --version (must be 20.18.1+)

3. View → Output → select "MCP" for error messages

Tools not showing in Copilot Chat:

1. Ensure server is started (see above)

2. Open Copilot Chat

3. Switch to Agent mode

4. Click Tools (wrench icon)

5. Verify BitoAIArchitect appears

Agent Mode not available:

1. Update VS Code to 1.99+

2. Settings → Search: chat.agent.enabled

3. Enable the checkbox

MCP discovery issues:

Ensure settings.json has:

"chat.mcp.discovery.enabled": true

Note: This must be a boolean true, NOT an object like {"claude-desktop": true}.

Node.js version too old:

Error: ReferenceError: File is not defined or similar

• Upgrade Node.js to 20.18.1 or later

• If using nvm: nvm install 20 && nvm use 20 && nvm alias default 20

Reset if needed:

• Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + P

• Run: MCP: Reset Cached Tools

• Restart VS Code

OAuth prompts appearing:

If VS Code is prompting for OAuth instead of using your Bearer token:

1. Ensure you're using the mcp-remote proxy configuration (not direct HTTP)

2. Verify "type": "stdio" is in your config

3. Cancel the OAuth prompt - the server should still work

4. Check that Node.js and npx are installed: npx --version