visual-studio-codegithub-copilotmodel-context-protocolcursor-ide

Why does VS Code use the MCP config from Cursor instead of its own, and how can I fix this?

I'm using both Cursor and VS Code on macOS. Each editor has its own MCP (Model Context Protocol) config:

Cursor: ~/.cursor/mcp.json

VS Code: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json

Problem

In VS Code, the MCP agent panel shows errors for all tools. When I click "Show Configuration" in the MCP panel, it opens .cursor/mcp.json — even though I'm working in VS Code, not Cursor.

I’ve checked my settings.json in VS Code and there are no references to .cursor/mcp.json or any custom MCP config path.

It looks like VS Code automatically loads the Cursor config if it exists, but that config seems to be incompatible or unsupported in VS Code. As a result, the tools break. In Cursor, everything works fine

Questions

  1. Is there a way to explicitly set which MCP config path VS Code should use?

  2. How can I prevent VS Code from loading .cursor/mcp.json and force it to use its own configuration?

Any help or clarification would be greatly appreciated!

error

errors

I can start any MCP using the correct config file in VS Code, but only manually. enter image description here

Solution

  • You can disable by turning MCP discovery off in VS Code settings.

    Settings -> Features -> Chat -> Mcp -> Discovery:enabled (set to false)