Use Glider with GitHub Copilot and VS Code

GitHub Copilot Setup

Configure Glider with GitHub Copilot Chat (VS Code).

GitHub Copilot

Prerequisite: .NET 10 SDK must be installed before running dotnet tool install --global glider.

dotnet tool install --global glider

VS Code launches stdio MCP servers via command. Make sure glider is available on PATH.

# bash/zsh
export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.dotnet/tools"
which glider

Create .vscode/mcp.json in your repo. VS Code MCP docs: code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/mcp-servers.

{
  "servers": {
    "glider": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "glider",
      "args": ["--default-timeout", "30m"]
    }
  }
}

If you prefer Streamable HTTP, start Glider yourself and configure VS Code with http://localhost:5001/mcp.

glider --transport http --default-timeout 30m

{
  "servers": {
    "glider": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:5001/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Reload the window to apply changes. If you prefer global setup, configure MCP servers in your VS Code user settings (see GitHub docs above).

Add --solution <path> to the launch arguments in the configuration above so Glider loads your solution or project (a .sln, .slnx, or .csproj file) at startup, instead of waiting for the agent to call load. With it set, server_status shows the workspace as loaded — or, on a large workspace, still loading in the background under workspaceLoading — from the first message, so the agent can wait for that load to finish instead of stopping with a "No solution loaded. Use load first." message and reaching for text search. Put the flag after -- for claude mcp add, add it to the args array in JSON and Codex TOML configs, or to the single command array for OpenCode. Prefer an absolute path — it is machine-specific, so keep it in local or user scope — or a relative path (resolved against the launch directory) when the config is shared in a project.

glider --solution C:/repos/app/src/App.sln --default-timeout 30m
# Add --workspace C:/repos/app to watch a different root, or --no-watch to disable file watching.

After connecting Glider, add this product-specific instruction to your MCP client system prompt or project instructions so the agent chooses the right tool surface first.

When working in C#/.NET workspaces, prefer glider mcp semantic tools for symbol identity, code relationships, diagnostics, dependencies, impact analysis, and preview-first refactors. Use Scout for repository retrieval and raw text questions. Use the .NET CLI for build and test commands. Preload the solution with --solution, or call load before semantic queries.