Integrations

VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

Set up zn-gate in VS Code with GitHub Copilot agent mode in two minutes: add it as an MCP server, and what zn-gate does not cover there yet.

View .md

Quick start (no coding needed)

  1. Check that Node.js is installed. Open a terminal (in most editors: menu Terminal → New Terminal; or your computer's Terminal app), type node --version and press Enter. If you see a version number (18 or later), go on. If you see "command not found", install the LTS version from nodejs.org and restart VS Code.

  2. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P, or Cmd+Shift+P on a Mac), type MCP: Open User Configuration and press Enter. VS Code opens a file called mcp.json.

  3. Paste this:

    {
  "servers": {
    "zn-gate": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "zn-gate",
        "mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

    If the file already has a "servers" section, add only the "zn-gate": {...} part inside it.

  4. Save the file, then click Start in the small links shown above the zn-gate entry (or run MCP: List Servers from the Command Palette).

Status: these steps follow VS Code's documentation; not yet verified by us in VS Code.

What zn-gate protects in VS Code, and what it does not

In VS Code, zn-gate works as an MCP server: the agent can ask it to check a prompt, a tool call or a tool result (analyze_prompt, check_tool_call, check_tool_result). The agent decides when to call these tools, so on its own this is not automatic protection.

In VS Code
zn-gate's checks available to the agent (MCP) Yes
Your other MCP servers checked for prompt injection and secrets Yes, if you wrap them (below)
Blocks reads of .env and credential files No
Removes secrets from shell output and file contents No
Blocks a secret pasted into the chat No

VS Code has agent hooks in preview (PreToolUse, PostToolUse and others, in .github/hooks/*.json), but zn-gate does not install hooks for VS Code yet, and we have not checked whether VS Code hooks see MCP tool calls. So in VS Code zn-gate does not block reads of your .env or credential files and does not remove secrets from shell output or file contents. If you need that today, use zn-gate with Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor or OpenCode: see compat.md.

Technical reference

Where the configuration lives

User: MCP: Open User Configuration. One project: .mcp.json at the project root (top-level key mcpServers), which VS Code now recommends; .vscode/mcp.json (top-level key servers) still works.

Check the output of your other MCP servers

To check the output of the other MCP servers you use in VS Code, start each local server through zn-gate: replace its command with npx and put -y zn-gate shield -- in front of its original command and arguments. For example, a server started with uvx mcp-server-fetch becomes:

{
  "servers": {
    "fetch": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "zn-gate",
        "shield",
        "--",
        "uvx",
        "mcp-server-fetch"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Every result of that server is then checked for prompt injection, and secrets zn-gate recognizes are removed, before the agent sees it. zn-gate init, which does this automatically for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and OpenCode, does not edit VS Code's settings.

VS Code documentation