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VS Code supports MCP servers through extensions. The two most popular are Cline and Continue.

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Cline

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Config file location

.cline/mcp_settings.json
Place this in your project root.

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Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "isthmus": {
      "command": "isthmus",
      "env": {
        "DATABASE_URL": "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb"
      }
    }
  }
}

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Full configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "isthmus": {
      "command": "isthmus",
      "args": ["--audit-log", "/tmp/isthmus-audit.ndjson"],
      "env": {
        "DATABASE_URL": "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb",
        "SCHEMAS": "public,analytics",
        "POLICY_FILE": "/path/to/policy.yaml",
        "MAX_ROWS": "500"
      }
    }
  }
}

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Verify

  1. Save the config file
  2. Open the Cline panel in VS Code
  3. Ask: “What tables are in my database?”

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Continue

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Config file location

~/.continue/config.json

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Configuration

Continue uses an array format for MCP servers, not an object. Make sure you use the correct format below.
{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "isthmus",
      "command": "isthmus",
      "env": {
        "DATABASE_URL": "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb"
      }
    }
  ]
}

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Full configuration

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "isthmus",
      "command": "isthmus",
      "args": ["--audit-log", "/tmp/isthmus-audit.ndjson"],
      "env": {
        "DATABASE_URL": "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb",
        "SCHEMAS": "public,analytics",
        "POLICY_FILE": "/path/to/policy.yaml",
        "MAX_ROWS": "500"
      }
    }
  ]
}

​
Verify

  1. Save the config file
  2. Reload VS Code
  3. Open the Continue panel
  4. Ask: “What tables are in my database?”

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Troubleshooting

Use the full path to the binary. The location depends on how you installed:
  • Install script / prebuilt binary: /usr/local/bin/isthmus
  • go install: ~/go/bin/isthmus
"command": "/usr/local/bin/isthmus"
Find the path with which isthmus.
Continue expects mcpServers as an array (with a name field on each entry), not an object. Double-check the format above.
Test connectivity first:
DATABASE_URL="postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb" isthmus --dry-run