Learning Outcomes

Confirm your VS Code extension version supports remote MCP.
Open the Claude Code panel reliably, without depending on a keyboard shortcut.
Install the foundry-connect plugin inside the VS Code extension.
Verify the connection with /mcp and fix it when it doesn't appear.
Ask Foundry Connect questions from the Claude Code panel in VS Code.

Claude Code in VS Code

The Claude Code extension for VS Code embeds the same Claude Code chat session as the CLI, so it uses the same plugin path described in Claude Code. This page covers what's different when you're working inside VS Code. If you haven't connected Claude to Foundry Connect before, start with Getting Started.

Before you start: check your extension version

Remote MCP servers (like Foundry Connect's) require the Claude Code extension for VS Code, version 2.1.203 or later. If your extension is older, update it from the VS Code Extensions panel before continuing — the plugin install will otherwise fail to reach Foundry Connect.

Step 1 — open the Claude Code panel

Everything below is typed into the Claude Code chat panel, not into a VS Code editor tab or a plain shell. If you're not sure the panel is open, use the Command Palette — it's the one method that doesn't depend on your version or keybindings:

Press Cmd+Shift+P (macOS) or Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux).
Type Claude Code.
Run the command that opens or focuses the Claude Code view.

Two other ways in:

The Claude icon in VS Code's Activity Bar (the icon strip down the left edge). If you don't see it, right-click the Activity Bar and make sure Claude Code isn't hidden.
The integrated terminal — press **Ctrl+** to open it and runclaude`. This starts exactly the same session as the panel and behaves identically, so it's a reliable fallback.

If a keyboard shortcut does nothing

Claude Code's shortcut for the panel varies between extension versions, and it can be unbound or claimed by another extension. Don't troubleshoot the shortcut — use the Command Palette above. To see what's actually bound on your machine, open Keyboard Shortcuts (Cmd+K Cmd+S / Ctrl+K Ctrl+S) and search for Claude.

Step 2 — install the plugin

At the Claude Code prompt in the panel, run the same slash commands as in Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add UMMS-Biocore/foundry-connect-plugin
/plugin install foundry-connect@foundry-connect

When prompted for your instance URL, enter the base URL only — https://<your-instance>, with no trailing slash and no /mcp on the end. The plugin adds /mcp itself; see the warning on the Claude Code page for why this is the most common install failure.

Seamless OAuth: the plugin opens the "Connect to Claude" flow — approve it once. See Getting Started.
Manual PAT fallback: the plugin's bundled MCP connection is OAuth-only — it has no token prompt. To connect with a manual token instead, use the MCP-only alternative instead, with a PAT (via_mcp_...) generated under Personal Access Tokens.

Step 3 — reload, then verify

Plugin-provided MCP servers load when a session starts, so the server you just installed isn't live in the current panel session yet. In VS Code, restart it by running Developer: Reload Window from the Command Palette (or close and reopen the Claude Code panel).

Then run /mcp in the panel. You should see a server named foundry, connected. If you see viafoundry instead, you're on an older manual connection rather than the plugin — and if you see no Foundry server at all, work through the plugin troubleshooting table, which covers both.

Not the generic VS Code MCP config

This page is about the Claude Code extension specifically. If you're using a different VS Code MCP client (or Cursor), the JSON config in MCP Integration → Cursor / VS Code applies instead — it's a separate mechanism from the plugin.

Example prompt

From the Claude Code panel, ask something like:

Show my last 5 runs, and tell me if any failed.

Claude calls Foundry Connect's MCP tools and answers inline in the panel, the same way it would in the terminal.