What happens
codebase-memory-mcp install detects VS Code as an agent and writes a codebase-memory-mcp stdio entry into the mcp.json of every VS Code profile it finds. On a machine with ten profiles that is ten files, each holding an absolute path to the binary. Measured against 0.10.3 on Windows: two profile files were emptied by hand, install was run once, and it reported an mcp: line per profile and refilled all ten.
Why that is a problem for VS Code specifically
mcp.json is carried between machines by VS Code's Settings Sync, per profile. An absolute Windows path therefore arrives on a Mac, where it names nothing and the server cannot start. This is not a problem for the agents whose config files do not sync.
Since VS Code 1.101 an extension can register an MCP server through vscode.lm.registerMcpServerDefinitionProvider, which is provided in memory at activation and written to no file at all. An extension that does this needs the file entry not to exist - it is a second, absolute-path copy of a server VS Code already has, and the only copy of the two that syncs.
What is missing
install offers --skip-config, which skips config writing for every agent, and there is no way to deselect one. The workaround in smoochy/codebase-memory-mcp-vscode is to run install normally and then delete our own key back out of each mcp.json afterwards - which works, but races anything else writing that file and has to be repeated at every activation.
What would solve it
Any one of:
--skip-agent=<name> (repeatable), or--agents=<comma separated list> to opt in explicitly, or- an
install that leaves VS Code alone when the extension already provides the server - though the CLI has no way to detect that, so a flag is the simpler contract.
Happy to send a PR if you name the spelling you would accept.
What happens
codebase-memory-mcp installdetects VS Code as an agent and writes acodebase-memory-mcpstdio entry into themcp.jsonof every VS Code profile it finds. On a machine with ten profiles that is ten files, each holding an absolute path to the binary. Measured against 0.10.3 on Windows: two profile files were emptied by hand,installwas run once, and it reported anmcp:line per profile and refilled all ten.Why that is a problem for VS Code specifically
mcp.jsonis carried between machines by VS Code's Settings Sync, per profile. An absolute Windows path therefore arrives on a Mac, where it names nothing and the server cannot start. This is not a problem for the agents whose config files do not sync.Since VS Code 1.101 an extension can register an MCP server through
vscode.lm.registerMcpServerDefinitionProvider, which is provided in memory at activation and written to no file at all. An extension that does this needs the file entry not to exist - it is a second, absolute-path copy of a server VS Code already has, and the only copy of the two that syncs.What is missing
installoffers--skip-config, which skips config writing for every agent, and there is no way to deselect one. The workaround in smoochy/codebase-memory-mcp-vscode is to runinstallnormally and then delete our own key back out of eachmcp.jsonafterwards - which works, but races anything else writing that file and has to be repeated at every activation.What would solve it
Any one of:
--skip-agent=<name>(repeatable), or--agents=<comma separated list>to opt in explicitly, orinstallthat leaves VS Code alone when the extension already provides the server - though the CLI has no way to detect that, so a flag is the simpler contract.Happy to send a PR if you name the spelling you would accept.