Setup in VS Code with Copilot

The following configuration can be used at either a project-level or a user-settings-level (across all projects). For project-level configuration, create a .vscode/mcp.json file in your workspace. For a user-settings-level configuration, add an MCP server to your existing user configuration file.

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "axe-api-key",
      "description": "axe MCP Server API Key",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "axe-mcp-server": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--add-host=host.docker.internal:host-gateway",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "AXE_API_KEY",
        "dequesystems/axe-mcp-server:latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "AXE_API_KEY": "${input:axe-api-key}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: The configuration uses "AXE_API_KEY": "${input:axe-api-key}" for secure input handling. This will prompt you for your API key when the server starts for the first time. For more information about VS Code MCP configuration, see the VS Code MCP documentation.

Start the MCP Server

1. Open VS Code with your configured settings
2. Locate the "axe-mcp-server" entry in your settings.json
3. Click the Start button that appears above the server configuration
4. When prompted, enter your API key from Step 1

Submit Prompts to Copilot

Once the axe MCP Server is running, you can use it through VS Code's Copilot chat interface:

1. Open Copilot chat in VS Code
2. Ensure you're in agent mode to allow tool usage
3. Submit prompts to analyze websites and remediate accessibility issues