VS Code with GitHub Copilot

Set up the SonarQube MCP Server in VS Code with GitHub Copilot and start using Sonar tools with your agent.

VS Code with GitHub Copilot is Microsoft's AI-assisted coding experience in Visual Studio Code. Use this MCP server setup when you want Sonar tools available in the Copilot Chat agent mode while you code.

To use the SonarQube MCP server in VS Code, you must first install Copilot Chat.

If you prefer using the SonarQube-hosted MCP server instead, see below.

Use the configuration generator

Use the official SonarQube MCP Server configuration generator to get a configuration code snippet for your setup:

Identify the target MCP Client.
Find your #common-variables.
Choose a hosting method.
Enter the information into the configuration generator.
Paste the generated configuration into your configuration file.

Manual setup

Environment variables

The following common variables are required. SONARQUBE_TOKEN applies to stdio transport only. For HTTP, HTTPS, or the embedded SonarQube Cloud MCP server, use the Authorization: Bearer <YourSonarQubeUserToken> header instead.

SONARQUBE_TOKEN: Your SonarQube user token (stdio transport).
SONARQUBE_ORG: Your SonarQube Cloud organization key. Required for SonarQube Cloud only.
SONARQUBE_URL: Your SonarQube Server or Community Build URL. Also required for SonarQube Cloud in the US region (https://sonarqube.us). Not needed for SonarQube Cloud in the EU region.

Important: Your SonarQube token is a sensitive credential. Use environment variables to pass tokens rather than hardcoding them in configuration files. Never commit tokens to version control.

Transport options

The SonarQube MCP Server supports three transport modes. Use Stdio for local development and most use cases, HTTPS for production and team deployments, and HTTP only on trusted internal networks.

Stdio (recommended)

Use Stdio for local development or when you are the only user. It's also the transport mode used in your Agentic Analysis and Context Augmentation workflows.

Automatic configuration

When you're using an AI-enabled IDE such as Cursor, Windsurf, or VS Code with Copilot enabled, and have already completed your Connected mode setup in SonarQube for IDE with SonarQube Server or SonarQube Cloud, a quick select button is available.

Select the icon, Configure MCP Server from the CONNECTED MODE view window to use your connected mode credentials to start using the SonarQube MCP Server. The same workflow is available in the AI AGENTS CONFIGURATION view.

If you've connected to a SonarQube Cloud organization in the US region, the configuration details will be shared.

Quick configuration

Use the following link to quickly set up the SonarQube MCP Server in VS Code. This generates a configuration file and automatically fills it with your environment variables. Make sure your environment variables are configured first.

Connect to SonarQube Cloud

Find the SonarQube MCP Server in the GitHub MCP Registry, or search for it in VS Code Extensions using the term @mcp sonar to find an Install button.

Manual configuration

Follow the VS Code instructions and add the SonarQube MCP Server to your .vscode/mcp.json file.

For environment variable details and token retrieval, see the environment variables page.

Warning: User tokens are required when setting up connected mode or an MCP server between SonarQube Server and SonarQube for IDE. Your binding won't function properly if you use project tokens, global tokens, or scoped organization tokens during setup.

Note: This code sample configures the MCP server using Stdio transport, where SONARQUBE_TOKEN is passed as an environment variable.
For HTTPS, HTTP, or the SonarQube-hosted MCP server, the SONARQUBE_TOKEN header is deprecated. Pass the token using the "Authorization": "Bearer <YourSonarQubeUserToken>" header instead.

Note: SONARQUBE_URL should be defined as https://sonarqube.us each time you use a SonarQube Cloud configuration (SONARQUBE_TOKEN + SONARQUBE_ORG) and want to connect to a US-region instance. See the Connecting to SonarQube Cloud in the US region section for details.

VS Code with SonarQube Cloud

{
  "servers": {
    "sonarqube": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "--init",
        "--pull=always",
        "-e",
        "SONARQUBE_TOKEN",
        "-e",
        "SONARQUBE_ORG",
        //"-e",
        //"SONARQUBE_URL",
        "mcp/sonarqube"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SONARQUBE_TOKEN": "<YourSonarQubeUserToken>",
        "SONARQUBE_ORG": "<YourOrganizationName>",
        //"SONARQUBE_URL": "https://sonarqube.us"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code with SonarQube Server

{
  "servers": {
    "sonarqube": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "--init",
        "--pull=always",
        "-e",
        "SONARQUBE_TOKEN",
        "-e",
        "SONARQUBE_URL",
        "mcp/sonarqube"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SONARQUBE_TOKEN": "<YourSonarQubeUserToken>",
        "SONARQUBE_URL": "<YourSonarQubeServerURL>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tip: To verify the connection, ask your AI agent to call the SonarQube MCP ping_system tool. For example: "Ping the SonarQube MCP server."

Tip: Restart your AI agent for good measure, although it might not be required.

HTTPS

Use HTTPS when connecting VS Code to a shared MCP server deployed for a team. This requires an HTTPS transport server to be running and accessible.

Add the following to your .vscode/mcp.json file:

{
  "servers": {
    "sonarqube": {
      "type": "https",
      "url": "https://<YourSonarQubeMCPServer>:8443/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <YourSonarQubeUserToken>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tip: To verify the connection, ask your AI agent to call the SonarQube MCP ping_system tool. For example: "Ping the SonarQube MCP server."

Tip: Restart your AI agent for good measure, although it might not be required.

HTTP

Important: The HTTP transport mode is not recommended. Use Stdio for local development or HTTPS for multi-user production deployments.

Use HTTP only on a trusted internal network or for local testing. This requires an HTTP transport server to be running.

Add the following to your .vscode/mcp.json file:

{
  "servers": {
    "sonarqube": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://<YourSonarQubeMCPServer>:8080/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <YourSonarQubeUserToken>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tip: To verify the connection, ask your AI agent to call the SonarQube MCP ping_system tool. For example: "Ping the SonarQube MCP server."

Tip: Restart your AI agent for good measure, although it might not be required.

Agentic analysis and context augmentation

To set up Agentic Analysis and Context Augmentation, the recommended methods are the SonarQube plugin or SonarQube CLI. See the Make your agent verify its code and Add context to generate better code pages.

When using these services, your SONARQUBE_TOKEN lets your local MCP server configured for Stdio mode authenticate to the SonarQube Cloud API. See the Agentic Analysis and Context Augmentation pages for more information.

SonarQube-hosted MCP server

To avoid running and maintaining your own MCP infrastructure while always using the current server version, connect to a SonarQube-hosted MCP server:

SonarQube Cloud-hosted: the MCP server embedded in SonarQube Cloud. It exposes a smaller, fixed subset of tools. See the SonarQube Cloud-hosted page.
SonarQube Server-hosted: the MCP server installed as an extension on SonarQube Server (Developer, Enterprise, and Data Center editions), available on SonarQube Server 2026.3 and later. See the SonarQube Server-hosted page.

Use Sonar tools from VS Code

Once connected, use the tools provided by the SonarQube MCP Server in agent mode. See the tools page for the full list of available tools.

See also the VS Code documentation for more information about using MCP servers in VS Code.

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