Problems Pipe

A VS Code extension that exposes the Problems panel (diagnostics) to AI assistants via the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It runs a local HTTP-based MCP server inside VS Code so that tools like Claude, Cursor, and other MCP-compatible clients can query, filter, and act on real-time compiler errors, lint warnings, and other diagnostics.

Why

AI coding assistants work better when they can see the same diagnostics you see. Instead of copy-pasting error messages, Problems Pipe gives your assistant direct, structured access to everything in the Problems panel — complete with surrounding source code context, severity metadata, and available quick fixes.

Features

• Real-time diagnostics — streams every error, warning, info, and hint from VS Code's Problems panel
• Code context — each diagnostic includes surrounding source lines for immediate understanding
• Advanced filtering — filter by severity, source (TypeScript, ESLint, etc.), file glob, code, or message regex
• Code actions — retrieve available quick fixes and refactorings for any diagnostic location
• Aggregated summaries — get problem counts grouped by severity, source, file, or workspace
• Multi-workspace — works across all folders in a multi-root workspace
• AI prompts — built-in MCP prompts for explaining and fixing errors

Quick Start

1. Install the extension in VS Code
2. The MCP server starts automatically on http://127.0.0.1:3030
3. Add the server to your MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "problems-pipe": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:3030/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Use the command Problems Pipe: Copy MCP Server Configuration to copy this config to your clipboard.

Client-specific setup

Claude Code

Add to your project's .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "problems-pipe": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:3030/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "problems-pipe": {
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:3030/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Cline

Add to Cline's MCP settings (cline_mcp_settings.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "problems-pipe": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:3030/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "problems-pipe": {
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:3030/mcp"
    }
  }
}

MCP Tools

Tool	Description
get_problems	Query diagnostics with filtering (severity, source, file glob, message regex), sorting, pagination, and optional code context
get_file_problems	Get all problems for a specific file, returned as formatted markdown
get_problem_summary	Aggregated statistics grouped by severity, source, file, or workspace
get_code_actions	Retrieve available quick fixes and code actions for a file location

MCP Resources

URI	Description
problems://all	All diagnostics as JSON
problems://summary	Aggregated statistics
problems://file/{path}	Problems for a specific file
problems://errors	Errors only

MCP Prompts

Prompt	Description
fix-all-errors	Lists all workspace errors for bulk fixing
explain-error	Explains a specific diagnostic and suggests fixes

Configuration

All settings are under problemsPipe.* in VS Code settings.

Setting	Default	Description
enabled	true	Enable/disable the extension
autoStart	true	Start MCP server automatically on VS Code startup
transport	"http"	Transport mechanism
httpPort	3030	Server port (1024–65535)
httpHost	"127.0.0.1"	Server bind address
includeSources	[]	Only include diagnostics from these sources (empty = all)
excludeSources	[]	Exclude diagnostics from these sources
maxDiagnosticsPerFile	100	Max diagnostics reported per file
contextLines	3	Number of surrounding source lines included with each diagnostic
enableCodeActions	true	Enable the code actions tool
logLevel	"info"	Logging level: off, error, warn, info, debug

Commands

• Problems Pipe: Start MCP Server — start the server manually
• Problems Pipe: Stop MCP Server — stop the server
• Problems Pipe: Show Status — display server status and diagnostics summary
• Problems Pipe: Copy MCP Server Configuration — copy client config JSON to clipboard

Development

npm install          # install dependencies
npm run build        # build the extension
npm run watch        # build in watch mode
npm run test         # run tests
npm run test:watch   # run tests in watch mode
npm run lint         # lint source code

Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host for debugging.

Project Structure

src/
├── extension.ts          # Extension entry point
├── config/               # Configuration management
├── diagnostics/          # Diagnostic collection, storage, and enrichment
├── mcp/                  # MCP server, transport, tools, resources, prompts
├── ui/                   # Commands and status bar
├── utils/                # Logger, LRU cache, debounce
└── types/                # TypeScript type definitions

Requirements

• VS Code 1.85.0 or later

License

MIT