VS Code
How to let VS Code Copilot watch a video
VS Code supports MCP servers natively. The install button opens the editor and adds Playhead to your MCP configuration; the first call asks you to sign in.
Free tier: 60 credits a month, no card. One credit is about a minute of video.
What this changes
VS Code's agent mode reads your workspace, which means the video and the code that produced it are in the same conversation. A failing end-to-end test that records a trace video is the clearest case: the agent watches the recording, finds the frame where the assertion would have failed, and reads the selector off the screen.
Setting it up
- 01
Click the install button
It opens VS Code and adds the server to your MCP configuration.
- 02
Approve the connection
The first tool call opens a browser once to sign in with your Playhead account.
- 03
Ask in agent mode
Reference a file in the workspace or paste a URL.
Things worth asking it
Each of these produces an answer with a second attached, because the timestamp is burned into the frame the model is looking at — it cannot lose track of when something happened.
- Watch test-results/checkout.webm and tell me what is on screen when the test fails.
- Read every visible string in this recording between 0:04 and 0:09.
How closely it looks is a choice
Six levels, picked by the agent from the question. Surveying an hour and reading a single frame of animation are different jobs, and charging the same for both would make one of them pointless.
| Level | Rate | Answers |
|---|---|---|
| overview | 0.5–2 fps | What is this video, start to end |
| standard | 5 fps | What happens when — cuts, overlays, entrances |
| detail | 5 fps | Objects and text blocks, tiles four times larger |
| fine | 10 fps | Type, logos, subtle transitions |
| motion | 30 fps | Animation, easing, dropped frames |
| single | one frame | Reading text at full resolution |
Questions
- Which VS Code versions support MCP?
- MCP support ships with agent mode in current VS Code releases. If the deeplink does nothing, the editor is either not installed or predates it — the server URL can be pasted into the MCP configuration by hand.
Or somewhere else
One account, every client. The connection is attached to you rather than to a machine, so adding a second one costs nothing.
- ClaudeWeb, desktop and mobile. Opens the connector dialog with the URL filled in.
Claude CodeOne command in the terminal, then /mcp to sign in.
claude mcp add --transport http playhead https://mcp.tryplayhead.com/mcpNo deeplink exists for the terminal, so this is the install.
- ChatGPTNeeds Developer mode under Settings → Connectors → Advanced first.
- CursorAdds the server to Cursor's MCP settings.
CodexAdd the server to Codex's config file.
[mcp_servers.playhead] url = "https://mcp.tryplayhead.com/mcp" auth = "oauth"Append to ~/.codex/config.toml — the CLI, IDE extension and desktop app share it.
- LM StudioAdds the server to LM Studio's MCP list.