Copilot Tools API

The Copilot MCP server exposes two tools.

ask

Ask GitHub Copilot a freeform question.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
question	string	Yes	The question to ask (max 500KB)

Response

Plain text string with Copilot's response.

Example

Input:

{
  "question": "How does React's useEffect cleanup function work with async operations?"
}

code_review

Send a diff for review.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
diff	string	Yes	The git diff to review (max 500KB)
context	string	No	Additional context for the review

Response

JSON when the response is parseable as a ReviewResult, otherwise plain text.

interface ReviewResult {
  verdict: "APPROVED" | "NEEDS_REVISION";
  issues: Array<{
    severity: "critical" | "major" | "minor";
    description: string;
    recommendation: string;
  }>;
  suggestions: string[];
}

Output Parsing

The Copilot server parses JSONL output from the copilot -p --output-format json CLI. Each line is a JSON object representing a message in the conversation. The server extracts the final assistant message and attempts to parse it as structured JSON.

If JSON parsing fails, the raw text response is returned. This means code_review may return either structured JSON or freeform text depending on Copilot's response format.