# Connect VS Code

Last checked 16 October 2026.

The same page on the web: https://dev.fline.sh/docs/connect-vscode

This page connects VS Code's AI chat to your fline account, so it can put your app online for you. You add a few lines to a settings file in your project, start the connection, then approve fline in your browser.

**Setup steps, not yet tested from start to finish.** Claude Code is the only AI coding app we've used with fline all the way to a live app. These steps match what your fline dashboard shows for VS Code, but we haven't followed them through to a live app ourselves. If you get stuck, [Claude Code](https://dev.fline.sh/docs/connect-claude-code) is the tested way.

## Before you start

- **Your fline account is open,** and you've opened [your fline dashboard](https://app.dev.fline.sh) once. If not, see [Getting your account](https://dev.fline.sh/docs/get-access). Connect after your account is open, or VS Code may keep asking you to sign in.
- **Your project folder is open in VS Code,** and you use its AI chat in agent mode, the mode where it can run actions for you.

## 1. Add fline to your project's settings file

In VS Code's file list, create a folder named `.vscode` at the top of your project folder, if there isn't one. Inside it, create a file named `mcp.json`.

Put these lines in the file. Your dashboard shows the same lines under **VS Code**, with a button to copy them:

```copy
{
  "servers": {
    "fline": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.dev.fline.sh/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

The first word is `servers`. Other apps use `mcpServers`, and VS Code ignores that word without saying so, so copy the lines exactly.

**If the file already has other connections in it,** add only the `"fline": { ... }` part inside the existing `"servers"` list, with a comma between it and the entry before it.

Save the file.

To connect fline for every project instead, open the Command Palette (Command, Shift and P on a Mac; Control, Shift and P on Windows), run **MCP: Open User Configuration**, and put the same lines there.

## 2. Start the connection

With `mcp.json` open, look just above the `"fline"` line. VS Code shows a small **Start** link there. Click it, and accept the prompt to sign in. Your browser opens.

## 3. Approve fline in your browser

**If you're not signed in to fline in that browser,** you see the fline sign-in page first. Sign in with your fline email address and password.

**Then you see a page that asks you to approve the connection.** It looks plainer than the rest of fline, and that's expected. At the top is the name the app gave itself when it connected. Only approve if you started this from VS Code a moment ago.

Make sure every permission box is ticked, then press **Allow**. VS Code gets only the permissions you tick, and it needs all of them to put your app online.

| Code on the page | What it lets VS Code's AI do |
|---|---|
| `openid` | Confirm which fline account you signed in with. |
| `offline_access` | Stay connected, so you don't have to approve fline again every time you use it. |
| `project:read` | See your projects: their progress, their link, what went wrong, what your app printed, what it uses, and the names of the passwords and keys your app uses (never their values). |
| `project:write` | Create and delete projects, send your project folder to fline, answer fline's questions about your app, give you the link to the private page where you type keys, save a key it already has, and create, pause, resume or delete a database. |
| `deploy` | Put your app online, restart it, and put an earlier version back. |
| `domain:write` | Attach a web address you own to your project, check it, and remove it. |

No permission lets it read a saved password or key back.

## 4. Check that it worked

In VS Code's AI chat, in agent mode, ask:

```prompt Paste this into VS Code
List my projects on fline.
```

If it says you have none, the connection works. [Put your app online](https://dev.fline.sh/docs/first-launch) walks through what happens next. It's written for Claude Code, and the steps are the same.

## If something goes wrong

- **No Start link appears.** Check the file is named `mcp.json`, sits in a folder named `.vscode`, and starts with `"servers"`, not `"mcpServers"`.
- **VS Code keeps asking you to sign in to fline.** Open [your fline dashboard](https://app.dev.fline.sh). If it says "You're on the list", your account isn't open yet.

## Disconnect VS Code

On your fline dashboard, open **Agents**. Each connected AI app is listed with a button to disconnect it. Your app keeps running.

Next: [Put your app online](https://dev.fline.sh/docs/first-launch)