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MCP Office Suite in VS Code

One config entry that exposes every tool of all 41 sibling servers. It starts all 41 sibling servers as child processes and exposes every tool, resource and prompt under one server, with one license pair. Six of the 380 tool names collided and needed a server-name prefix: business_set from invoice and docx, category_rules from expense-tracker and bank-statement, and asset_add, trip_list and rate_set each from two of asset-register, per-diem, catalogue, maintenance-log and mileage-log.

One entry under the servers key, one trust prompt to answer, and 292 tools arrive as one group in the tools picker, which is easier to switch on and off per chat than 31 separate ones.

What you get in VS Code

A six-prompt audit needing two or more children per sentence put 186 tools on one allowlist, the CLI's own file and web tools denied. Result: 20 of 20 tool calls landed in the correct child and the correct tool, zero wrong-server picks, 13 of 18 scored, against 50 of 51 correct at 108 tools when this bundle held five children.

Install it in VS Code

The file is .vscode/mcp.json, and the key inside it is servers.

If you also run Claude Desktop, the shortest path there is one click: office-suite.mcpb from the bundle catalog opens as an extension, with no JSON and no terminal. VS Code reads its own config, so here it is:

// .vscode/mcp.json  (the key is "servers")
{
  "servers": {
    "office-suite": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/office-suite/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Or from a terminal:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"office-suite","command":"node","args":["/absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/office-suite/dist/index.js"]}'

The node command above wants a built file. From a clone, once:

git clone https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers.git
cd mcp-servers && npm install
npm run build -w packages/mcp-license -w servers/office-suite

That writes servers/office-suite/dist/index.js, and its absolute path is the one argument the config needs.

The npm packages are not published yet, so the form below returns a 404 today. It is here because it is what the entry becomes the day the publish lands, with nothing else changed:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"office-suite","command":"npx","args":["-y","@theluckystrike/mcp-office-suite"]}'

VS Code asks you to confirm you trust the server and its capabilities before it starts. Nothing runs until you answer.

Nothing is published to npm yet, so the working install paths are the ones above: the .mcpb bundle from the bundle catalog, a clone and build.

Local stdio connection

The suite starts 31 child processes, so it has no hosted form of its own. Thirty of those 31 are served individually at https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/<name> over MCP streamable HTTP instead, one connection each: https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/connect mints a free token and prints a ready URL per server, or use a Pro key as the bearer.

VS Code notes worth knowing first

The top-level key is "servers", not "mcpServers". A config pasted from a Claude Desktop or Cursor README parses cleanly, contributes no servers, and gives you no error to read, which makes it the most expensive one-word mistake here. Alongside it an "inputs" array holds secrets. The newer Agent Host reads a workspace .mcp.json instead.

Free: each child keeps its own free tier. Pro is $39 once, verified offline.

Questions

Why does my mcp.json do nothing?

The key is servers, not mcpServers. A config copied from a Claude Desktop README parses cleanly and contributes nothing. Rename it. On the newer Agent Host, use a workspace .mcp.json instead.

Do I have to edit the file at all?

No. code --add-mcp takes the server object on the command line, and MCP: Add Server in the palette asks whether the target is Workspace or Global.

Where do the MCP Office Suite tools show up?

In Chat, behind the tools picker, once the server has started. Adding or changing one raises a prompt asking you to confirm you trust it; if the picker is empty, that prompt is usually still waiting.

Related

The same server in Cursor and Windsurf · Every server in VS Code · Guides · VS Code docs · Buy Pro

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