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MCP Pomodoro in VS Code

Focus blocks planned in the chat you are already in. pomodoro_plan splits your available minutes into 25-minute focus blocks with 5-minute short breaks and a 15-minute long break every 4th block, computed for the schedule you actually have; half-blocks are handled honestly, a 50-minute window comes back as one focus block and one break rather than a fake full pomodoro.

In agent mode a plan returned as a schedule object is something the agent can actually follow: ask for blocks, then hand it the first block's task in the same chat.

What you get in VS Code

You say	Tool
I have 3 hours before the demo — plan my pomodoros.	`pomodoro_plan`
Plan a 50-minute session.	`pomodoro_plan, half-block case`
Block out my morning: 2 hours deep work, then email.	`pomodoro_plan`

The contract suite runs the planner over real stdio and asserts the cadence: 3 hours returns six 25-minute focus blocks with breaks placed on the classic schedule including the long break at the 4th boundary, 50 minutes returns one focus block and one break rather than a padded fake pomodoro, and the response is a plain schedule object with no files written.

Install it in VS Code

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

Scope	Path
This workspace	`<workspace>/.vscode/mcp.json`
Every workspace	`the user profile mcp.json, opened by the MCP: Open User Configuration command`

If you also run Claude Desktop, the shortest path there is one click: pomodoro.mcpb from the latest release 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": {
    "pomodoro": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/pomodoro/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Or from a terminal:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"pomodoro","command":"node","args":["/absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/pomodoro/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/pomodoro

That writes servers/pomodoro/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":"pomodoro","command":"npx","args":["-y","@theluckystrike/mcp-pomodoro"]}'

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 latest release, a clone and build, or the hosted URL.

No install: the hosted endpoint

There is no hosted endpoint for this one yet. MCP Pomodoro runs locally over stdio with the config above, which is also the only form in which it reads and writes files on your own disk. Thirty of the servers in this collection are served at https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/<name> over MCP streamable HTTP; https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/connect lists them and prints a ready URL for each.

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: Everything: one tool, no metering, no key. Pro is $19 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 Pomodoro 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.

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