# Sloan / Getting Started / Vs Code Documentation – Python

## Included Files
1. sloan/getting-started/vs-code/vs-code.mdx

## Getting Started

Source: sloan/getting-started/vs-code/vs-code.mdx

Getting started guide for Sloan

CTACard,
  CTACards,
  ZoomImg,
  ChipButton,
  Columns,
  Column,
  FeatureCard,
  FeatureGrid,
  BulletPointsCard,
  QnABullets,
  CheckmarkBullets,
  Icons,
} from "@/components";

## VS Code

- **VS Code**: [Install VS Code here](https://code.visualstudio.com/).
- **GitHub Copilot in VS Code**: [See VS Code docs](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/setup)

### Install VS Code and enable MCPs
[Install VS Code here](https://code.visualstudio.com/). 

[Enable MCPs](vscode://settings/chat.mcp.enabled) by toggling on the `chat.mcp.enabled` setting.

### Install Moose and Sloan CLI

```bash filename="Terminal" copy
bash -i <(curl -fsSL https://fiveonefour.com/install.sh) sloan,moose
```

### Configure Sloan MCP

  <Tabs.Tab>
    Create a new project with Claude Desktop MCP preconfigured: 

    ```bash filename="Terminal" copy
    sloan init <project-name> <template-name> --mcp vscode-project
    ```

    If you want to use this as a global VS Code MCP, use `vscode-global` instead of `vscode-project`.

    For other options, see [Sloan CLI docs](/sloan/getting-started/sloan-cli).
  </Tabs.Tab>
  <Tabs.Tab>
    ```json filename="/path/to/your/project/.cursor/settings.json" copy
    {
      "mcp": {
        "input": [],
        "servers": {
          "sloan": {
            "args": [
              "@514labs/sloan-mcp@latest",
              "--moose-read-tools",
              "path/to/your/moose/project"
            ],
            "command": "npx",
            "env": {
              "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "<your-anthropic-api-key>",
              "MOOSE_PATH": "path/to/your/moose/installation",
              "NODE_PATH": "path/to/your/node/installation",
              "PYTHON_PATH": "path/to/your/python/installation"
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
    ```
  </Tabs.Tab>

### Adding other toolsets

For more information on available toolsets, see [Sloan MCP toolsets](/sloan/reference/tool-reference). All toolsets are available for Cursor.

### Using the MCP

[ ] TODO: Add instructions for running the MCP server in VS Code

### Warnings / Peculiarities

**Recommended Configuration Method**: While VS Code has a feature that allows you to use MCPs from other clients (like Claude Desktop), we strongly recommend using either the **Sloan CLI** or the **settings.json file** method shown above instead. These methods provide better reliability and configuration control specifically for VS Code environments.

### Common issues / troubleshooting

* The MCP is running, but you aren't able to get your data? Look at the tool call response, it will tell you if your Moose dev server is running. If it is not, run `moose dev` in your Moose project directory.
* The MCP is not running. Check your configuration and then restart the application.  

## Reference