9 open-source projects the GitHub Copilot and Visual Studio Code teams are sponsoring—and why they matter

The rise of Model Context Protocol (MCP) has transformed how AI agents interact with tools, codebases, and even browsers. GitHub Copilot and VS Code teams, in partnership with the Microsoft Open Source Program Office (OSPO), are now sponsoring a wave of open-source MCP projects that push the boundaries of developer experience, agent autonomy, multi-modal capabilities, and community.

These nine projects—ranging from browser extensions to semantic code editors—are not just experiments, they’re the scaffolding for a new generation of AI-native workflows. Let’s dive into some of the exciting MCP-powered innovations on GitHub based on community engagement. 

From semantic code editing to new dev tools

1. Upstash/context7: Up-to-date documentation for LLMs and AI code editors 

Upstash’s Context7 MCP server allows developers to easily pull up-to-date, version-specific documentation and provides code examples straight from the source. From there, the MCP includes them directly into your prompt for easily understandable context for your LLMs and AI applications.

2. Tadata/fastapi_mcp: FastAPI, meet MCP 

FastAPI-MCP turns your FastAPI endpoints into MCP tools with authentication that needs minimal configuration. The MCP preserves schemas, documentation, and authentication logic, creating a seamless way to expose APIs to AI agents.

3. Oraios/serena: Semantic code editing for agents 

Serena is a fully featured coding agent toolkit that integrates language servers with MCP. It provides semantic retrieval and editing capabilities for code retrieval, editing, and shell execution. This makes coding agents smarter and more efficient and can even turn a vanilla LLM into a true IDE assistant.

4. Czlonkowski/n8n-mcp: Let AI agents build n8n workflows for you 

 This project brings n8n’s powerful automation engine into the MCP ecosystem. By bringing in comprehensive access to n8n node documentation, validation tools, and direct n8n instance access, agents can now trigger, monitor, and manipulate workflows programmatically. Though details are sparse, early adopters are already integrating it with GitHub Actions, Discord bots, and data pipelines.

5. Justinpbarnett/unity-mcp: AI agents in game dev 

 Unity-MCP exposes Unity’s game engine APIs to MCP clients. Agents can inspect and modify game objects, scenes, and prefabs. It’s a bold step toward AI-assisted game development, with potential for debugging, level design, and UI generation.

6. Antfu/nuxt-mcp: Nuxt dev tools

Created by ecosystem veteran Anthony Fu, Nuxt-MCP lets agents interact with Nuxt apps via MCP. It supports route inspection, component analysis, and SSR debugging. If you’re building with Nuxt and want AI-native tooling, this is your launchpad.

7. MCPJam/inspector: MCP server testing and evals

The MCPJam inspector is an open-source testing and debugging tool for MCP servers – Postman for MCP. It can test your MCP server’s tools, resources, prompts, and authentication, and also has an LLM playground to test your MCP server against different models. Bonus: MCPJam has a CLI tool for MCP evaluation.

8. Steipete/Peekaboo: Swift code analysis via MCP 

Peekaboo brings Swift codebases into the MCP fold. It uses language servers to expose symbol-level tools for agents, enabling code navigation, editing, and refactoring. Built by Peter Steinberger, it’s a must-have for iOS developers.

9. Instavm/coderunner: Run code safely and locally 

Coderunner is a sandboxed MCP server for executing code snippets. It supports multiple languages and isolates execution for safety. Agents can test hypotheses, run scripts, and validate outputs—all without leaving the IDE. 

Why GitHub and VS Code are sponsoring these projects 

These projects aren’t just cool—they’re helping accelerate the MCP community and provide tools that developers use and care about. GitHub Copilot and VS Code teams are sponsoring these projects to promote open-source software and open standards like MCP, accelerate agent-native development workflows, and give developers more power to build, debug, and deploy with AI. 

Want to help support these projects? Sign up for GitHub Sponsors today and join us in sponsoring them or other open-source projects you care about.

Dive into the MCP ecosystem and start building the future of AI-native development and explore how MCP x VS Code and GitHub Copilot can increase your productivity and creativity!

Katie Savage

Technical Program Manager

Katie Savage is a Technical Program Manager on the Developer Community team at Microsoft. She works on community and education initiatives for GitHub Copilot, Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio, .NET, and more!

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Stacey Haffner

Director, Microsoft OSPO

Stacey Haffner is the Director of Microsoft’s OSPO and leads game developer advocacy. She is an engineer, game developer, and product leader who runs her own indie studio, has built teams in startup environments, and now applies that expertise to advancing open source, empowering developers, and championing the game dev community.

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