Developer Intelligence MCP — Setup Guide

Connect Claude Code, VS Code, or a JetBrains IDE to Sandsmedia's expert developer-content catalogue.

Which setup do I use?

Your tool	Jump to
Claude Code (terminal, Cursor, VS Code extension, IntelliJ)	Claude Code setup
VS Code + GitHub Copilot	VS Code setup
JetBrains IDE + GitHub Copilot	JetBrains setup

Requirements

An active entwickler.de account (BASIC trial is enough)
One of the tools above, installed and signed in where applicable

Setup — Claude Code

1 Add the server

Run this in any terminal with Claude Code installed:

claude mcp add --transport http --scope local developer-intelligence-mcp https://mcp.sandsmedia.com/mcp

--scope local adds it to this project only — see Choosing an edition below to add ?app=devmio or ?app=devmionl to the URL for a non-default edition.

2 Sign in

Send any prompt — the first tool call opens a browser sign-in window. Sign in with your entwickler.de account. Run /mcp to confirm developer-intelligence-mcp is connected with 6 tools.

Setup — VS Code + GitHub Copilot

1 Add the config file

In the root of your project, create the folder .vscode/ if it doesn't exist. Inside it, create a file called mcp.json with the following content:

{
  "servers": {
    "developer-intelligence-mcp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.sandsmedia.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

For a non-default edition, see Choosing an edition below.

2 Open Copilot Chat in Agent mode

Open the Copilot Chat panel using ⌃⌘I (Mac) or Ctrl+Alt+I (Windows/Linux).

At the bottom of the chat input, use the mode dropdown to switch to Agent mode.

3 Start the MCP server

Click the tools icon (🔧) in the chat input bar. You should see developer-intelligence-mcp listed.

If it shows as stopped, click Start. VS Code will open a browser window — sign in with your entwickler.de account there.

Browser window didn't open? Click the server name in the tools panel and choose Restart to trigger the login flow again.

Your session stays signed in for up to 30 days of regular use. VS Code will only open the sign-in browser window again after 30 days of inactivity, or if you remove and re-add the server.

4 Verify it's working

Once connected, developer-intelligence-mcp will appear as active in the tools panel. Test it by asking Copilot:

What sessions are there on React performance?

If it returns results from the catalogue, you're all set.

Setup — JetBrains + GitHub Copilot

Uses the GitHub Copilot plugin path — not JetBrains AI Assistant or Junie. The Copilot plugin has no OAuth sign-in window, so it authenticates with your email and password directly in the config instead.

1 Add the config

Open Copilot Chat → MCP settings (the control that edits mcp.json, not "Auto Approve for Sampling") and paste:

{
  "servers": {
    "developer-intelligence-mcp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.sandsmedia.com/mcp",
      "requestInit": {
        "headers": {
          "x-email": "YOUR-ENTWICKLER-EMAIL",
          "x-password": "YOUR-PASSWORD"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The password is sent in plaintext in this file — never commit it to git or share a screenshot. Rotate your password if it leaks. For a non-default edition, see Choosing an edition below.

2 Start

With mcp.json open, click Start on the status line. Confirm it shows Running with 6 tools.

3 Use it

Copilot Chat → Agent mode → ask a dev question. The first time a tool runs, Copilot asks permission — choose "Always Allow tools from developer-intelligence-mcp".

Choosing an edition

Edition	Language	Setup
entwickler.de	German	default — no change needed
devmio	English	add `?app=devmio` to the URL
devmio.nl	English (Netherlands)	add `?app=devmionl` to the URL

E.g. for VS Code/JetBrains, the "url" becomes https://mcp.sandsmedia.com/mcp?app=devmio; for Claude Code, append the same to the URL in the claude mcp add command.

Telling Copilot to use the tools automatically (optional)

By default Copilot only uses the MCP tools when you explicitly ask it to. To make it use them automatically for any programming question, add an instructions file to your project telling it when to reach for the catalogue instead of answering from general knowledge — see .github/copilot-instructions.md for GitHub Copilot, or the equivalent workspace-instructions file for other assistants (e.g. CLAUDE.md for Claude Code, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, .cursor/rules for Cursor).

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Browser sign-in window doesn't open (VS Code)	Click the server name in the tools panel and choose Restart.
"Invalid email or password"	Check your entwickler.de credentials. You can verify them at entwickler.de.
Server shows as "Error"	Click the server name in the tools panel to see the full error log. Most commonly a network issue or an expired token — try Restart.
Asked to sign in again	Expected after 30 days of inactivity, or if the server connection was removed and re-added.
No tools appearing (VS Code / JetBrains)	Make sure you are in Agent mode, not Ask or Edit mode.
`mcp.json` not picked up (VS Code)	Ensure the file is saved at exactly `.vscode/mcp.json` in the root of the folder you have open.
Tools not showing in `/mcp` (Claude Code)	A newly added server isn't visible in a session that was already running — restart Claude Code.