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Connect GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio

Connect GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio to the DigiCert® Private CA MCP server to ask questions about your DigiCert-hosted Private CA environment.

Before you begin

Make sure that:

  • You have a version of Visual Studio that supports MCP servers.

  • GitHub Copilot is enabled in Visual Studio.

  • You have the Service User Token ID and MCP connection details described in Prepare to connect an AI client.

Connect to the MCP server

To connect GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio to the MCP server:

  1. Open GitHub Copilot Chat in Visual Studio.

  2. Select Tools, and then add a custom MCP server.

  3. Select where you want to save the MCP server configuration:

    • Global: Makes the MCP server available in all Visual Studio solutions.

    • Solution: Makes the MCP server available only in the current solution.

  4. Enter the MCP server details:

    Setting

    Value

    Server ID

    private-ca-mcp-server

    Type

    HTTP

    URL

    https://mcp.digicert.com/private-ca

  5. Add the following headers:

    Header

    Value

    x-api-key

    Your Service User Token ID

    User-Agent

    Enter any value. Visual Studio requires the User-Agent header to be present, but does not validate its value

  6. Save the configuration.

  7. Open Tools again and enable private-ca-mcp-server.

  8. Confirm that the server status is Online. If the server does not connect, open the server configuration and select Reconnect.

Verify the connection

  1. Open GitHub Copilot Chat.

  2. Select Agent mode.

  3. Enter a prompt such as:

    List the certificate authorities in my account.

  4. If prompted, approve the use of the Private CA MCP tool.

GitHub Copilot retrieves and presents the Private CA information available to your Service User.

In this section: