Ignition MCP -- Turn tasks.json and launch.json into MCP tools

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Hi all,

I’ve been using Cursor for a while and kept bumping into a gap: I had all these automation tools built up in tasks.json and launch.json – builds, tests, deployments, debug configs – but the AI agent couldn’t use any of them. It was stuck shelling out to raw commands while I had a whole layer of structured tooling sitting right there.

So I built Ignition MCP, a VS Code extension that exposes your tasks and launch configs as MCP tools. No custom server code – just install the extension and your existing definitions become tools the agent can call.

That means things like problem matchers feed errors into the Problems panel, dependsOn chains run automatically, and ${input:environment} variables become typed parameters the agent can fill in. All the stuff you already set up for yourself, now available to the agent too.

It also unlocks VS Code APIs that the agent otherwise has no access to – starting debug sessions, setting breakpoints (including conditional ones), inspecting the call stack, reading variables, evaluating expressions mid-session. I think this could be extremely powerful with the right Skills guiding the agent on how to use them.

Works with Cursor, VS Code + Copilot, Claude Code, and any MCP-compatible client.

I’d love feedback:

  • Does this solve a real problem for you, or are terminal commands good enough?

  • Any rough edges in setup or usage?

  • What would make it more useful for your workflow?

Happy to answer questions. Thanks for reading.