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fix: disable MCP servers by default to prevent token limit errors#1144

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WilliamBerryiii merged 5 commits intomicrosoft:mainfrom
jakkaj:fix/disable-mcp-servers-by-default
Apr 1, 2026
Merged

fix: disable MCP servers by default to prevent token limit errors#1144
WilliamBerryiii merged 5 commits intomicrosoft:mainfrom
jakkaj:fix/disable-mcp-servers-by-default

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@jakkaj jakkaj commented Mar 20, 2026

Pull Request

Description

Disables MCP servers by default by renaming .vscode/mcp.json to .vscode/mcp.json.sample. Contributors opt in by renaming or copying server entries into their own
mcp.json.

Related Issue(s)

N/A — discovered during contributor onboarding.

Type of Change

Infrastructure & Configuration:

  • DevContainer configuration

Testing

Verified that with mcp.json removed, GitHub Copilot CLI no longer loads the WorkIQ or GitHub MCP servers automatically, avoiding the token limit error shown below:

CAPIError: 400 prompt token count of 186315 exceeds the limit of 168000

Checklist

Required Checks

  • Documentation is updated (if applicable)
  • Files follow existing naming conventions
  • Changes are backwards compatible (if applicable)
  • Tests added for new functionality (if applicable)

Required Automated Checks

  • Markdown linting: npm run lint:md
  • Spell checking: npm run spell-check
  • Frontmatter validation: npm run lint:frontmatter

Security Considerations

  • This PR does not contain any sensitive or NDA information
  • Any new dependencies have been reviewed for security issues

Additional Notes

The MCP server configs (GitHub HTTP endpoint and WorkIQ via npx) are preserved in mcp.json.sample. The README has been updated with a note explaining how to enable them.

Rename mcp.json to mcp.json.sample so MCP servers are opt-in rather
than loaded automatically. The WorkIQ and GitHub MCP servers were
inflating prompt token counts beyond model limits (186k vs 168k cap),
causing repeated API failures for contributors using GitHub Copilot.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <[email protected]>
@jakkaj jakkaj requested a review from a team as a code owner March 20, 2026 01:19
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codecov-commenter commented Mar 20, 2026

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 87.08%. Comparing base (0634790) to head (c1c9cba).

Additional details and impacted files

Impacted file tree graph

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #1144      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   87.72%   87.08%   -0.64%     
==========================================
  Files          61       59       -2     
  Lines        9318     8850     -468     
==========================================
- Hits         8174     7707     -467     
+ Misses       1144     1143       -1     
Flag Coverage Δ
pester 85.30% <ø> (-0.02%) ⬇️

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.
see 3 files with indirect coverage changes

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@WilliamBerryiii
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@katriendg & @agreaves-ms - the MCP server for workiq is causing some friction ... I think we need to disable it by default ... I was hitting this earlier and had to disable things to deal with the crashing.

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@WilliamBerryiii @jakkaj Interesting, I have not noticed this issue in local environment, but I wonder if this is why we were also seeing some issues on GitHub coding agent (same error message).
I believe this is a good current fix until we evaluate how to make the onboarding a bit easier without manual MCP setup for contributors.
I believe WorkIq addition we did being in experimental maturity for Meeting Analysti Agent is not yet in HVE Core installer or docs (https://github.com/microsoft/hve-core/blob/main/docs/getting-started/mcp-configuration.md), so we should be fine there.

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@jakkaj Thanks for adding this one, to complete the PR we must link the associated issue for this fix, and update the ms.date field in the MD file you changed to pass CI.

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kgmwang1 commented Apr 1, 2026

Very nice addition here. Nit: Some documentation updates may be needed to some documentation files which may need to mention the newly renamed json.sample file:

docs/getting-started/mcp-configuration.md
.github/skills/installer/hve-core-installer/SKILL.md

@WilliamBerryiii WilliamBerryiii merged commit 04151c2 into microsoft:main Apr 1, 2026
40 checks passed
WilliamBerryiii pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Apr 2, 2026
## Pre-Release 3.3.41

### ✨ Features

- add agentic workflows for automated issue triage, implementation, PR
review, dependency review, and doc-staleness detection (#1219)
- consolidate package-lock.json version sync into
Update-VersionFiles.ps1 (#1240)
- add standards code review agent and full review orchestrator (#1174)
- standardize pytest-mock as Python mocking framework (#1170)
- add Jira backlog workflows and Jira/GitLab skills (#978)
- add centralized version bump script and supply-chain attestation
(#1183)

### 🐛 Bug Fixes

- replace invalid bare tool names with official tool identifiers (#1198)
- fix broken links and remove orphaned reference in code review docs
(#1257)
- exclude Python env dirs from skill validation warnings (#1255)
- pin happy-dom and serialize-javascript to resolve Dependabot
vulnerabilities (#1253)
- remove Mermaid diagram and add missing collection cards (#1247)
- disable MCP servers by default to prevent token limit errors (#1144)
- sync package-lock.json after pre-release version bump (#1236)
- separate mermaid node declarations and add dynamic diagram generation
with tests (#1215)
- replace anchor links in meeting-analyst with bold text references
(#1201)
- remove recursive symlinks in jira and gitlab skill directories (#1233)
- validate-installation scripts now check .github/skills directory
(#1010) (#1206)
- resolve npm audit vulnerabilities via dependency overrides (#1200)
- add post-release triggers to scorecard workflow (#1186)
- add missing .md extensions to relative links in agent documentation
(#1180)

### 📚 Documentation

- CLI getting-started: clarify plugin install commands as alternatives
(-all vs base) (#1251)

### ♻️ Refactoring

- align agent and prompt folder names to collection identifier (#1210)

### 🔧 Maintenance

- streamline RAI Planner phase structure and documentation (#1273)
- bump happy-dom from 20.8.8 to 20.8.9 in /docs/docusaurus (#1237)
- pre-release 3.3.27 (#1191)
- bump pygments from 2.19.2 to 2.20.0 in /.github/skills/gitlab/gitlab
(#1234)
- bump path-to-regexp from 0.1.12 to 0.1.13 in /docs/docusaurus (#1226)
- bump the github-actions group with 4 updates (#1231)
- add missing folders and alphabetize location lists (#1193)
- bump brace-expansion (#1224)
- bump handlebars from 4.7.8 to 4.7.9 in /docs/docusaurus (#1217)
- bump brace-expansion from 5.0.3 to 5.0.5 in /docs/docusaurus (#1213)
- pre-release 3.3.10 (#1187)
- bump markdownlint-cli2 from 0.21.0 to 0.22.0 in the npm-dependencies
group (#1175)
- bump the github-actions group with 3 updates (#1176)
- pre-release 3.3.1 (#1165)

---
*Managed automatically by pre-release workflow.*

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
WilliamBerryiii pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Apr 24, 2026
## Pre-Release 3.3.101

### ✨ Features

- add removed maturity tier and retire owasp-docker (#1444)
- add evaluation dataset creator (#1279)
- align RAI planner with guide, remove scoring, improve UX (#1287)
- add PSGallery staleness check and BOM cleanup (#1379)
- ISA-95 network planner agent (#1177)
- auto-generate collection.md with maturity filtering (#1316)
- add folder-consistency check and standardize WARN outp… (#1350)
- add synth-data-generate prompt to data-science collection (#1419)
- add canonical deck workflow and customer-card rendering for design
thinking (#1413)
- add Figma MCP integration for DT artifact export (#1222)
- introduce `owasp-docker` (#1245)
- replace hve-core-specific references with portable discovery-based
language (#1335)
- introduce `owasp-cicd` (#1246)
- add secure-by-design knowledge skill (#1223)
- introduce `owasp-infrastructure` (#1244)
- introduce `owasp-mcp` (#1207)
- add OutputPath parameter to Invoke-LinkLanguageCheck.ps1 (#1229)
- add -OutputPath parameter to Validate-SkillStructure.ps1 (#1225)
- add maintainer-only skip-review label guard (#1293)
- add extension collections overview and integrate into getting started
flow (#950)
- add agentic workflows for automated issue triage, implementation, PR
review, dependency review, and doc-staleness detection (#1219)
- consolidate package-lock.json version sync into
Update-VersionFiles.ps1 (#1240)
- add standards code review agent and full review orchestrator (#1174)
- standardize pytest-mock as Python mocking framework (#1170)
- add Jira backlog workflows and Jira/GitLab skills (#978)
- add centralized version bump script and supply-chain attestation
(#1183)

### 🐛 Bug Fixes

- pin PowerShell-Yaml to 0.4.7 across all install sites (#1378)
- close fork-PR/workflow-file-PR secret-strip gap and normalize
upload-artifact version (#1421)
- replace stream-based lookahead with array indexing in
list-changed-files.sh (#1376)
- centralize ISO 8601 timestamp regex in CIHelpers (#1343)
- update stale documentation date in release-process.md (#1363)
- pin basic-ftp to 5.3.0 to resolve GHSA-rp42-5vxx-qpwr (#1374)
- add bot filter to dependency PR review workflow (#1362)
- resolve pip-audit findings in powerpoint, gitlab, and jira skill lock
files (#1360)
- standardize Timestamp JSON key casing across all lint result files
(#1314)
- add synchronize trigger to PR Review workflow (#1323)
- standardize timestamp in Validate-SkillStructure.ps1 to use
Get-StandardTimestamp (#1280)
- add parallel subagent dispatch and structured JSON contracts to
code-review-full (#1304)
- standardize timestamp in SecurityHelpers.psm1 to use
Get-StandardTimestamp (#1284)
- standardize timestamps in Test-DependencyPinning.ps1 and
SecurityClasses.psm1 (#1282)
- derive collection artifact counts from YAML at build time (#1275)
- standardize timestamp in FrontmatterValidation.psm1 to use
Get-StandardTimestamp (#1285)
- standardize timestamp in Markdown-Link-Check.ps1 to use
Get-StandardTimestamp (#1283)
- escape hyphens in Mermaid diagram on Collections page (#1262)
- add summary timestamp to PSScriptAnalyzer output (#1211)
- fix plugin compatibility and robustness for coding-standards code
review agents (#1289)
- standardize timestamp in Test-CopyrightHeaders.ps1 to use
Get-StandardTimestamp (#1278)
- standardize timestamp in Invoke-YamlLint.ps1 to use
Get-StandardTimestamp (#1270)
- standardize timestamp in Invoke-LinkLanguageCheck.ps1 to use
Get-StandardTimestamp (#1264)
- fix dependency-review path filters and sparse-checkout cone mode
(#1259)
- replace invalid bare tool names with official tool identifiers (#1198)
- fix broken links and remove orphaned reference in code review docs
(#1257)
- exclude Python env dirs from skill validation warnings (#1255)
- pin happy-dom and serialize-javascript to resolve Dependabot
vulnerabilities (#1253)
- remove Mermaid diagram and add missing collection cards (#1247)
- disable MCP servers by default to prevent token limit errors (#1144)
- sync package-lock.json after pre-release version bump (#1236)
- separate mermaid node declarations and add dynamic diagram generation
with tests (#1215)
- replace anchor links in meeting-analyst with bold text references
(#1201)
- remove recursive symlinks in jira and gitlab skill directories (#1233)
- validate-installation scripts now check .github/skills directory
(#1010) (#1206)
- resolve npm audit vulnerabilities via dependency overrides (#1200)
- add post-release triggers to scorecard workflow (#1186)
- add missing .md extensions to relative links in agent documentation
(#1180)

### 📚 Documentation

- broaden Security Review description beyond OWASP (#1385)
- document maintainer advisory mode and skip-review label guard (#1386)
- document ExcludePaths/OutputPath for Invoke-LinkLanguageCheck (#1383)
- CLI getting-started: clarify plugin install commands as alternatives
(-all vs base) (#1251)

### ♻️ Refactoring

- align agent and prompt folder names to collection identifier (#1210)

### 🔧 Maintenance

- pin PSScriptAnalyzer to 1.25.0 and sync stale workflow version
comments (#1389)
- bump lxml from 6.0.2 to 6.1.0 in
/.github/skills/experimental/powerpoint (#1424)
- bump @vscode/vsce from 3.7.1 to 3.9.1 in the npm-dependencies group
(#1390)
- bump the github-actions group across 1 directory with 7 updates
(#1391)
- bump follow-redirects from 1.15.11 to 1.16.0 in /docs/docusaurus
(#1356)
- upgrade Node.js from 20 to 24 and bump cspell to v10 (#1353)
- bump basic-ftp from 5.2.0 to 5.2.1 (#1324)
- update github/gh-aw-actions requirement to
536ea1bad8c6715d098a9dc1afea8d403733acfe in the github-actions group
across 1 directory (#1298)
- update security instruction attributions and compliance (#1294)
- bump the npm-dependencies group with 2 updates (#1297)
- pre-release 3.3.41 (#1252)
- streamline RAI Planner phase structure and documentation (#1273)
- bump happy-dom from 20.8.8 to 20.8.9 in /docs/docusaurus (#1237)
- pre-release 3.3.27 (#1191)
- bump pygments from 2.19.2 to 2.20.0 in /.github/skills/gitlab/gitlab
(#1234)
- bump path-to-regexp from 0.1.12 to 0.1.13 in /docs/docusaurus (#1226)
- bump the github-actions group with 4 updates (#1231)
- add missing folders and alphabetize location lists (#1193)
- bump brace-expansion (#1224)
- bump handlebars from 4.7.8 to 4.7.9 in /docs/docusaurus (#1217)
- bump brace-expansion from 5.0.3 to 5.0.5 in /docs/docusaurus (#1213)
- pre-release 3.3.10 (#1187)
- bump markdownlint-cli2 from 0.21.0 to 0.22.0 in the npm-dependencies
group (#1175)
- bump the github-actions group with 3 updates (#1176)
- pre-release 3.3.1 (#1165)

---
*Managed automatically by pre-release workflow.*

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
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7 participants