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VS Code can browse the Nevermined Catalog and pay for services as it works, without you handing over an API key. You add one server, approve a single spending cap, and VS Code does the rest. This is the per-host walkthrough; for the concept and the other assistants, see Using the Catalog from your web assistant.

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Before you connect

1

A Nevermined account

Free, at nevermined.app. You never share an API key with VS Code — the consent cap is the credential.
2

A funded wallet

A paid call draws on a spending cap you approve during connect — a commerce grant: a capped, revocable budget funded from your own wallet, not a key. Fund that wallet first with the asset the service settles in — see Fund your wallet. You approve the cap itself in Approve the spending cap.
Start on sandbox, where you use testnet funds and nothing costs real money, before you point VS Code at live.

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Add the Catalog to VS Code

1

Add the MCP server

Open the Command Palette and run MCP: Add Server, choose HTTP (HTTP or Server-Sent Events), and paste the URL for your environment:Pick where to save it — Global → Copilot Global writes to ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json; the workspace .vscode/mcp.json and user-profile mcp.json options still work but are labelled deprecated in the guided flow. Leave the OAuth client id / secret empty — VS Code identifies itself with its own client metadata document and runs the OAuth (PKCE) flow for you, so there is nothing to register.
2

Authorize

Use the Catalog from Copilot agent mode. Browsing and free tools need no sign-in; the first paid call returns 401 and VS Code opens a browser window for authorization — Nevermined’s consent page.
This covers Microsoft’s official VS Code builds with GitHub Copilot. Other VS Code–based editors connect through their own MCP settings — see their page if listed.

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Approve the spending cap

VS Code opens Nevermined’s consent page on your first paid call — not when you add the server. Discovery and free tools need no credential. It is the one place a human is required.
1

Check who and where

The page shows the Sandbox / Live badge and who is asking. On live, the cap is real money.
2

Set the cap and validity

Set the spending cap (USDC or EURC) and how long the grant is valid for, then Grant access.
That approval is a commerce grant: it spends only from the budget you just approved, only through the Router, and you can revoke it any time. Nevermined’s routing fee comes out of the same cap, and the grant can also read your payment history and wallet balance — the cap bounds what it can spend, not what it can see.

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Make your first paid call

Ask for something only live data can answer, and name the connector so VS Code reaches for it rather than answering from memory.
1

Browse for free

Ask “list the Nevermined catalog categories” — a free tool call, no sign-in.
2

Ask it to buy

“Buy the service with slug <slug> through the Nevermined connector and show me the response.” The paid call draws on the cap you approved and returns the merchant’s response.
If VS Code answers without paying, it answered from its own knowledge — name the connector and ask for live data. More on phrasing: Catalog MCP tips.

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Disconnect

  • Revoke the budget (Nevermined side). Open Connections and disconnect VS Code. The credential stops working on its next call; discovery still works.
  • Remove the connector (VS Code side). Remove the server from wherever you saved it (e.g. ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json), or disable it from the MCP servers view.
To spend again — after you disconnect, or after a cap is used up — re-run the connect step and approve a new cap. A budget is never widened or extended in place.

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Next

Using the Catalog from your web assistant

The concept and the other assistants.

Catalog MCP — full reference

Every click path, the consent details, and every refusal code.