Is it safe to expose my company's payrolls to the AI?

Yes. This connector runs entirely on your local machine or trusted enclave natively. No employee data, payload information or generated queries are routed to our servers—your API interactions occur directly from your environment straight to SmartHR's endpoints.

Can the agent calculate average payroll over time automatically?

Absolutely. Just prompt your agent: 'List all payrolls from Q2, and display the average distribution'. The agent will call the `list_payrolls` endpoint, retrieve the raw figures, do the mathematical operation independently in context, and present you a very clear table or markdown summary.

How do I look up which internal department an employee works for?

You don't need to specify the exact tool. You can simply ask: 'What department is crew member [Name] in?'. Your AI will automatically use the `list_crews` tool and cross reference the results with `list_departments` to formulate a correct response.

SmartHR MCP Server for VS Code Copilot 8 tools — connect in under 2 minutes

Name: SmartHR
Availability: InStock
Author: Vinkius

code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/chat/mcp-servers

Built by Vinkius GDPR 8 Tools IDE

GitHub Copilot in VS Code is the most widely adopted AI coding assistant, embedded directly into the world's most popular code editor. With MCP support in Agent mode, Copilot can access external data and APIs to generate context-aware code grounded in real-time information.

Get MCP Server for AI Agents

ASK AI ABOUT THIS MCP SERVER

Open in ChatGPT Open in Claude Open in Perplexity

Vinkius supports streamable HTTP and SSE.

RecommendedModern Approach — Zero Configuration

Vinkius Desktop App

The modern way to manage MCP Servers — no config files, no terminal commands. Install SmartHR and 2,500+ MCP Servers from a single visual interface.

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Classic Setup·json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "smarthr": {
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Fully ManagedVinkius Servers

60%Token savings

High SecurityEnterprise-grade

IAMAccess control

EU AI ActCompliant

DLPData protection

V8 IsolateSandboxed

Ed25519Audit chain

<40msKill switch

Stream every event to Splunk, Datadog, or your own webhook in real-time

* Every MCP server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS - a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts optimized for native MCP execution. See our infrastructure

About SmartHR MCP Server

Connect your SmartHR directory to any AI agent and empower your team to query employee data, organizational hierarchies, and payroll records securely. Interact with your organization's human capital database through natural language without ever switching tabs.

GitHub Copilot Agent mode brings SmartHR data directly into your VS Code workflow. With a project-scoped config, the entire team shares access to 8 tools. Copilot queries live data, generates typed code, and writes tests from actual API responses, all without leaving the editor.

What you can do

Employee Tracking — Call the list_crews tool to retrieve the roster of all employees and cross-reference demographic metadata
Department Hierarchies — Ask your AI to list_departments or check list_positions to understand the internal structure
Deep Employee Profiles — Perform targeted queries using get_crew_details or list_crew_dependents to fetch highly sensitive contract details
Payroll Overviews — Securely query active or historical payroll ledgers to audit compensation scaling

The SmartHR MCP Server exposes 8 tools through the Vinkius. Connect it to VS Code Copilot in under two minutes — no API keys to rotate, no infrastructure to provision, no vendor lock-in. Your configuration, your data, your control.

How to Connect SmartHR to VS Code Copilot via MCP

Follow these steps to integrate the SmartHR MCP Server with VS Code Copilot.

Create MCP config

Create a .vscode/mcp.json file in your project root

Add the server config

Paste the JSON configuration above

Enable Agent mode

Open GitHub Copilot Chat and switch to Agent mode using the dropdown

Start using SmartHR

Ask Copilot: "Using SmartHR, help me...". 8 tools available

Why Use VS Code Copilot with the SmartHR MCP Server

GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio Code provides unique advantages when paired with SmartHR through the Model Context Protocol.

VS Code is used by over 70% of developers. adding MCP tools to Copilot means your team can leverage external data without leaving their primary editor

Project-scoped MCP configs (`.vscode/mcp.json`) let you commit server configurations to your repository, ensuring the entire team shares the same tool access

Copilot's Agent mode integrates MCP tools seamlessly with file editing, terminal commands, and workspace search in a single agentic loop

GitHub's enterprise compliance and audit features extend to MCP tool usage, providing visibility into how AI interacts with external services

SmartHR + VS Code Copilot Use Cases

Practical scenarios where VS Code Copilot combined with the SmartHR MCP Server delivers measurable value.

Live API integration: Copilot can query an MCP server, inspect the response schema, and generate typed API client code in the same step

DevSecOps workflows: security teams can give developers access to domain intelligence tools directly in their editor for real-time vulnerability assessment during code review

Data pipeline development: Copilot fetches sample data via MCP and generates transformation scripts, validators, and test fixtures from actual API responses

Documentation generation: Copilot queries available tools and auto-generates README sections, API reference docs, and usage examples

SmartHR MCP Tools for VS Code Copilot (8)

These 8 tools become available when you connect SmartHR to VS Code Copilot via MCP:

get_crew_details

Retrieves details for a specific employee

list_crew_dependents

Lists dependents for a specific employee

list_crews

Lists all employees (crews) in SmartHR

list_departments

Lists all organizational departments

list_employment_types

Lists all employment types

list_establishments

Lists business establishments or office locations

list_payrolls

Lists employee payroll records

list_positions

Lists all job positions or roles

Example Prompts for SmartHR in VS Code Copilot

Ready-to-use prompts you can give your VS Code Copilot agent to start working with SmartHR immediately.

"Fetch the entire roster and list the top 3 job positions that occur most frequently."

"Retrieve the details for crew member `crew-8f192`, including their enrolled dependents."

"List all physical establishments the company operates."

Troubleshooting SmartHR MCP Server with VS Code Copilot

Common issues when connecting SmartHR to VS Code Copilot through the Vinkius, and how to resolve them.

MCP tools not available

Ensure you are in Agent mode in Copilot Chat. MCP tools only appear in Agent mode.

SmartHR + VS Code Copilot FAQ

Common questions about integrating SmartHR MCP Server with VS Code Copilot.

Which VS Code version supports MCP?

MCP support requires VS Code 1.99 or later with the GitHub Copilot extension. Ensure both are updated to the latest version. Older versions of Copilot may not expose the Agent mode toggle.

How do I switch to Agent mode?

Open the Copilot Chat panel and look for two mode options: "Ask" and "Agent". Click "Agent" to enable autonomous tool calling. In Ask mode, Copilot provides conversational answers but cannot invoke MCP tools.

Can I restrict which MCP tools Copilot can access?

Yes. VS Code shows a tool consent dialog before any MCP tool is invoked for the first time. You can also configure tool access policies at the organization level through GitHub Copilot settings.

Does MCP work in VS Code Remote or Codespaces?

Yes. MCP servers configured via .vscode/mcp.json work in Remote SSH, WSL, and GitHub Codespaces environments. The MCP connection is established from the remote host, so ensure the server URL is accessible from that environment.