Bring Case Management
to VS Code Copilot
Learn how to connect Clio to VS Code Copilot and start using 12 AI agent tools in minutes. Fully managed, enterprise secure, and ready to use without writing a single line of code.
What is the Clio MCP Server?
Connect your Clio (v4) account to any AI agent and take full control of your legal practice management and firm operations through natural conversation.
What you can do
- Matter & Case Orchestration — List and manage legal matters programmatically, monitoring their entire lifecycle from intake to resolution in real-time
- Billing & Activity Intelligence — Track billable time and expenses associated with specific matters and retrieve detailed high-fidelity invoice summaries
- Relationship CRM — Access complete profiles for individuals and company contacts (clients, counsel) to maintain a perfectly coordinated relationship ecosystem
- Communication Architecture — Access logged calls, emails, and firm-wide task lists to ensure high-fidelity oversight of all firm interactions
- Regional Flexibility — Connect across multiple data centers (US, CA, EU, AU) using specialized access tokens and regional base URLs directly through your agent
How it works
1. Subscribe to this server
2. Retrieve your Access Token from the Clio Developer Portal (App Center)
3. Identify your Region (us, ca, eu, or au) to ensure correct endpoint routing
4. Start managing your law firm's workload from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client
No more manual deal logging or digging through complex matter tables in the portal. Your AI acts as your dedicated legal operations specialist and billing coordinator.
Who is this for?
- Attorneys & Partners — instantly retrieve case summaries and check billable hour targets using natural language commands
- Legal Administrators — monitor firm-wide tasks and manage client contact directories without leaving your communication tools
- Legal Tech Developers — integrate automated matter tracking and expense reporting into custom workflows through simple AI queries
Built-in capabilities (12)
Create a new contact
Provide description and client ID. Create a new legal matter
Get details of a specific contact
Get details of a specific matter
Get current user profile information
List billable activities (time and expenses)
List billing invoices
List firm communications
List all contacts
List possible stages for matters
List all legal matters (cases)
List tasks
Why VS Code Copilot?
GitHub Copilot Agent mode brings Clio data directly into your VS Code workflow. With a project-scoped config, the entire team shares access to 12 tools. Copilot queries live data, generates typed code, and writes tests from actual API responses, all without leaving the editor.
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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
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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
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GitHub's enterprise compliance and audit features extend to MCP tool usage, providing visibility into how AI interacts with external services
Clio in VS Code Copilot
Clio and 3,400+ other MCP servers. One platform. One governance layer.
Teams that connect Clio to VS Code Copilot through Vinkius don't need to source, host, or maintain individual MCP servers. Every tool call runs inside a hardened runtime with credential isolation, DLP, and a signed audit chain.
Raw MCP | Vinkius | |
|---|---|---|
| Server catalog | Find and host yourself | 3,400+ managed |
| Infrastructure | Self-hosted | Sandboxed V8 isolates |
| Credential handling | Plaintext in config | Vault + runtime injection |
| Data loss prevention | None | Configurable DLP policies |
| Kill switch | None | Global instant shutdown |
| Financial circuit breakers | None | Per-server limits + alerts |
| Audit trail | None | Ed25519 signed logs |
| SIEM log streaming | None | Splunk, Datadog, Webhook |
| Honeytokens | None | Canary alerts on leak |
| Custom domains | Not applicable | DNS challenge verified |
| GDPR compliance | Manual effort | Automated purge + export |
Why teams choose Vinkius for Clio in VS Code Copilot
The Clio 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. All 12 tools execute in hardened sandboxes optimized for native MCP execution.
Your AI agents in VS Code Copilot only access the data you authorize, with DLP that blocks sensitive information from ever reaching the model, kill switch for instant shutdown, and up to 60% token savings. Enterprise-grade infrastructure, zero maintenance.
* 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
How Vinkius secures
Clio for VS Code Copilot
Every tool call from VS Code Copilot to the Clio MCP Server is protected by DLP redaction, cryptographic audit chains, V8 sandbox isolation, kill switch, and financial circuit breakers.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find my Clio Access Token?
Log in to the Clio App Center (Developer Portal), create a new private integration, and generate an Access Token for your account.
Does it support EU data centers?
Yes! You can specify your region (us, ca, eu, or au) via the CLIO_REGION credential to ensure correct data locality and endpoint routing.
Can I create new legal cases via AI?
Yes! The create_matter tool allows the agent to register new legal cases by providing a display number, description, and client ID.
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.
MCP tools not available
Ensure you are in Agent mode in Copilot Chat. MCP tools only appear in Agent mode.