Install Web Scraping Copilot#

If you meet the requirements, you can install Web Scraping Copilot as follows:

  1. Install uv while all Visual Studio Code windows are closed.

  2. Open Visual Studio Code, open the Command Palette (Ctrl + Shift + P), select Preferences: Open User Settings, and:

    • Set chat.mcp.access to all.

    • Set chat.mcp.autostart to newAndOutdated.

    • Optionally, enable the chat to-do list so Web Scraping Copilot can keep tasks in sync:

      • Open View → Command Palette… and run Preferences: Open Settings (JSON).

      • Add the following snippet to your user or workspace settings:

        "chat.agent.todoList": {
    "position": "default"
}

    Optionally, for the best code generation experience, configure the MCP server to use GPT-5 mini, for best code generation quality without premium models.

    To configure allowed models, open View → Command Palette… and select MCP: List Servers → Web Scraping Copilot → Configure Model Access.

  3. Install Web Scraping Copilot on Visual Studio Code. (marketplace)

Follow the tutorial to learn more.

Troubleshooting#

The MCP server fails to start#

If the MCP server fails to start, check its output by opening View → Command Palette… → MCP: List Servers → Web Scraping Copilot → Show Output.

  • If the output suggests that Visual Studio Code cannot find uv, but you have installed it, try closing all Visual Studio Code windows and starting Visual Studio Code again.

    If Visual Studio Code still cannot find uv, try rebooting your machine.

  • If you see realpath: command not found in the output, chances are you are running macOS 12 (Monterey). macOS 12 is end-of-life, consider upgrading to a newer macOS version. If you cannot upgrade, install realpath, which is required by uv.

Other issues#

If you cannot find your issue in this list, or the proposed workarounds do not work for you, please report it.