Option to disable MCP Servers per default

[mrclrchtr]

Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve

I would like to have the option to define mcp servers, but disable them by default to save tokens. If necessary, I would like to be able to simply switch them on.

Proposed solution

Preferably an option that is persisted in mcp-config.json.

   "jetbrains": {
      "tools": ["*"],
      "type": "sse",
      "url": "http://localhost:64342/sse",
      "headers": {},
      "disabled": true
    }

Example prompts or workflows

No response

Additional context

No response

[crmitchelmore]

Would also appreciate this feature, having to go through and update aliases to start copilot without any new mcps each time I add one is painful. This addition would be a good QOL improvement

[crmitchelmore]

Janky patch for anyone looking to bridge until this is supported

co() {
    local disabled_mcps=$(jq -r '.mcpServers | to_entries[] | select(.value.disabled == true) | "--disable-mcp-server \(.key)"' ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json 2>/dev/null | tr '\n' ' ')
    eval "copilot --yolo $disabled_mcps $@"
  }

[ericchansen]

This would really help with context bloat.

[rameshreddy-adutla]

Another approach that works well, especially in corporate environments where secrets need to stay out of config files.

The setup: empty config + per-server wrapper scripts

Keep mcp-config.json permanently empty:

{"mcpServers":{}}

The CLI starts nothing by default.

Each MCP server has a dedicated wrapper script (e.g. atlassian.sh, dynatrace-prod.sh, figma.sh) that reads credentials from macOS Keychain at runtime:

#!/bin/bash
TOKEN=$(security find-generic-password -a "copilot-mcp" -s "copilot-mcp/atlassian" -w 2>/dev/null)
[ -z "$TOKEN" ] && { echo "ERROR: token not found" >&2; exit 1; }
export JIRA_API_TOKEN="$TOKEN"
exec uvx mcp-atlassian

Scripts live in ~/.copilot/mcp-wrappers/, all chmod 700. Nothing hardcoded — secrets stay in Keychain only.

A separate catalog file holds all server definitions as a reference (not read by the CLI):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-atlassian": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "~/.copilot/mcp-wrappers/atlassian.sh",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Enabling on demand:
When a session needs a server, use /mcp to add it (copying the entry from the catalog). The CLI writes it to mcp-config.json for that session only — session ends and it goes back to empty.

This keeps sessions lightweight, secrets out of any config file, and gives full control over which servers are active per session. A native disabled: true flag in mcp-config.json would still be a cleaner long-term solution — upvoting this request.