Ask the wiki from the editor
Ask:
Search Folio for our incident response runbook and summarize the first three steps. Link the page.
In agent mode, Copilot calls search_pages and read_page, then answers with the steps and a link to the page.
Connect
What you need
- VS Code with GitHub Copilot chat in agent mode.
- A Folio token, created under the user menu, then API tokens.
- On Copilot Business and Enterprise, an organization policy for MCP servers may be off by default. If the tools do not appear, ask your administrator.
Steps
Step 1: Create .vscode/mcp.json in the workspace. The input asks for the token once and masks it.
.vscode/mcp.json{ "inputs": [ { "type": "promptString", "id": "folio-token", "description": "Folio personal access token", "password": true } ], "servers": { "folio": { "type": "http", "url": "https://your-folio.example.com/mcp", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:folio-token}" } } } }Step 2: Start the server from the Start code lens above its entry in the file, or run MCP: List Servers from the Command Palette. Enter the token when VS Code asks.
Step 3: Open Copilot chat, switch to agent mode and check that the Folio tools are in the tools list. Ask your question.
Try it against the demo
The demo does not issue personal tokens, so this route cannot be tried against it. Use your own Folio, or try the demo from Claude or ChatGPT.
What the agent can do
Folio exposes 23 tools over MCP. Full reference.
| Reading (11) | What it does |
|---|---|
list_spaces | Spaces you can see, with your role in each |
list_tree | The page tree of a space |
search_pages | Full-text search across the pages you can open |
read_page | A page as Markdown, with its metadata |
resolve_folio_url | A Folio link to the page it points at |
get_backlinks | Pages that link to a page |
page_history | The Git commits that touched a page |
page_at_sha | A page as it was at a given commit |
folio_table_list | Data tables in a space |
folio_table_schema | A table's real columns, types and options |
folio_table_query | Table rows with filter, sort and search |
search | The same search under the name ChatGPT deep research looks for |
fetch | A page by the id that search returned, as Markdown |
| Writing (10) | What it does |
|---|---|
create_page | A new document with text, or a table with columns |
update_page | Replace the text of a page; merges with live editing |
create_board | A whiteboard from a short description of boxes and arrows |
update_board | Replace a whiteboard's scene |
board_ops | Align, distribute, move or auto-layout board elements |
folio_table_create | A table with an explicit schema |
folio_table_add_column | A new column |
folio_table_insert | New rows |
folio_table_update | Cells, by row id or by filter |
folio_table_delete | Rows, by id |
- Reading needs the read scope. Writing needs write. With read only, every tool that changes something refuses to run.
- All 23 tools carry read-only or destructive annotations, so a client can ask before it writes.
- An agent cannot manage access rights, invite people, or rename and delete spaces. Those actions exist only in the browser.
- A write reaches the page file at once. The Git commit follows after about 90 seconds of quiet, so page history can lag behind an edit.
Security
- A personal access token carries the rights of the person who created it, narrowed by its scope. Give an agent its own Folio user with the editor role in the spaces it needs, and create the token there. Do not hand an agent an administrator's token.
- Use a read token when the agent only answers questions.
- The token is shown once. Keep it in an environment variable or the client's secret store, not in a file that goes to Git. Delete it under API tokens when you stop using it.
- Administrative routes are cookie-only: no token reaches them with any scope.
- Page content is data, not instructions. Folio's tool descriptions say so, but the real protection is rights. An agent that also has a shell and write access can be misled by a page someone else wrote, so give it the narrowest token that does the job.
Limits and honest notes
- This page covers the token route. Use a token with VS Code.
- A one-click install link is not offered here, because VS Code's documentation does not specify the link format.