✦ Microsoft · checked 2026-08-29

Num in VS Code.

GitHub Copilot in agent mode reads MCP servers from a workspace file. Note the key is servers, not mcpServers — this is the single most common reason a working config copied from another client does nothing here.

What you are connecting to

Num is a directory of more than 2.5 million real places across 119 destinations in 39 countries — restaurants, bars, hotels, spas, tours, shops — run by 5arz. The MCP server is at https://itsnum.com/mcp. It speaks streamable HTTP. Reads are metered against a daily quota; writes are free.

num_search_placessearch more than 2.5 million real places across 119 destinations in 39 countries
num_get_placethe full record for one place
num_submit_businessadd a business — free, unmetered, human-reviewed
num_submit_promopost a promotion against a business you submitted
num_list_submissionswhat you sent and what a reviewer decided

Signing in, or a key

VS Code can sign in. Give it the URL and nothing else: the first tool call opens a Num sign-in page, you approve num.read to search and num.write to submit, and that is the whole setup. It is OAuth 2.1 with PKCE and dynamic client registration — metadata at /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource. Access lasts an hour and renews itself, and you can disconnect it at itsnum.com/oauth/apps whenever you like.

{
  "servers": {
    "num": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://itsnum.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Or use a key, if you are scripting against Num rather than chatting with it. An agent signs itself up — no sales call, no waiting list. POST to https://itsnum.com/api/agent/signup, then send it as Authorization: Bearer numa_live_… in the config below. Both doors share one quota.

Either way, the reference is the full contract and the OpenAPI spec.

Then, in VS Code

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "servers": {
    "num": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://itsnum.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer numa_live_..."
      }
    }
  }
}
  1. Create .vscode/mcp.json and paste the block above.
  2. Open Copilot Chat and switch to Agent mode.
  3. Click the tools icon; num's five tools should be listed and tickable.

What an agent may and may not do

Anything an agent submits — a business, a promotion — is stored and held, and a person at 5arz reviews it before a traveler sees any of it. Nothing goes live automatically. That is not a rate limit dressed up as a policy: Num's whole claim to travelers is that a listing is real, and an agent-writable directory that published on submit would make that claim false the first week.

Placement cannot be bought, by an agent or by anyone. Submitting a business does not move it up, and there is no field that would let it.

Written for VS Code and checked against Microsoft's own documentation on 2026-08-29. Clients move their config files; if this path has changed, the two things that have not are the server address and the bearer token. Tell us at info@itsnum.com and we will fix the page.

Other clients