Live preview URLs for every branch — controlled by Copilot and AI agents.
This extension registers the PreviewDrop MCP server in VS Code so GitHub Copilot (and any other MCP-compatible AI agent) can deploy, inspect, and destroy preview environments directly from chat — no terminal, no context-switching.
What you can do
Just ask Copilot in agent mode:
- "Preview this project on the current branch"
- "Deploy feature/payments and give me the URL"
- "Show me the build logs for the last deployment"
- "Destroy all stale previews"
Copilot reads your git remote, finds or creates the project in PreviewDrop, deploys, and returns a live HTTPS URL — automatically.
Requirements
- A PreviewDrop account — free at previewdrop.dev (2 live previews on the free plan)
- Node.js 18+ — the MCP server runs via
npx - Authentication — run once in your terminal:
This saves your API key locally. After that the extension works without any config.npx previewdrop login
How it works
The extension declares a stdio MCP server that VS Code launches automatically when Copilot needs it:
npx -y previewdrop@latest mcp
No separate install step. The latest previewdrop CLI is fetched via npx on first use and cached.
Available tools (14)
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
deploy_repo |
Single-shot. Reads your git remote, finds or creates the project, deploys, waits, returns URL |
create_project |
Add a new GitHub repo as a PreviewDrop project |
deploy |
Deploy a specific project + branch |
list_projects |
List all projects in your workspace |
list_deployments |
List deployments, filterable by project / branch / status |
get_deployment |
Get details of a deployment by ID |
redeploy |
Redeploy an existing deployment |
destroy_deployment |
Stop and remove a deployment |
get_build_logs |
Fetch build output (nixpacks / Dockerfile) |
get_runtime_logs |
Fetch container stdout/stderr |
get_project_env_vars |
List env var keys configured for a project (values masked as ***) |
set_project_env_vars |
Merge env vars into a project — values are encrypted at rest |
get_account |
Get account info (email, plan, tenant) |
get_github_app_install_url |
Returns the GitHub App install link (called automatically when needed) |