VS Code extension

A VS Code extension (NovoCircle.ai-power-tools-ea, display name "AI Power Tools for Sparx EA") that registers the AI Power Tools MCP Server for Sparx EA with VS Code's built-in tool support, so the assistant in VS Code can use the tools. It also sets up the AI Power Tools skills: it adds the released-skills marketplace to VS Code, and you install the skills plugin from it.

Capabilities on that surface. VS Code with GitHub Copilot provides the MCP server and local code execution. It does not provide computer use, so the assistant hands you the steps that exist only in EA's interface. Browser control comes from VS Code's integrated browser tools. The code engines ship with the skills. See Capabilities and surfaces.

What it contains

The compiled server, the extension code that registers it, six commands and six settings. The skills are a separate VS Code plugin, ai-power-tools, installed from the marketplace the extension adds (Set up the skills).

Requirements

• Windows, with Enterprise Architect installed
• VS Code 1.99 or later
• GitHub Copilot with Agent mode, for the Copilot chat. VS Code's other chat modes list the server too
• For the skills: a VS Code that has agent plugins, measured on VS Code 1.141.2. On an older VS Code, EA: Set Up Skills reports that the marketplace setting is not available

On another platform the extension reports an error and does not register the server. On an older VS Code it reports that built-in tool support is needed.

Install

1. Download ai-power-tools-ea.vsix (address in Choosing a package).
2. Install it from a command line with code --install-extension ai-power-tools-ea.vsix, or use Extensions, ..., Install from VSIX in VS Code.
3. The extension activates on its own and needs no configuration. When VS Code has no AI Power Tools skills, it shows one notification that offers Set up skills (Set up the skills).
4. Start Enterprise Architect and open a project.
5. Open Copilot Chat, switch to Agent mode, open the tools picker, and enable AI Power Tools for Sparx EA.

Set up the skills

The skills teach the assistant how to model, validate and report in EA. VS Code does not read the AI Power Tools plugin you installed for Claude, so the skills reach VS Code through VS Code's own plugin marketplace.

EA: Set Up Skills does the setup. The extension offers it in a notification when VS Code has none of the skills, and you can run it from the Command Palette at any time. The extension counts VS Code as having skills when either of these is true:

• The ai-power-tools plugin is installed in VS Code. It is listed in the agent plugins store under %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\agent-plugins.
• An AI Power Tools skill, such as ea-start-here, is among the personal skills VS Code reads, in %USERPROFILE%\.copilot\skills, %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills or %USERPROFILE%\.agents\skills.

The setup does two things:

1. It adds NovoCircle/ai-power-tools-skills to VS Code's chat.plugins.marketplaces setting, in your user settings. Entries already in the setting stay, in order. When you have not set it, the extension first writes VS Code's own default marketplaces and then adds this one, so the defaults survive. Nothing is removed.
2. It opens the Agent Plugins view.

It does not install the plugin. In the Agent Plugins view, choose Install on ai-power-tools and trust the source when VS Code asks. VS Code installs the release that is current when you install, and keeps the plugin pinned to it. You get released skills only, the same as on Claude.

The notification also offers Don't ask again. After you choose it the extension does not offer again, and EA: Set Up Skills keeps working. Closing the notification without choosing asks again the next time VS Code starts, until the skills are present.

Two copies of the skills. VS Code's chat has a Claude mode that loads the AI Power Tools plugin installed for Claude as well as the plugin installed in VS Code. On a machine with both, that mode lists the skills twice.

Verify the install

1. Open the Command Palette and type EA:. All six commands should appear. Run EA: Show MCP Server Logs and confirm an output channel named "AI Power Tools for Sparx EA" opens with no error lines.
2. Open VS Code's Agent Customizations view. The server "AI Power Tools for Sparx EA" is listed under Extensions, and the ai-power-tools plugin, with its skills, is listed under Plugins.
3. In the chat, ask the assistant to call ping, then follow Verifying an installation.

The 128-tool limit

VS Code stops a chat request that has more than 128 tools enabled ("Cannot have more than 128 tools per request"). AI Power Tools adds seven: its six operation tools and ping. If the limit is reached because many servers are enabled, switch off tools you do not need in the tools picker, or raise VS Code's github.copilot.chat.virtualTools.threshold setting, which lets VS Code group tools. Claude surfaces have no such limit.

Update

• The extension. VS Code does not update it. The extension fetches an update manifest once a day and shows a notice when a newer version exists. Choose Download, then run Extensions: Install from VSIX... from the Command Palette, pick the downloaded file, and reload the window. When VS Code runs the server and the server finds a newer release, the server's own update notice names ai-power-tools-ea.vsix as the download.
• The skills. VS Code keeps the plugin at the release you installed. Run EA: Check for Updates: besides the extension, it reports the installed skills plugin's version against the current release. When the skills are behind, run Chat: Update Plugins from the Command Palette (the message offers it as a button), or update ai-power-tools in the Agent Plugins view, then start a new chat. Skills copied into a personal skills folder have no version the extension can read.

Uninstall

• The extension. Uninstall it from the Extensions view, or run code --uninstall-extension NovoCircle.ai-power-tools-ea.
• The skills. Uninstall ai-power-tools from the installed plugins in the Agent Plugins view. Remove NovoCircle/ai-power-tools-skills from the chat.plugins.marketplaces setting if you no longer want the marketplace, and leave the other entries.

Many tools enabled at once

VS Code allows at most 128 tools in one chat request, and refuses a request that exceeds it. The AI Power Tools MCP Server for Sparx EA uses 7 of them. The limit matters when other tool servers are enabled in the same chat, for example the Power BI modeling server (21 tools) and the GitHub server. If VS Code reports that a request has more than 128 tools, either disable the servers you do not need for the task in the tools picker, or use the setting github.copilot.chat.virtualTools.threshold, which controls when VS Code groups tools into virtual tools so that a request stays under the limit.

Limitations

• Windows only. The extension checks the platform at activation.
• The extension adds the marketplace and never installs the plugin. Installing it and trusting the source are your clicks in VS Code.
• It does not update itself. It only tells you a newer version exists.
• Changing a setting makes VS Code re-read the server definition, but the server's own logging level and diagnostics are read once, when the server starts.

Commands

The extension adds six commands under the "EA" category in the Command Palette.

EA: Restart MCP Server

Makes VS Code re-read the server definition from the extension and restart the server with it. Use it after changing eaMcp.serverPath, or to recover a server that stopped responding. Changing any eaMcp setting does the same automatically, so you rarely need the command after a settings change. It restarts the server, not Enterprise Architect. The server re-attaches to EA on its next EA call.

EA: Show MCP Server Logs

Opens the output channel named "AI Power Tools for Sparx EA" without taking focus from the editor. The channel holds the messages the extension itself writes: which server program it configured, errors such as a missing program or an unsupported platform, update-check warnings, and the marketplace change made by EA: Set Up Skills.

EA: Check for Updates

Runs the update check now, ignoring the once-a-day limit and any version you chose to skip. It reads the update manifest at the address in eaMcp.updateManifestUrl, a small file that gives the latest version, its download address and optionally release notes. It also reports the skills plugin.

Download opens the address in your browser and installs nothing. Release Notes opens the notes. Skip This Version makes the automatic daily check stay quiet about that version. A manual check still reports it.

The skills are reported in a separate message, whatever the extension outcome:

EA: Set Up Skills

Adds the released-skills marketplace to VS Code and opens the Agent Plugins view, as described in Set up the skills. When the marketplace is already in the setting, it changes nothing and opens the view.

EA: Open License

Opens the AI Power Tools license agreement bundled with the extension.

EA: Open Third-Party Notices

Opens the third-party notices bundled with the extension.

Settings

The six settings are under AI Power Tools for Sparx EA in VS Code Settings. Search for eaMcp to find them. Changing any of them makes VS Code re-read the server definition. The first three configure the server and reach it as environment settings when VS Code starts it.

There is no setting for the slow-call threshold. The server's default of 30 seconds applies.