@qzoft/check-list

A general-purpose MCP App that discovers and displays checklists from all markdown files in your project, rendered as an interactive checkbox UI inside VS Code Copilot Chat. Changes are saved automatically — no confirmation needed.

Available on npm: @qzoft/check-list

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• VS Code Insiders (for MCP Apps support)

Setup

Add the following to your project's .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "check-list": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@qzoft/check-list"]
    }
  }
}

That's it — VS Code will download and run the server automatically. No cloning or building required.

In Copilot Chat, ask "show my tasks" → the list_tasks tool scans the project and renders the interactive checkbox UI.

Usage

Once the server is running, you can use two tools in Copilot Chat:

• list_tasks — scans all .md files in the project directory, finds checkbox items, and displays an interactive UI grouped by file and section. Toggle any checkbox and it saves automatically.
• update_tasks — called automatically when you toggle a checkbox. Can also be called directly by Copilot to update tasks in any markdown file.

How it works

┌──────────────────────────┐
│   VS Code Copilot Chat   │
│                          │
│  "show my tasks"         │
│         │                │
│         ▼                │
│   list_tasks tool ───────┼──► MCP Server (Node.js)
│         │                │         │
│         │                │    scans project for *.md
│         │                │    parses checkboxes
│         │                │         │
│   renders iframe UI ◄────┼─────────┘
│   (task-checklist.html)  │
│         │                │
│   [checkbox toggle]      │
│         │                │
│   auto-save ─────────────┼──► MCP Server writes to file
└──────────────────────────┘

1. The MCP server recursively discovers all .md files in the project directory.
2. Each file is parsed for ##, ###, and #### section headers and - [ ] / - [x] checkbox items.
3. VS Code renders ui/task-checklist.html as an interactive iframe grouped by file.
4. Toggling a checkbox immediately saves the change back to the originating file — no save button required.

Configuration

| Variable | Description | Example | |---------------|-----------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------| | PROJECT_DIR | Root directory to scan for markdown files | ~/repos/my-project |

If neither is set, the server uses the current working directory.

Task file format

The parser recognizes ##, ###, and #### section headers and checkbox list items in any .md file:

## Today
- [ ] Write tests
- [ ] Update README

## This Week
- [x] Review PRs
- [ ] Deploy to staging

## Plan
### Decisions for Meeting
#### Sub Topic 1
- [ ] Define scope
- [ ] Review timeline
#### Sub Topic 2
- [ ] Prioritize features

Nested ### and #### sections are displayed with visual hierarchy in the UI. Checkbox items that appear before any section header are grouped under a default "Tasks" section. Non-checkbox content is preserved as-is when writing back.

The server skips common non-project directories (node_modules, .git, dist, build, etc.) during scanning.

Project structure

@qzoft/check-list
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
├── README.md
├── src/
│   ├── server.ts          # MCP server entry point
│   ├── parser.ts          # Markdown checkbox parser
│   └── writer.ts          # File discovery & read/write
└── ui/
    └── task-checklist.html # MCP App UI rendered in iframe

Learn more

• MCP Apps support in VS Code
• Model Context Protocol SDK