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Installation and Initial Setup

Initial Setup and Configuration

Prerequisites

  • You have a an API Key for authenticating with Developer Assist

  • Supported for VS Code version 1.100.0 or above (supports both settings.json (v1.100–1.101) and mcp.json ( v1.102+))

  • You must have GitHub Copilot installed

Installing and Configuring the Extension

  1. In the VS Code IDE main navigation, click on the Extensions icon.

  2. Search for the Checkmarx Developer Assist extension, then click Install for that extension.

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    The Developer Assist extension is installed and the Checkmarx icon appears in the left-side navigation panel.

  3. Click on the Checkmarx extension icon.

    The Checkmarx One Authentication sidebar opens:

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  4. In the Checkmarx One Authentication sidebar, click Log in.

    The Log in window opens.

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  5. Enter your activation key in the Checkmarx Developer Assist API Key field and click Log in.

    The Checkmarx Developer Assist Authentication sidebar will now show that you are logged in.

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  6. A Checkmarx Developer Assist welcome page is displayed immediately after a successful login. Scroll down and click on Mark Done.

  7. Click View > Command Pallete and enter MCP:List Servers.

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  8. In the MCP servers list, select Checkmarx Developer Assist.

  9. Click on Start Server.

  10. You can optionally adjust the Checkmarx Developer Assist Settings as follows:

    1. Add Additional Params to set up custom configuraitions, such as proxy servers or to run in debug mode.

    2. Enable/disable specific realtime scanners. By default, all scanners are enabled.

    3. For IaC realtime scanner you can change the container platform used, Docker (default) or Podman.

    4. Select the AI Assistant to use for remediation. Options are Copilot (default) or Claude.

Troubleshooting - Manually Configuring the MCP Server

In case the automatic procedure fails. You can manually configure access to the Checkmarx MCP server using the following procedure:

  1. If it does not already exist, create an mcp.json file at the following location: ${homeDir}\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\mcp.json

  2. Add the "Checkmarx Developer Assist" mcp using the following snippet, replacing <Activation_Key> - with your Developer Assist Activation Key.

    • {
   "servers":{
      "Checkmarx Developer Assist":{
         "url":"https://ast.checkmarx.net/api/security-mcp/mcp",
         "headers":{
            "cx-origin":"VsCode",
            "Authorization":"<Activation_Key>"
         }
      }
   }
}

  3. Start running the MCP server as follows:

    1. Click View > Command Pallete and enter MCP:List Servers.

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    2. In the MCP servers list, select Checkmarx Developer Assist.

    3. Click on Start Server.

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