Connect Honeycomb to VS Code
Give VS Code governed access to Honeycomb’s 38 tools through Runlayer, with identity, policy, scanning, and audit on every call.
Set up
Add Honeycomb to VS Code in four steps
Admins approve the server once. Everyone in VS Code then gets it through the same governed connection.
- 1
Add Honeycomb to Runlayer
Honeycomb isn’t in the Runlayer catalog yet, so an admin adds it by its MCP server URL.
Adding a connector manually - 2
Connect VS Code to Runlayer
Runlayer’s CLI installs the Runlayer Plugin natively in VS Code; users can also add it over MCP. With direct tool listing turned on for your deployment, Honeycomb’s 38 tools show up in VS Code’s own tool list (VS Code 1.103 or newer).
VS Code setup guide - 3
Sign in to Honeycomb
Sign in the way Honeycomb requires. Runlayer holds the credentials so they stay out of the client’s configuration.
- 4
Use Honeycomb from VS Code
Honeycomb’s approved tools appear in VS Code. Every call is checked against policy and recorded.
Tools
38 Honeycomb tools in VS Code
Runlayer policy decides which of these VS Code users can call.
Canvas agent invoke
Kick off a single-turn run of the Honeycomb Canvas agent.
Canvas agent poll response
Poll for the result of a previously-issued canvas_agent_invoke call.
Create board
Create a board (dashboard) with query, SLO, and text panels.
Create burn alert
Create a burn alert on an SLO.
Create marker
Creates a marker (a vertical annotation on charts) to mark a point or window in time, such as a deploy, incident, or config change.
Create recipient
Create a notification recipient (email, Slack, PagerDuty, or webhook) so it can be attached to triggers, SLO burn alerts, and Anomaly Detection.
Create slo
Create an SLO (Service Level Objective) backed by an auto-created SLI derived column.
Create trigger
Create a trigger that fires alerts when a query result crosses a threshold.
Control
What Runlayer can see and stop in VS Code
Some controls apply to every client at the gateway. Others depend on what VS Code exposes to Runlayer.
Gateway policy (available)
Every Honeycomb call from VS Code passes through Runlayer, where your policies can allow, alert, mask, or block it.
Audit trail (available)
Each call is recorded with the user, VS Code as the client, the tool, and the policy and scanner decisions.
Client hooks (available)
Capture supported prompts, reasoning, local and MCP tool calls, responses, and scanner decisions in real time.
Stop a call before it runs (available)
Runlayer can deny a tool call before VS Code runs it.
Block output after it runs (available)
Runlayer can block a tool’s output before VS Code’s model sees it.
Redact output in place (available)
Runlayer can mask sensitive parts of a tool’s output in VS Code and pass the rest through.
Frequently asked questions
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