Apple Health in VS Code

What you need

• An iPhone on iOS 15 or later with Apple Health. Apple Watch data comes along too.
• The HealthAPI app. Free for 2 days, no card needed. Then an optional 7-day free trial when you subscribe. The preview includes 25 requests a day. When the 2 days are up, AI apps and the API stop reading your data until you choose a plan in the app. Your synced data is kept for about 5 weeks, so subscribing picks up where you left off. Pro is $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year (100 requests a day); Developer is $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year (1,000 a day). Cancel anytime in the App Store.
• VS Code with GitHub Copilot. If your organization manages Copilot, it can limit which MCP servers you can add.

Set it up in 4 steps

1. 1

   Install HealthAPI and sync

   Get HealthAPI from the App Store, open it and allow Apple Health. Your history uploads, then new data keeps syncing.
2. 2

   Add the server

   In VS Code, run MCP: Add Server from the Command Palette. Choose HTTP, paste https://healthapi.app/mcp, name it healthapi, then choose Global and Copilot Global to have it in every workspace.
3. 3

   Sign in and approve on your iPhone

   When VS Code asks you to sign in, allow it. A HealthAPI page opens in your browser with a short code. Scan its QR code with your iPhone, or enter the code in HealthAPI under Connect, check it matches, and tap Approve.
4. 4

   Ask Copilot

   In Copilot Chat, ask for something that needs your data, such as “Use HealthAPI to get my sleep for the last two weeks.” Approve the tool calls when Copilot asks.

The sign-in page labels the request an unverified app called Visual Studio Code. In a local window VS Code receives the answer on 127.0.0.1, so the page also notes that it returns to a program on this computer. In some setups, such as a remote window, it goes through vscode.dev instead, and your browser asks to open VS Code afterwards. Either way, approve it if you started it and the codes match.

Run MCP: List Servers to start, stop or restart HealthAPI. To turn single tools on or off, use Configure Tools in the chat input, or Chat: Open Customizations, then Tools.

The config files

MCP: Add Server writes the file for you. Copilot Global uses the portable format, shared with other Copilot tools:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "healthapi": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://healthapi.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

A workspace's .vscode/mcp.json and your user-profile mcp.json use VS Code's own format, with servers at the top. VS Code still reads them, though the Add Server flow marks them deprecated. Choose one of them if Copilot Global isn't offered:

{
  "servers": {
    "healthapi": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://healthapi.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

From a terminal, this adds the same server to your user profile:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"healthapi","type":"http","url":"https://healthapi.app/mcp"}'

With an API key instead

Rather not sign in? Send your API key as a header (copy it in the app under Connect, then Other tools). In VS Code's format, an input makes VS Code ask for the key the first time the server starts and store it securely, so the file stays free of secrets. Copilot Global files can't use inputs.

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "healthapi-key",
      "description": "HealthAPI API key",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "healthapi": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://healthapi.app/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:healthapi-key}" }
    }
  }
}

What to build with it

• A notebook. “Use HealthAPI to get 90 days of steps, sleep and resting heart rate, save them to health.csv, and create a Jupyter notebook that charts them.”
• A feature on real data. “Fetch one weekly summary from HealthAPI and use it to build the weekly card component in this project, with the response as a test fixture.”
• A check on a hunch. “Do I sleep less on days with evening workouts? Use the last 60 nights and show the numbers.”
• Quick questions while you code. “What was my resting heart rate this morning?”

For code that runs by itself, call the REST API with your key; the JavaScript and Python guides have starting points. All eight tools are on the MCP server page, and Cursor has its own guide.

Questions