MSVC Build Tools v14.51 GA available in Visual Studio 2026 18.6

With the launch of Visual Studio 2026, we announced a Private Preview of GitHub Copilot app modernization for C++, which reduces the cost of adopting the latest version of the MSVC Build Tools. We used the feedback we received from our many Private Preview participants to make improvements that benefit all our users. After receiving feedback, we ad...

A few problems have reared their heads at every company where I’ve worked on C++ as a Software Engineer over the past 20 years. For the most part, those problems have nothing to do with the language and how it is used, but instead all the “other” stuff, like dealing with long build times, getting consistent build environments, and managing the ...

Another year and another CppCon is all wrapped up! Microsoft was pleased to once again be an exhibitor and to have several of our employees present sessions at the conference. Here are my major takeaways from the keynotes, sessions, conversations, and the general vibe. The week before CppCon, we announced Visual Studio 2026 and Mic...

  It's that time of year again! We are excited to see you all at CppCon this year, where we'll once again be delivering a variety of presentations, from the latest advancements in debugging technology to extensibility frameworks for AI agents. See the end of this post for a listing of all of the sessions involving Microsoft staff. And y...

Introducing vcpkg's integration with the GitHub dependency graph

Note: This post was co-authored with Incredibuild's Director of Product Marketing, Yohai West. We are pleased to announce that Visual Studio version 17.6 Preview 3 includes Incredibuild's most advanced developer acceleration platform: Incredibuild 10. This release includes several notable, new features that empower teams to speed up the developm...

A walkthrough for creating a GitHub Codespace, customizing the Codespace development container, and configuring Visual Studio Code for developing in a C++ project such as microsoft/vcpkg-tool.

GitHub Codespaces and Visual Studio Code lower the barrier to entry for developing C++-based applications and libraries.