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Developer Blogs

This post is the first in a 3-part series: Foundations (this post) Start shipping (context engineering, MCP servers, orchestration) App modernization (Java, .NET, PHP, microservices) Bookmark this post for quick reference as you start exploring Agentic DevOps. It will be...

The Azure Developer CLI (azd) now integrates with GitHub Copilot for AI-assisted project scaffolding and intelligent deployment error troubleshooting, helping you resolve common Azure errors like MissingSubscriptionRegistration, SkuNotAvailable, and StorageAccountAlreadyTaken without leaving the terminal.

The C# Dev Kit team replaced C++ Node.js addons with C# and Native AOT, removing a dependency on Python. This post walks through building a Node.js native addon entirely in C# using N-API, LibraryImport, and UnmanagedCallersOnly.

You still have to use aligned accesses, even though the pixels might not be aligned.

How to build an observable MCP Server with discoverable tools and agents.

Preallocating memory to avoid quadratic behavior.

Legacy codebases frequently contain hardcoded logic and complex build scripts that depend on specific filesystem structures, making them notoriously difficult to modernize in isolated environments. Docker Sandbox addresses this challenge through a bidirectional workspace sync that...

April 2026 brings three major Reinforcement Fine-Tuning updates: Global Training for o4-mini with lower per-token rates across 12+ regions, new GPT-4.1 model graders for richer reward signals, and a comprehensive RFT best practices guide to help you ship specialized models faster.

Aspire 13.2 brings detached mode to the CLI. Run your AppHost in the background, free your terminal, and let coding agents start, inspect, and manage your app without blocking.

In March 2026, developers came together at VS Live! Las Vegas for a full week of technical learning, hands-on exploration, and a lot of great conversations about where software development is headed next. From AI-assisted development to modern .NET, cloud-native apps, and developer...

Trespassing on system messages.

Learn what's new in Visual Studio Code 1.116 Read the full article

Azure MCP tools now ship built into Visual Studio 2022 — no extension required Azure MCP tools are now built into Visual Studio 2022 as part of the Azure development workload — no separate extension to find, install, or update. You can enable over 230 tools across 45 Azure services...

.NET MAUI 11 adds pin clustering to the Map control, automatically grouping nearby pins into cluster markers. Learn how to enable clustering, create separate clustering groups, and handle cluster taps on Android and iOS.

We’ve all been there: a bug report lands in your inbox with a title like "App crashes sometimes" and zero reproduction steps. Your morning, which was supposed to be spent building new features, is now a forensic investigation. You’re setting scattershot breakpoints, staring at...

We're shipping two major capabilities that change how security teams enable and act on application security in Azure DevOps: CodeQL default setup makes it possible to enable code scanning across your organization without configuring a single pipeline, and a new combined alerts experience...

Maybe it didn't really exit.

AI agents are quickly moving from experiments to production‑critical components of modern applications. But while many teams know how to build agents, far fewer are confident they’re hosting them on the right foundation. Most organizations start by deploying agents the same way...

Practices, Principles, and Strategic Direction Software delivery has entered a new phase. AI agents are no longer confined to autocomplete suggestions in the editor. They are opening pull requests, generating code across multiple files, proposing infrastructure changes, responding to...

A recap of the latest servicing updates for .NET and .NET Framework for April 2026.

Find out about the new features in .NET 11 Preview 3 across the .NET runtime, SDK, libraries, ASP.NET Core, .NET MAUI, C#, Entity Framework Core, container images, and more!

Update the Azure Developer CLI with a single command on any platform and switch release channels.

We are releasing patches for our self‑hosted product, Azure DevOps Server. We strongly recommend that all customers remain on the latest, most secure version to ensure optimal protection and reliability. The latest release of Azure DevOps Server is available from the download...

PostgreSQL is a powerful and hugely popular database engine, and it really comes alive across Microsoft developer platforms. You can build with PostgreSQL across Azure offerings, develop productively in Visual Studio Code with strong extensions and tooling, and connect your data to...

Aspire 13.2 brings MongoDB Entity Framework Core and Azure Data Lake Storage integrations, plus quality-of-life improvements to existing database clients.

Try out the final preview of MSVC Build Tools v14.51

Not a direct line to Bill Gates's office.

Taking advantage of special characteristics of the array.

Your agents can now draw on skills authored in three different ways – as files on disk, as inline C# code, or as encapsulated classes – and combine them freely in a single provider. Add built-in script execution support and a human-approval mechanism for script calls, and you have a...

Azure MCP Server 2.0 is now generally available, delivering first-class self-hosting, stronger security hardening, and a faster foundation for agentic workflows across Azure.

Waiting for the waiting thread to acknowledge the change.

This post announces the deprecation of MSI packaging beginning with PowerShell 7.7.

In Part 1 of this blog series set the stage for why platform engineering is being reshaped by agentic AI. (read it here) Basically we outline how instead of humans translating intent through layers of CLIs, SDKs, and bespoke workflows, capable agents can interpret natural-language...

We’re pleased to provide an update on C++23 support in the Microsoft C++ (MSVC) Build Tools. This blog post will cover the feature additions in MSVC Build Tools version 14.51, including C++23 language features, libraries, and ISO C++ Core Working Group (CWG) and Library Working Group...

March ships Foundry Agent Service GA with private networking, GPT-5.4 and GPT-5.4 Mini, Priority Processing, Phi-4 Reasoning Vision, SDK 2.0 GA across Python, JS/TS, Java, and .NET, Fireworks AI and NVIDIA Nemotron models, and third-party guardrails from Palo Alto and Zenity.

Ship local AI to millions of devices - fast, private on-device inference with no per-token costs.

Aspire 13.2 introduces isolated mode, letting you run multiple instances of the same AppHost in parallel without port conflicts. Learn how the --isolated flag solves development and testing workflows.

You can't, but you can cooperate with the other thread.

Learn what's new in Visual Studio Code 1.115 Read the full article

A new release of the Microsoft build of Go including security fixes is now available for download.

SQL MCP Server gives enterprises a secure, feature-rich way to enable agents to access data. This is accomplished without exposing the schema, risking consistency, or relying on fragile natural language parsing. SQL MCP Server is a feature of Data API builder, so deployments have a proven...

Learn how to connect your MCP server hosted on Azure Functions to Microsoft Foundry agents. This post covers authentication options and setup steps to give your AI agent access to custom MCP tools.

You can't, but you can arrange for the waiter to do it for you.

We’re excited to announce that the GitHub Copilot for Eclipse plugin is going open source under the MIT license and will be hosted on GitHub under the microsoft organization in the coming weeks. By open-sourcing the project, we’re inviting the community to contribute,...

Multi-agent systems demo beautifully. Putting them in front of real users is another story. In early prototypes, a terminal or a basic chat window is enough. But once agents start handing off to each other, pausing for approvals, or asking follow-up questions, those...

Build MCP tools with rich UI experiences using the new Fluent API for MCP Apps in the .NET isolated worker. Configure views, permissions, and security policies with just a few lines of code.

Agents bring rich, app powered UI experiences directly into Microsoft 365 Copilot chat, via MCP Apps or the OpenAI Apps SDK. Read about what customers and partners are building.

Introducing GitHub Copilot Modernization and diving into the assessment report as part of cloud modernization process

AI agents can write code but struggle to run and test it. Aspire gives your agent a codified app model to build, run, and observe your whole stack.

ASP.NET Core 2.3 will reach end of support on April 13, 2027. Learn what this means for your applications and how to upgrade to a modern supported version of .NET.

Azure Cosmos DB enables scalable AI-driven document processing, addressing one of the biggest barriers to operational scale in today’s enterprise AI landscape. Organizations continue to manage massive volumes of structured and unstructured content—contracts, regulatory filings,...

Reviewed by: Sumit Sarabhai If you've been writing SQL in Python, you already know the debate: positional parameters (?) or named parameters (%(name)s)? Some developers swear by the conciseness of positional. Others prefer the clarity of named. With mssql-python, you no longer...

Make Visual Studio floating windows work perfectly with PowerToys FancyZones. Flip one option to get independent windows, better snapping, and less friction.

The permanently ineligible list.

We've shipped a big round of updates to Agent Academy. Two new sections, a completely redone site experience, and more missions on the way. Here's what's changed. Quick recap for anyone new Agent Academy is a free, open-source curriculum for learning how to build agents with Microsoft...

After July 9, 2026, the Azure SDK for JavaScript will no longer support Node.js 20.x. Upgrade to an Active Node.js Long Term Support (LTS) version to stay secure and up-to-date.

Learn how to build and deploy MCP (Model Context Protocol) apps on Azure Functions using TypeScript. This guide covers MCP tools, resources, local development, and serverless deployment with a practical weather app example.

If the compiler is complaining about things you didn't write, find out who wrote them.

Today, we're thrilled to announce that Microsoft Agent Framework has reached version 1.0 for both .NET and Python. This is the production-ready release: stable APIs, and a commitment to long-term support. Whether you're building a single assistant or orchestrating a fleet of specialized...

File copying is not a fundamental operation, nor is it even detectable at the file system layer.

React Native Windows v0.82 is here, marking a major milestone: the legacy Paper architecture has been fully removed. All applications now run exclusively on the New Architecture (Fabric), and this release also unlocks XAML controls for community modules — so Windows apps can seamlessly...

C# 15 introduces union types — declare a closed set of case types with implicit conversions and exhaustive pattern matching. Try unions in preview today and see the broader exhaustiveness roadmap.

Aspire 13.2 ships aspire docs, a CLI for browsing, searching, and reading official aspire.dev docs from your terminal, with the same source of truth available to AI skills and automation.

Tempting but misleading.

Learn what's new in Visual Studio Code 1.114 Read the full article

The March 2026 release of the Python and Jupyter extensions for Visual Studio Code is now available. Keep on reading to learn more!

These updates include a security fix for OpenSSL packaging on Windows, parallel file installation for improved performance, and other improvements and bug fixes.

This post shares context on the delayed timing of the PowerShell 7.6 release, our learnings, and the changes the team has already begun making to improve release predictability and transparency.

We’re excited to announce the General Availability of Social Identity Provider (IdP) support for Native Authentication in Microsoft Entra External ID. This release enables developers to integrate popular social sign‑in options such as Google, Facebook, and Apple — into native and...

We introduced the Markdown editor in July 2025 to bring Markdown support to large text fields in work items. Since then, we’ve received valuable customer feedback highlighting challenges with the editing experience, particularly when switching in and out of edit mode. Many users found...

Vectors, Analytics, and the End of ETL Part 3 of 4 - The Multi-model Database Series In Part 1: The Polyglot Tax we laid out the fraud detection scenario: a transaction comes in, and before you approve or deny it you need five checks. Order history (relational). Device fingerprint...

Building enterprise solutions is shifting from writing code to directing AI agents. Instead of stitching together APIs, CLIs, and scripts, developers are increasingly describing intent and letting agents execute. For enterprise platforms like Dataverse, this creates a new requirement:...