Visual Studio Blog
The official source of product insight from the Visual Studio Engineering Team
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Visual Studio 2026 is here: faster, smarter, and a hit with early adopters
Dear developers, We’re thrilled to announce that Visual Studio 2026 is now generally available! This is a moment we’ve built side by side with you. Your feed...
Latest posts
Spend Less Time Upgrading, More Time Coding in Visual Studio 2026
In the past, moving to the next major version of Visual Studio could take hours, sometimes days, to recreate your dev environment the way you like it. Visual Studio 2026 makes it easier than ever to stay current with the latest productivity features, performance improvements, and security fixes all without disrupting your flow. With the new Visual Studio install experience, you can effortlessly recreate your previous Visual Studio 2022 environment. Your workloads, SDKs, toolsets, extensions and settings are automatically copied and configured, so everything you need to build and continue developing your project i...
Azure MCP Server Now Built-In with Visual Studio 2026: A New Era for Agentic Workflows
Managing cloud resources often means juggling multiple tools, writing custom scripts, and switching contexts between your IDE and cloud management portals. These extra steps slow development and make it harder to build intelligent, secure applications efficiently. We’re excited to announce that Azure MCP Server (Model Context Protocol) tools are now generally available out-of-the-box in Visual Studio 2026, bringing agentic cloud automation directly into your trusted IDE. This integration empowers developers to build intelligent, secure applications faster, with less complexity and more confidence. Why It ...
A first look at the all‑new UX in Visual Studio 2026
Visual Studio 2026 introduces a refreshed user experience, thoughtfully crafted for clarity, accessibility, and a clean interface that feels right at home on Windows. This update is the result of extensive collaboration with developers and incorporates valuable feedback from the community. We’ve improved typography, iconography, and the overall layout to minimize distractions and keep your code front and center. Each update is designed to support modern workflows, making Visual Studio a more intuitive, consistent, and personal experience. Download the Insiders release and try our new visual improvements, AI in...
Introducing Copilot auto model selection (preview)
Faster responses, a lower chance of rate limiting, and 10% off premium requests for paid users - auto picks the best available model for each request based on current capacity and performance. With auto, you don't need to choose a specific model. Copilot automatically selects the best one for your task. Auto model selection in Chat is rolling out in preview to all GitHub Copilot users. How auto model selection works Auto selects the best model to ensure that you get the optimal performance and reduce the likelihood of rate limits. Auto will choose between GPT-5, GPT-5 mini, GPT-4.1, Sonnet 4.5, and Haiku 4.5 an...
Roadmap for AI in Visual Studio (November)
Today, we’re excited to share our public roadmap, which outlines the next steps in evolving Visual Studio with AI-powered agentic experiences. With every month, we aim to deliver smarter, faster, and more intuitive tools that enhance your coding experience. Disclaimer: The items outlined here represent ongoing work for the month. They are not commitments or guarantees for delivery within the current month. Upvote the features you or your organization care about most, so we know what to prioritize. With that said, here is what we are working on! New Agents We’re streamlining how you find and switch between mo...
Join us at .NET Conf: Dive into the future of development with Visual Studio 2026
We're thrilled to invite you to one of the most exciting events in the .NET ecosystem: .NET Conf. It runs from November 11th through the 13th and you’re invited! This annual virtual conference is a must-attend for developers, architects, and enthusiasts looking to level up their skills and stay ahead of the curve in .NET and Visual Studio development. What to expect at .NET Conf .NET Conf brings together experts from Microsoft and the broader community to share insights, best practices, and the latest innovations. Whether you're building web apps, mobile solutions, cloud services, or anything in between,...
Visual Studio October Update – new models, memories, planning, and more
The October 2025 update for Visual Studio 2022 (v17.14) is now available. In this month, we are bringing you improvements to model choices and agentic flows. New Models We now have Claude Sonnet 4.5  and Claude Haiku 4.5 available in the chat window. This means the latest innovations for driving your agentic workflows is right at your fingertips. Memories For Copilot to work effectively for your unique team and repository, it needs to learn about your project and team best practices. Copilot memories enable Copilot to understand and apply your project's specific coding standards, making it project...
Introducing Planning in Visual Studio (Public Preview)
Quick prompts are great for small fixes, but they fall short on big projects. You end up rewriting instructions, tweaking them constantly, and hoping the model stays on track. It gives Copilot a visible, structured path to follow, one that updates as it works and keeps you in control at every step. In Agent Mode, Copilot can now create plans that research your codebase, break down big tasks, and run them step by step while iterating along the way. The result is a more predictable and transparent workflow that helps you understand exactly what it’s doing. How It Works Planning uses transparent tool ca...
Modernizing Visual Studio Extension Compatibility: Effortless Migration for Extension Developers and Users
We have great news for extension users and developers: Visual Studio 2026 is introducing an extension compatibility model designed specifically to make your life easier. Our top priority is to ensure that your extensions continue to work seamlessly across Visual Studio releases - with no extra effort required from you. For users: extensions that work in Visual Studio 2022 will just automatically work in Visual Studio 2026. And when upgrading to Visual Studio 2026 the Installer will install most extensions you’re using in Visual Studio 2022. For extension developers, gone are the days of needing to update versi...