Visual Studio Blog
The official source of product insight from the Visual Studio Engineering Team
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Profiler Agent – Delegate the analysis, not the performance
In Visual Studio 2026 we introduced Copilot Profiler Agent, a new AI-powered assistant that helps you analyze and optimize performance bottlenecks in your code. By combining the power of GitHub Copilot with Visual Studio's performance profiler, you can now ask natural language questions about performance, get insights into hot paths, and quickly identify optimization opportunities. Let's walk through a real-world example of how this tool can help you make meaningful performance improvements. Benchmarking a real project To demonstrate the capabilities of the Copilot Profiler Agent, let's optimize CsvHelper, a p...
Upgrade MSVC, improve C++ build performance, and refactor C++ code with GitHub Copilot
Visual Studio 2026 introduces new GitHub Copilot capabilities to support C++ developers in three development tasks: These experiences are available now as a Private Preview in Visual Studio 2026. Install Visual Studio 2026 and join the waitlist for Private Preview today. C++ code editing tools for GitHub Copilot C++ code editing tools for GitHub Copilot bring the precision of C++ IntelliSense to Visual Studio agent mode to enable faster and more accurate codebase-wide edits. This includes: See Perform wide-sweeping refactors using C++ code editin...
Visual Studio – Built for the Speed of Modern Development
Visual Studio will adopt the Modern Support Lifecycle as a continuously updated IDE designed to deliver innovation as soon as it is ready, while maintaining the reliability and stability you count on every day with control over your build tools choices.
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...
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 feedback has helped shape this release more than any before. Since the introduction of the Insiders Channel in September, more developers have downloaded and tested this preview than any other in Visual Studio’s history. In the year leading up to this release, we fixed over 5,000 of your reported bugs and implemented 300 feature requests. That’s the most we’ve ever done, and we’re just getting started! With several performance improvements, a redesigned ...
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...