15
Oct
2026
Visual Studio
New Tools, New Workflows and the Value of the Visual Studio Subscription: What We Learned at VSLive! San Diego
What happens when developers who have spent decades working with Visual Studio start rethinking how they write code, learn new skills, and expand their access to development tools? At VSLive! San Diego, we had an opportunity to find out as developers gathered for five days of technical sessions, hands-on learning, and conversations about Visual Studio, […]
The post New Tools, New Workflows and the Value of the Visual Studio Subscription: What We Learned at VSLive! San Diego appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post New Tools, New Workflows and the Value of the Visual Studio Subscription: What We Learned at VSLive! San Diego appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
14
Oct
2026
What Would You Build in Azure If You Didn’t Have to Ask for a Budget First?
Maybe you’d deploy that .NET application you’ve been working on. Try a serverless architecture. Experiment with containers. Build a proof of concept. Or spend some time exploring an Azure service you haven’t used yet. If you’re an eligible Visual Studio subscriber, you may already have a personal Azure sandbox waiting for you. Many Visual Studio […]
The post What Would You Build in Azure If You Didn’t Have to Ask for a Budget First? appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post What Would You Build in Azure If You Didn’t Have to Ask for a Budget First? appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
6
Oct
2026
Visual Studio September Update – Power Your Workflow with Your Model
Bring your own AI model with updates to BYOM, fix NuGet vulnerabilities from the Error List, explore pull requests with the Git agent, see which operand decides an if condition, and attach to Podman containers.
The post Visual Studio September Update – Power Your Workflow with Your Model appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Visual Studio September Update – Power Your Workflow with Your Model appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
30
Sep
2026
Today I will… debug a production crash
We’ve all experienced this, the desktop application is hanging, the window is greyed out, and we’re just waiting for it to start to respond. Or we’re on a website and are sure that it was going to load faster than this, but we’re just waiting the loading icon spin around and around. These sorts of […]
The post Today I will… debug a production crash appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Today I will… debug a production crash appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
23
Sep
2026
AI Is Changing How We Code. It’s Also Changing How We Learn.
AI is changing software development at a pace no one can ignore. Developers now have powerful AI tools that can help us write code, understand unfamiliar codebases, troubleshoot problems, learn new frameworks, and get answers in seconds. That is an incredible opportunity. But as these tools become more capable, I believe something else is becoming more valuable […]
The post AI Is Changing How We Code. It’s Also Changing How We Learn. appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post AI Is Changing How We Code. It’s Also Changing How We Learn. appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
16
Sep
2026
Today I will… improve test coverage
Today I want to look at how we can improve on the test coverage that we have in the Interview Coach application. This application has some unit tests in it already, but I’m sure there is room for improvement. Defining our baseline Before we start writing tests, it’s a good idea to have a baseline […]
The post Today I will… improve test coverage appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Today I will… improve test coverage appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
16
Sep
2026
Today I will… find hidden latency across a distributed .NET application
When a distributed application feels slow, the user sees one delay. The code behind that delay may run across a web frontend, backend services, databases, and external APIs. If you profile only the frontend while the backend is slow, the profiler can show that the frontend is healthy without revealing the actual bottleneck. This article […]
The post Today I will… find hidden latency across a distributed .NET application appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Today I will… find hidden latency across a distributed .NET application appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
9
Sep
2026
Stop alt-tabbing into the wrong Visual Studio
A user asked for per-solution color themes. It already ships, and it goes further than they asked. You run several instances of Visual Studio side by side, one per solution, and they all look identical. Same taskbar icon, same alt-tab thumbnail, same chrome. So, you land in the wrong one, start typing, and realize thirty […]
The post Stop alt-tabbing into the wrong Visual Studio appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Stop alt-tabbing into the wrong Visual Studio appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
2
Sep
2026
Today I will… review GitHub PRs
Today I will show you how we can tackle one of the most common tasks when working in a development team or managing an open-source project, and that is working with Pull Requests. While we’re going to be using the GitHub tooling within Visual Studio for this, the approach would be very similar with Azure […]
The post Today I will… review GitHub PRs appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Today I will… review GitHub PRs appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
2
Sep
2026
Build Azure Skills Faster with Cloud Academy, a Visual Studio Subscriber Benefit
If you’ve been looking for a practical way to build Azure skills, Cloud Academy (a QA company) gives Visual Studio subscribers hands-on learning that fits into busy schedules. Whether you’re new to Azure, expanding your cloud expertise, working towards certifications or preparing for more advanced projects, this benefit helps you learn by doing. What you’ll find in Cloud Academy The Cloud Academy benefit gives Visual Studio subscribers a flexible […]
The post Build Azure Skills Faster with Cloud Academy, a Visual Studio Subscriber Benefit appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Build Azure Skills Faster with Cloud Academy, a Visual Studio Subscriber Benefit appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
4
Aug
2026
Tell your model when to think harder
Not every question deserves the same amount of thought. Renaming a variable isn’t the same as debugging a memory leak, and they don’t need the same level of thinking. So why should your model treat them the same way every time? Starting in Visual Studio 18.9 Insiders 2, it doesn’t have to. Supported models now come with a thinking […]
The post Tell your model when to think harder appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Tell your model when to think harder appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
29
Jul
2026
Visual Studio July Update — Meet the New Agent, Powered by the GitHub Copilot SDK
There's a new Agent (Preview) in Copilot Chat, built on the same GitHub Copilot SDK that powers the GitHub Copilot CLI, that gets more done with less back-and-forth.
The post Visual Studio July Update — Meet the New Agent, Powered by the GitHub Copilot SDK appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Visual Studio July Update — Meet the New Agent, Powered by the GitHub Copilot SDK appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
29
Jul
2026
Visual Studio Administrator? Join our Private Marketplace Preview!
Organizations are increasingly looking for greater control over extensions within development environments. Driven by security, compliance, and internal governance requirements, teams want more visibility into how developers discover and acquire extensions. To address these needs, we’re excited to begin previewing Private Marketplace support in Visual Studio. Private Marketplace for Visual Studio For organizations familiar with […]
The post Visual Studio Administrator? Join our Private Marketplace Preview! appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Visual Studio Administrator? Join our Private Marketplace Preview! appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
16
Jul
2026
Pick, manage, and get the most from your models
You open the model picker, scroll past a dozen options, and pause. How are these models different? Which one should you actually use? And once you’re a few hundred messages deep, how much capacity is even left before things start dropping off? We’ve all been there. These are the kinds of questions Visual Studio now […]
The post Pick, manage, and get the most from your models appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Pick, manage, and get the most from your models appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
15
Jul
2026
Built-in Agent Skills Bring .NET and Azure Expertise into Visual Studio
Visual Studio now includes built-in Agent Skills, created by experts from the .NET and Azure teams, to help you better customize your agentic workflow and complete development tasks more efficiently, starting with the 18.8 Release. Agent Skills are reusable capabilities that enable your agent to perform structured tasks more reliably (to learn more about what […]
The post Built-in Agent Skills Bring .NET and Azure Expertise into Visual Studio appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Built-in Agent Skills Bring .NET and Azure Expertise into Visual Studio appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
15
Jul
2026
The Visual Studio Dev/Test Benefit: Freedom to Build, Test, and Experiment in Azure
One of the best parts of a Visual Studio Subscription is discovering benefits that can make your day-to-day development work easier and more cost effective. One benefit that deserves more attention is Azure Dev/Test pricing. In fact, it’s one of the most valuable benefits included with a Visual Studio Subscription. If you’re building cloud applications, testing new ideas, or maintaining multiple development environments, cloud costs can sometimes […]
The post The Visual Studio Dev/Test Benefit: Freedom to Build, Test, and Experiment in Azure appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post The Visual Studio Dev/Test Benefit: Freedom to Build, Test, and Experiment in Azure appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
14
Jul
2026
Visual Studio June Update – Track Your Usage, Trust Your Tools
The June update includes a Copilot Usage window refresh with proactive alerts as you approach your limits, MCP servers now get a trust check before they run anything new.
The post Visual Studio June Update – Track Your Usage, Trust Your Tools appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Visual Studio June Update – Track Your Usage, Trust Your Tools appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
1
Jul
2026
Automating your Visual Studio extension builds with GitHub Actions
If you’re building and maintaining Visual Studio extensions, you’ve probably ended up with some sort of build and publishing workflow – whether it’s manual, scripted, or stitched together over time. This post is for extension authors who want a simple, repeatable way to build, version, and publish their VSIX files using GitHub Actions. I’m going […]
The post Automating your Visual Studio extension builds with GitHub Actions appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Automating your Visual Studio extension builds with GitHub Actions appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
29
Jun
2026
Make Visual Studio look the way you want
Themes are personal. Some of us live in dark mode, some swear by high contrast, and some of us have very strong opinions about that one shade of blue from years ago. The new themes in Visual Studio 2026 are built on Fluent, which gives us a much more consistent and accessible foundation, but we […]
The post Make Visual Studio look the way you want appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Make Visual Studio look the way you want appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
15
Jun
2026
Review pull requests without leaving Visual Studio
Pull request integration in Visual Studio has been one of the most requested Git features. Developers have been asking for a way to open a PR, inspect the changes, discuss feedback, and finish the review without switching to the browser. The feedback on that request has played a big role in shaping this experience over […]
The post Review pull requests without leaving Visual Studio appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Review pull requests without leaving Visual Studio appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
11
Jun
2026
What’s Coming Next in Visual Studio: Our Microsoft Build 2026 Announcements
Microsoft Build kicks off today in San Francisco, June 2 and 3. If you cannot make it in person, the sessions are streaming online for free, and I want to walk you through what we are announcing for Visual Studio this week. One idea tie most of it together. Code is an asset, not just […]
The post What’s Coming Next in Visual Studio: Our Microsoft Build 2026 Announcements appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post What’s Coming Next in Visual Studio: Our Microsoft Build 2026 Announcements appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
3
Jun
2026
Visual Studio May Update – Plan, Review, Refine
There’s a particular rhythm to good development work: you think, you try, you check, you adjust. This month’s Visual Studio update leans into that rhythm. Whether you’re sketching an approach with the Plan agent before touching a single file, reviewing a wave of changes across many files, or fine-tuning the context Copilot has to work […]
The post Visual Studio May Update – Plan, Review, Refine appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Visual Studio May Update – Plan, Review, Refine appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
26
May
2026
Unlock language-specific rich symbol context using new find_symbol tool
Refactoring at scale is a time-consuming and error-prone process for developers. In large codebases, developers have relied on manual searches and incremental edits across multiple files to accomplish these tasks. Modern development workflows depend on fast and accurate code navigation to avoid these pitfalls. When developers refactor existing code, explore unfamiliar areas of a large […]
The post Unlock language-specific rich symbol context using new find_symbol tool appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Unlock language-specific rich symbol context using new find_symbol tool appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
11
Feb
2026
Roadmap for AI in Visual Studio (February)
After a busy January (catch up here), we’re shifting focus to reliability and refinement. This month is about tightening core workflows, improving agent stability, and building on the MCP foundations we’ve been laying. Agent Mode & Coding Agents Reliability is the priority this month. We’re raising the floor on agent-driven scenarios with: Better progress and […]
The post Roadmap for AI in Visual Studio (February) appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Roadmap for AI in Visual Studio (February) appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
5
Feb
2026
Performance improvements to MEF-based editor productivity extensions
If you use editor productivity extensions for Visual Studio 2026, there’s good news—they can now load faster! Extension developers with existing MEF-based editor productivity extensions should read this blog to learn about recent changes and how they might be affected. We introduced VisualStudio.Extensibility to simplify the creation of Visual Studio extensions for developers. Previously, handling threads in VSSDK-based extensions […]
The post Performance improvements to MEF-based editor productivity extensions appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Performance improvements to MEF-based editor productivity extensions appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
3
Feb
2026
Visual Studio January Update — Enhanced Editor Experience
Productivity Improvements This month, we are bringing you a series of small yet long requested and popular features to let you better control and customize your editor. Fast scrolling: Hold down the Alt key while scrolling the mouse wheel to move quickly when reviewing code or reading documentation. You can adjust the fast-scrolling speed in […]
The post Visual Studio January Update — Enhanced Editor Experience appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Visual Studio January Update — Enhanced Editor Experience appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
28
Jan
2026
Copilot Memories
Are you wasting time reviewing code for nits on code standards, project preferences, or important contribution guidelines? We know the pain. It’s all too easy for best practices and those tiny but critical team details to slip through the cracks, resulting in inconsistencies, confusion, and wasted time. But now, there’s a smarter way to ensure everyone’s always on the same […]
The post Copilot Memories appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Copilot Memories appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
15
Jan
2026
Welcome to 2026, A Growth Year for All of Us
I always enjoy the quiet stretch between Christmas and New Year’s. It’s one of the few moments in the year when things slow down just enough to reflect on what actually resonated. While many of us were unplugging, our digital team was doing the opposite, editing and publishing 19 sessions from VS Live! Orlando to […]
The post Welcome to 2026, A Growth Year for All of Us appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Welcome to 2026, A Growth Year for All of Us appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
5
Jan
2026
How AI fixed my procrastination
I struggled to get started. For ages, I kept putting off building this website, creating a new programming language for Visual Studio, and coming up with fresh color themes. Each project looked overwhelming, and I couldn’t find the time or motivation to jump in. It all just felt like too much at once. But when […]
The post How AI fixed my procrastination appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post How AI fixed my procrastination appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
22
Dec
2025
Debugging, but Without the Drama (A Visual Studio 2026 Story)
It starts the way these things always start. A red build. A failing test. And that quiet, sinking feeling of “This worked yesterday.” Meet Sam. Sam’s not a junior, not a rockstar, just a solid developer who’s shipped enough code to know that bugs don’t care how confident you feel on Monday morning. That test failure does not offer much help […]
The post Debugging, but Without the Drama (A Visual Studio 2026 Story) appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Debugging, but Without the Drama (A Visual Studio 2026 Story) appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
16
Dec
2025
Behind the scenes of the Visual Studio feedback system
Here on the Visual Studio team, our top priority is making your coding experience smoother and more enjoyable. And that begins with truly listening to your feedback. We understand that sometimes sharing your thoughts can feel like tossing bug reports and suggestions into a black hole. It doesn’t feel good, and we get it. But […]
The post Behind the scenes of the Visual Studio feedback system appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Behind the scenes of the Visual Studio feedback system appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
15
Dec
2025
Streamlining your Git workflow with Visual Studio 2026
You’re a .NET developer with a busy morning, and an Azure DevOps ticket drops: “Login endpoint 500s under load.” You’ve got to fix it, review a teammate’s feature branch, and keep your repo clean – all before lunch. Visual Studio’s Git tools turn this everyday Git workflow of creating topic branches, stashing changes, committing, and […]
The post Streamlining your Git workflow with Visual Studio 2026 appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Streamlining your Git workflow with Visual Studio 2026 appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
10
Dec
2025
Unlocking the Power of Web with Copilot Chat’s New URL Context
There are many scenarios where Copilot Chat can feel limited by the built-in model training data. Maybe you want guidance on the latest web framework, documentation, or project-specific resources—but Copilot’s responses just aren’t specific enough. For developers who rely on up-to-date or esoteric answers, this gap can be a real frustration. URL Context: Bringing the web into Copilot Chat With the new URL context feature, Copilot Chat can now access […]
The post Unlocking the Power of Web with Copilot Chat’s New URL Context appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Unlocking the Power of Web with Copilot Chat’s New URL Context appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
4
Dec
2025
Visual Studio November Update – Visual Studio 2026, Cloud Agent Preview, and more
Visual Studio 2026 is here! If you haven’t heard the news yet, we’re excited to share with you that Visual Studio 2026 is now generally available! This new version can better assist you with several performance improvements, a redesigned user experience, and a major leap in AI-driven development. Read more about it here and get […]
The post Visual Studio November Update – Visual Studio 2026, Cloud Agent Preview, and more appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Visual Studio November Update – Visual Studio 2026, Cloud Agent Preview, and more appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
4
Dec
2025
Why changing keyboard shortcuts in Visual Studio isn’t as simple as it seems
A straight look at what’s behind the keys We’ve all tried unlearning a keyboard shortcut – it feels like forgetting how to breathe. Muscle memory doesn’t mess around. We wrestle with this every time someone suggest a “quick” shortcut change. It’s not just editing a keybinding but navigating a history that makes Visual Studio so […]
The post Why changing keyboard shortcuts in Visual Studio isn’t as simple as it seems appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Why changing keyboard shortcuts in Visual Studio isn’t as simple as it seems appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
3
Dec
2025
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. […]
The post Profiler Agent – Delegate the analysis, not the performance appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
The post Profiler Agent – Delegate the analysis, not the performance appeared first on Visual Studio Blog.
2
Dec
2025