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Listen Up: VS Code Insiders Gets a Podcast
Microsoft's Visual Studio Code team has launched an official audio companion to its continuously updated Insiders builds, giving developers a new way to hear how experimental features take shape before they land in stable releases.
The VS Code Insiders Podcast is positioned as a behind-the-scenes show focused on the people and decisions driving the editor's evolution.
Microsoft said he new show aims to go "beyond the release notes" with episode conversations featuring Visual Studio Code developers, product managers and community contributors. The team says the goal is to "pull back the curtain and give you an insider's look at the features, decisions, and people shaping the future of Visual Studio Code."
[Click on image for larger view.] VS Code Insiders Podcast (source: Microsoft).
The Visual Studio Code Insiders channel is where new work often appears first, and the podcast mirrors that early-access spirit. Episodes are framed as deep dives into experimental tooling, emerging extensions, and broader conversations about modern development trends, including AI-assisted coding. The team describes the show as a "backstage pass to the evolution of modern development," intended for experienced developers as well as those who like tracking where the editor is heading next.
Rather than a recap format, the podcast is structured around interviews and discussions with the people actively building forthcoming capabilities. That includes internal team members and outside contributors who help shape the open-source project.
The announcement points to several episodes to illustrate the show's scope. One installment, "Designing for Everyone: Accessibility in VS Code," features accessibility engineer Megan Rogge discussing how accessibility is incorporated into Visual Studio Code's design and engineering. Topics include screen reader support, auditory signals, and contrast themes aimed at improving usability for a wide range of developers.
Another episode, "Behind the Scenes of VS Code's Planning Agent," explores the Planning Agent feature with guest Bhavya U. The discussion centers on how the agent helps plan and execute complex coding tasks and how AI can assist in breaking down workflows into manageable steps.
A third highlighted conversation, "Building & Scaling Open Source Communities," brings in open-source maintainer Steve Francia to talk about governance, contributor experience, and approaches to sustaining long-term community growth.
Rounding out the sample set is "Beyond the Keynote: VS Code at GitHub Universe 2025" with guest Pierce Boggan. That episode focuses on what the team calls an "AI-native" direction for Visual Studio Code and how agentic capabilities may run across environments, while also walking through specific announcements tied to the GitHub Universe keynote.
For users who want to try features discussed on the show, the team recommends installing the Insiders edition, which is updated continuously as work progresses: code.visualstudio.com/insiders
The announcement also directs readers to the Insiders release notes stream for tracking changes in parallel with podcast discussions: code.visualstudio.com/updates.
Why It Matters For VS Code Users
Visual Studio Code's rapid cadence has long meant that meaningful new capabilities can appear first in Insiders builds, sometimes well before they are broadly documented. The VS Code Insiders Podcast adds a narrative layer to that pipeline, letting users hear directly from feature owners about intent, tradeoffs, and future direction. For developers who already follow monthly updates and pre-release builds, the podcast provides another channel to understand not just what is coming, but how and why it is being built.
About the Author
David Ramel is an editor and writer at Converge 360.