In-Depth Features


Hands On with VS Code 1.111 Autopilot (Preview) for AI Prompts

VS Code 1.111 Autopilot is not just a no-prompts mode. In testing, it handled a blocking question that still stopped Bypass.

Hands On: Building an MCP Server with VS Code AI Toolkit's New Tool Catalog

Microsoft's AI Toolkit extension for VS Code now lets developers scaffold a working MCP server in minutes. Here's what that looks like in practice -- including the parts that don't work, and a simpler path that does.

Navigating VS Code AI Toolkit and Microsoft Foundry for Agent Development

VS Code's AI Toolkit and Microsoft Foundry can speed up agent development, but real-world success often depends on picking the right runtime and region, keeping tool-driven context under control, and designing around quotas, throttling, and uneven model/tool availability.

How I Built a 'Journalist' AI Agent in VS Code to Replace Me

Having long ago seen the handwriting on the wall for the journalism profession with the debut of GenAI, I decided to just cut to the chase and build my replacement now.

In Agentic AI, It's All About the Markdown

Markdown is emerging in VS Code and Visual Studio 2026 as a version-controlled instruction layer that governs AI agents, reusable prompts and modular skills alongside traditional documentation.

Comparing Amazon Q and GitHub Copilot Agentic AI in VS Code

This head-to-head test compared Amazon Q Developer and GitHub Copilot Pro using a real-world editorial workflow to evaluate their performance as "agentic" assistants beyond simple coding. Both tools utilized the Claude 3.5 Sonnet model for these tests.

Cracking the Code of Serverless Design: Patterns that Scale and Patterns that Fail

Chad Green explores how intentional design patterns determine whether serverless architectures deliver on their promises of scalability, resilience, and cost efficiency.

Beware Project-Wrecking GitHub Copilot Premium SKU Quotas

I was in the middle of a complicated agentic AI project in VS Code when I unknowingly hit the monthly premium request quota for my Copilot Pro subscription. This triggered an automatic fallback to a less capable model, which caused a sudden and dramatic drop in output quality. That triggered hours of angst and consternation and an argumentative rift with my beloved Chat buddy. Always pay attention the fine print.

Building Real-World Web Apps with ASP.NET Core Razor Pages

Microsoft MVP Philip Japikse discusses how ASP.NET Core Razor Pages in .NET 10 provides a streamlined, page-centric development model for building maintainable web applications, leveraging modern features like dependency injection, configuration management, and environment awareness .

Hands-On: Developing a Rule-Aware QA Mode with VS Code 1.109 Agent Skills

VS Code 1.109’s agent infrastructure upgrades enable structured, stateful workflows with rule enforcement, incremental approvals and patch-based edits instead of one-shot AI responses.

Hands On with New Multi-Agent Orchestration in VS Code

A proof of concept shows how multi-agent orchestration in Visual Studio Code 1.109 can turn a fragile, one-pass AI workflow into a more reliable, auditable process by breaking long tasks into smaller, verifiable steps.

Threats from the Shadows: Securing the CI/CD Pipeline Against Modern Attacks

A deep dive into how attackers exploit overlooked weaknesses in CI/CD pipelines and software supply chains, and how .NET and DevOps teams can use automation and modern practices to detect and mitigate stealthy threats before they reach production.

Why Copilot's Auto Mode for AI Models Ignores Your Actual Task

Copilot's 'Auto' model picker in VS Code and Visual Studio currently routes to whatever model is most available and policy-compliant--not the one best matched to your prompt--while Microsoft/GitHub say task-aware routing is planned but not yet shipped.

Beyond the Magic Word: Testing VS Code 1.109's New Agentic AI Workspace Priming

The January 2026 update to VS Code (v1.109) transforms the editor into a multi-agent orchestration hub, allowing developers to automate complex, rule-based editorial workflows with proactive context recognition and parallel subagent execution.

Hands On with New GitHub Agents Tab for Repo-Level Copilot Coding Agent Workflows

GitHub's new Agents tab centralizes Copilot coding agent sessions in a repository, making it easier to launch tasks, track progress, and review the resulting pull requests in standard tooling such as Visual Studio

Hands-On Comparison: Building a Dynamic Web App in VS Code and Google Antigravity with Prompts Only

A hands-on test compared Visual Studio Code and Google Antigravity on generating and refining a simple dynamic Ticket Desk web application through prompts, revealing that workflow differences became most visible during validation and refactoring rather than initial code generation.

Navigating Career Choices in Software Engineering

Veteran Microsoft MVP Allen Conway brings over 20 years of experience designed to help developers navigate key career decisions -- from job changes to leadership vs. technical roles. Learn how to evaluate your career path with clarity and confidence.

What a Difference a VS Code Fork Makes: Antigravity, Cursor and Windsurf Compared

VS Code forks like Cursor, Windsurf, and Google Antigravity may share a common foundation, but hands-on testing shows they reflect sharply different philosophies around AI autonomy, workflow structure, and developer control.

Hands On: Testing Cursor, Windsurf and VS Code on Text-to-Website Generation

A hands-on comparison shows how Cursor, Windsurf, and Visual Studio Code approach text-to-website generation differently once they move beyond the basics and begin redesigning and extending their own work. One thing that stood out is that, despite their sophistication, these AI-assisted editors remain a long way from agentic AI.

How to Use the 'Prompt Coach' AI Agent to Create Effective Prompts for Copilot

A recursive vibe journalism experiment in which Microsoft 365 Copilot's "Prompt Coach" agent is used to wholly create an article on how to use "Prompt Coach" agent to prompt M365 Copilot.

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