Emiliano Montesdeoca
Microsoft MVP & Team Lead Cloud Solutions
Emiliano is an Uruguayan-Spanish software developer, Microsoft MVP in Developer Technologies, and community advocate based in Tenerife, Canary Islands. He specializes in architecting scalable cloud solutions using Microsoft technologies and currently serves as Team Lead for the Cloud Solutions Team at Intelequia Technologies. A frequent international conference speaker and passionate knowledge sharer, he translates real-world problem-solving into actionable insights for developers.
News
Chaos Testing Is No Longer Optional: Why Azure Chaos Studio Workspaces Matter
Azure Chaos Studio Workspaces turns resilience from architecture intent into measurable evidence, and that shift should change how teams release software on Azure.
SkiaSharp 4 Stable Is a Maintenance Story as Much as a Rendering Story
The new stable release is not just about features; it is about healthier release cadence and safer long-term graphics stacks.
NTLM Is Ending in Git/libcurl: Azure DevOps Server Teams Need a Real Migration Plan
The September 2026 NTLM removal is not a minor compatibility issue; it is an identity architecture deadline for on-prem Azure DevOps Server environments.
PostgreSQL Performance Work Should Happen Where You Code
The best PostgreSQL tuning workflow is not more dashboards, but tighter feedback loops inside the editor.
.NET 8 and .NET 9 End of Support: Treat This as a Delivery Deadline
November 10, 2026 is not just a support date; it is the point where postponed upgrade risk becomes explicit.
Microsoft SQL Midyear 2026: The Quiet Shift from Database Engine to AI Data Platform
The 2026 SQL update wave shows a strategic transition: SQL is no longer just a persistence layer, it is becoming the governed execution backbone for agentic applications.
MCP Build Diagnostics in CI Is the First AI Workflow That Actually Pays for Itself Fast
When Binlog MCP analysis runs directly in pull request workflows, teams reduce failure triage time and unblock developers faster.
Microsoft Foundry June 2026: From Feature Drops to a Governed Agent Platform
June’s Foundry updates signal a platform transition: distribution, tooling, memory, observability, and optimization are converging into an enterprise-ready agent operations stack.
Data API Builder Custom Paths Let You Design APIs for Humans, Not Tables
Compound REST paths in DAB are a small feature with big architectural impact for domain-oriented API design.
VS Code’s GPT-5.5 Prompt Tuning Proves a Hard Truth: Harness Design Beats Hype
The VS Code experiment with GPT-5.5 shows measurable gains come from disciplined harness and prompt iteration, not just swapping to newer foundation models.
Claude GA in Foundry Is About Enterprise Plumbing, Not Model Hype
General availability matters because it resolves procurement, governance, and residency friction that blocks production AI.
Cosmos DB Access Without Secrets Is the New Baseline
If your Cosmos DB app still depends on keys, you are already behind on operational security.
Azure SDK June 2026: Why Monthly Changelogs Are Strategic, Not Administrative
The June Azure SDK release highlights a broader reality: teams that operationalize monthly SDK cadence gain compounding advantages in reliability, security, and feature adoption.
Stop Treating Databases as Special Snowflakes: Azure DevOps + SQL Projects Done Right
The SQL projects pipeline model in Azure DevOps proves database delivery can be repeatable, secure, and testable when teams adopt code-first CI/CD discipline.
Azure Brain and the Next Reliability Frontier: A Digital Twin for Cloud Operations
Azure Brain reveals a critical architecture pattern: agentic operations only work when every downstream action consumes a shared, auditable model of platform reality.
The Best azd Updates Are the Ones That Remove Team Fragility
The latest azd cycle is less about shiny commands and more about reducing deployment chaos in real teams.
Agent Skills for .NET Is Stable, and That Changes Enterprise Agent Architecture
With Agent Skills for .NET now stable, teams can package domain expertise as governed, reusable units instead of overloading monolithic prompts.
The Real Agent UX Win Is Safe Autonomy, Not Maximum Autonomy
File access, approvals, and memory design are the practical triad for trustworthy agent behavior in production.
Agent Framework Orchestrations 1.0: Choose Coordination Patterns, Not Plumbing
With orchestration patterns now stable across Python and .NET, teams can standardize multi-agent coordination semantics instead of hand-rolling workflow control logic.
The Agent Confidence Index Should Change What You Automate Next
The data says teams trust agents most for repetitive technical toil, not for high-stakes judgment calls.
Intelligent Terminal 0.1.1 Is Starting to Show What an AI-Native Shell Experience Could Look Like
Intelligent Terminal 0.1.1 adds Bash and WSL support, a manual /fix flow, and on-the-fly model switching. It is still early, but the direction is becoming much more interesting for developers who live in the terminal.
PostgreSQL on Azure in VS Code Is Really About Tightening the Performance Loop
The newer PostgreSQL-on-Azure experience in VS Code matters because it reduces the distance between metrics, tuning guidance, query analysis, and actual developer action. That is the real performance dividend.
The May 2026 Azure SDK Release Has a Few Things .NET Developers Should Not Ignore
The Azure SDK May 2026 release is broad, but three themes stand out: Azure AI Search knowledge bases, new Agent Server libraries, and the growing cross-language maturity of the Azure SDK ecosystem.
Azure Developer CLI Keeps Becoming a Better Inner-Loop Tool
The May and June 2026 Azure Developer CLI releases add a lot, but the biggest value is how they improve the day-to-day loop: better tooling management, safer provisioning, stronger extension support, and more practical execution workflows.
Immutable Backup for Cosmos DB Is the Kind of Feature You Appreciate Too Late
Azure Backup for Azure Cosmos DB now adds immutable backups and long-term retention in public preview. The key point is not just recovery, but improving resilience and evidence preservation for regulated or high-risk workloads.
Azure Functions MCP Extension Keeps Getting More Practical
The latest Azure Functions MCP extension update adds resources, prompts, MCP Apps, stronger auth options, and a better .NET builder experience. The bigger story is that serverless MCP on Azure is getting genuinely production-friendly.
Azure Storage Migration Is Really a Tooling and Confidence Problem
The latest Azure Storage migration guidance is less about one magic migration tool and more about choosing the right combination of planning, online movement, and offline transfer. That is the practical story worth noticing.
Agentic Cloud Operations Gets Interesting When It Moves Beyond Dashboards
The latest Azure vision for agentic cloud operations is notable because it connects observability, governance, and optimization into a single loop. The real story is moving from cloud insight to controlled action.
The Cosmos DB Built-In Connector for Logic Apps Is More Relevant Than It First Looks
The Azure Cosmos DB built-in connector for Logic Apps Standard is now generally available. The key benefit is not just connectivity, but lower-latency in-process execution, change feed support, and a cleaner path to event-driven and AI-oriented workflows.
Deep Agents + Cosmos DB Show a Practical Pattern for Working Against Live Operational Data
The Deep Agents sample with Azure Cosmos DB is interesting because it shows an agent working directly on operational data, planning across multiple steps, verifying writes, and staying grounded in the same store the business already uses.
Reviewing Pull Requests Inside Visual Studio Is Exactly the Kind of Friction Reduction I Like
Visual Studio can now review pull requests end to end without leaving the IDE. That may sound incremental, but for teams living in Visual Studio all day, it removes a lot of unnecessary context switching.
Agent Harnesses Matter Because Prompts Are Not Enough
The new Microsoft Agent Framework claw and harness walkthrough is a useful reminder that real agents need a runtime shell around the model: tools, planning, memory, sessions, and a practical execution loop.
Windows App Development CLI Keeps Getting More Useful for Real Packaging Work
Windows App Development CLI v0.3.2 adds MSIX bundle support, smarter project initialization, and better automation behavior. For Windows-focused .NET teams, that makes it more practical as part of a real packaging workflow.
OpenEnv + Foundry Push the Conversation Beyond Static Agents
The new OpenEnv and Foundry story is about much more than reinforcement learning buzzwords. It is really a push toward agent systems that can be evaluated, optimized, and improved over time against real business outcomes.
The Binlog MCP Server Might Be the Most Practical AI Debugging Tool for .NET Right Now
The new Microsoft Binlog MCP Server gives AI assistants direct access to MSBuild binary logs. For .NET developers, that could turn build investigation from manual archaeology into a much faster conversational workflow.
Aspire in VS Code 13.4 Tightens the Developer Loop in All the Right Ways
Aspire in VS Code 13.4 is not just a feature update. It is a real improvement to the daily development loop with better debugging, resource visibility, panel integration, and TypeScript AppHost support.
Claude Opus 4.8 in Foundry Is Another Sign That Model Choice Is Becoming a Platform Feature
Claude Opus 4.8 is now available in Microsoft Foundry. The important part is not just one more model launch, but the continued expansion of serious model choice inside a governed enterprise platform.
PowerToys 0.100 Has More .NET Developer Relevance Than You Might Expect
PowerToys 0.100 is not a pure .NET story, but the .NET 10 upgrade, Command Palette improvements, and developer-focused workflow polish make it worth a closer look for Windows-based developers.
Agentic Modernization Is Becoming the Real .NET Conversation
The upcoming .NET Day on Agentic Modernization is interesting because it reflects a broader shift: teams no longer want a rewrite-first modernization story. They want practical ways to add AI and cloud-native patterns to systems that already matter.
AI Alone Won’t Change the Business — the System Around It Will
Jay Parikh’s latest AI platform essay is worth reading because it frames the real enterprise challenge correctly: models matter, but the lasting value comes from the governed system that builds, contextualizes, runs, and improves agents over time.
Aspire + Agent Framework Is Starting to Look Like the Real Multi-Agent Stack
The new AlpineAI sample shows what happens when Aspire and Microsoft Agent Framework are used for a real distributed multi-agent system. The important part is not the ski demo. It is the architecture pattern behind it.
The Most Interesting Visual Studio Build 2026 Announcements Are About Friction Removal
Visual Studio’s Build 2026 announcement points to a clear direction: stronger AI integration, better merge conflict handling, improved modernization flows, and fewer small inner-loop interruptions.
.NET 11 Preview 5: What I Would Actually Try First
.NET 11 Preview 5 ships improvements across the SDK, runtime, C#, ASP.NET Core, and EF Core. Here are the updates I think are most worth testing early if you build real .NET apps.
Visual Studio’s May Update Is Really About Better Control Between Idea and Change
The May Visual Studio update adds the Plan agent, better skill management, context window visibility, and stronger multi-file diff experiences. The common theme is better control over the AI-assisted inner loop.
Copilot Code Reviews in Azure Repos Are a Bigger Deal Than They Look
GitHub Copilot code reviews are coming to Azure Repos, and that matters for teams that are not ready to move everything to GitHub yet. The real value is keeping AI-assisted review inside an existing enterprise workflow.
The New Plan Agent in Visual Studio Fixes a Very Real AI Workflow Problem
The new Plan agent in Visual Studio matters because it creates a structured planning stage before implementation, which is exactly what bigger features and refactors often need.
FIDES Is the Kind of Deterministic Agent Security Story I Want to See More Of
The new FIDES capabilities in Agent Framework matter because they move prompt injection defense away from heuristics and toward enforceable policy based on labeled content and middleware checks.
Why the Layered Design of Microsoft Agent Framework Actually Matters
The new layered SDK explanation for Microsoft Agent Framework is more than architecture talk. It shows how Microsoft wants developers to move from simple loops to production-grade orchestration without throwing everything away.
Agent Skills for Python Show Why Composition Matters More Than Authoring Style
The latest Agent Skills for Python post is nominally about file, class, and inline skills, but the more important idea is composability across sources without rewriting the provider model.
Claude Fable 5 in Foundry Changes the Ceiling for Autonomous Agents
Claude Fable 5 is now in Microsoft Foundry, and the real story is not just a stronger model. It is that teams can pair long-running reasoning with Foundry's governance, memory, and deployment stack.
A WinUI Agent Plugin for GitHub Copilot and Claude Code
Microsoft released agent skills for WinUI development — scaffold, build, run, test, iterate, all with GitHub Copilot CLI or Claude Code. The key innovation: purpose-built tools that ground the agent in WinUI-specific facts.
Agent Harness, Hosted Agents, and CodeAct: This Is the Agent Framework Update I Would Focus On
The Build 2026 Agent Framework announcement is packed, but the most important threads are the harness model, Foundry hosted agents, and CodeAct for reducing orchestration overhead.
The Agent Framework Sessions From Build 2026 Worth Following
The latest Microsoft Agent Framework Build guide is useful as a map of where the platform conversation is going: hosted agents, observability, governance, multi-agent design, and open interoperability.
VS Code 1.121: Pin Favorite Models, Terminal Output Compression, Agent SSH
VS Code 1.121 adds model favorites, expanded terminal tool output compression for test runners and build tools, idle-silence timer for background terminals, and keyboard-interactive SSH in agent host.
Frameworks Only Matter When They Actually Force Better Decisions
A new Git-Ape write-up makes a useful point: architecture and governance frameworks only matter when they become delivery controls instead of passive reference material.
VS Code 1.120: Password Prompts, Context Size Picker, GitHub Metadata in Agent Host
VS Code 1.120 is a focused release for Copilot users: secure password prompt handling, model context size picker, GitHub PR metadata in agent sessions, and session archive management.
Agent Skills in Visual Studio: Teach Copilot How Your Team Actually Works
Visual Studio now supports Agent Skills — reusable instruction sets that teach Copilot your team's specific workflows, coding standards, and conventions. Define once, apply automatically.
Marketplace Is Becoming Part of the Agent Platform Story Too
Microsoft Marketplace is increasingly being positioned as part of the app-and-agent lifecycle: not just discovery, but build sourcing, distribution, monetization, and in-product surfacing.
Intelligent Terminal 0.1 Is a Serious First Shot at an AI-Native Shell
Intelligent Terminal 0.1 introduces a native agent pane, error-aware assistance, background agent tasks, and command-palette-driven agent flows. It is experimental, but the direction is very compelling.
MAESTRO, Defense-in-Depth, and Why SQL Server Is Now a Security Boundary for AI
Agentic AI introduces threats traditional STRIDE models weren't designed for. Here's how Microsoft SQL maps to the MAESTRO framework to provide a governed execution boundary.
Azure DevOps and GitHub in the AI Era: The Platform Split Is Getting Clearer
Microsoft’s latest Azure DevOps and GitHub update makes the direction clearer: GitHub is where the newest agentic workflows land first, while Azure DevOps continues to matter for hybrid and transitional enterprise realities.
NL2SQL Is the SQL Injection of the Agentic Age
Before you let an agent query your database with natural language, read this. NL2SQL looks simple until you think through schema completeness, indeterminism, and what SQL MCP Server actually solves.
Aspire 13.4 Is Supposed to Be a Small Release — It Does Not Read Like One
Aspire 13.4 brings TypeScript AppHost GA, more powerful resource commands, stronger Kubernetes support, Go integration, and AI-adjacent CLI improvements. That is a lot for a so-called small release.
Microsoft Foundry April 2026: Foundry Local GA, GPT-5.5, CodeAct with Hyperlight
April's Foundry recap is heavy: Foundry Local hits GA, GPT-5.5 arrives, Agent Framework gets OpenTelemetry tracing, CodeAct runs Python in Hyperlight micro-VMs, and the Agent Monitoring Dashboard lands.
The Handoff Pattern: When One Agent Isn't Enough
Microsoft Agent Framework's Handoff orchestration pattern lets agents decide who handles the next turn — without losing conversation context or breaking topology rules.
Your Dev Loop Is Full of Tribal Knowledge — and Aspire Has the Right Response
A new Aspire post makes a strong point: many teams do not lack tooling, they lack a consistent application model that turns hidden operational knowledge into something humans, scripts, and agents can actually use.
Aspire Multi-Repo Rollout at Scale Shows What Agentic Platform Engineering Looks Like When It Is Grounded
The latest Windows 365 Aspire write-up is interesting because it shows agentic rollout built on top of deterministic checks, metrics, and a real control plane. That is a much healthier model than freestyle automation.
Durable Workflows in Microsoft Agent Framework: From In-Memory to Azure Functions
MAF's workflow programming model now supports durable execution backed by Durable Task — here's how to build composable agent workflows that survive process restarts and scale across Azure Functions.
Hermetic Aspire End-to-End Tests Are the Kind of Pattern More Teams Should Steal
The Azure Chaos Studio testing write-up shows a very practical pattern: hermetic, ephemeral Aspire-based end-to-end environments that improve reliability for both humans and AI-assisted development.
Your Local MAF Agent Just Got a Production Home
Foundry Hosted Agents gives your Microsoft Agent Framework agent identity, scaling, session persistence, and zero-extra-wiring observability. Here's what that looks like in practice.
Building Agents Is the Easy Part — Running Them Safely Is the Hard Part
Microsoft Agent Framework and Agent Governance Toolkit pair up to enforce runtime policy, govern tool calls, and provide Merkle-chained audit logs — without touching your agent prompts.
Model Router Evals Are the Step Too Many Teams Skip
The new Foundry model router evaluation repo matters because routing decisions need to be measured against quality, latency, and cost before teams treat automatic model selection as magic.
Foundry Local 1.1: Real-Time Transcription, Embeddings, and the Responses API
Foundry Local 1.1 adds live microphone transcription, text embeddings, and Responses API support — all running locally with no cloud dependency, no network latency, no per-token cost.
Foundry Local Is Starting to Make Edge AI Development Feel Practical
The latest Foundry Local updates expand language support, Linux ARM64 support, cancellation flows, and Windows acceleration. The bigger story is that local and edge AI development is getting easier to operationalize.
dotnet new WinUI: Create Windows Apps Without Touching Visual Studio
WinUI project templates now work from dotnet new — blank apps, NavigationView patterns, and more. VS Code support, no Visual Studio required, with Fluent Design defaults baked in.
Microsoft Foundry May 2026: The Updates I’d Actually Watch Closely
The latest Microsoft Foundry roundup covers a lot, but the most important threads are trace-based evaluation, new model choice, managed isolation, and the continued rise of local and production-grade agent tooling.
.NET 11 Finally Fixes the Process API
System.Diagnostics.Process gets its biggest update in years. RunAndCaptureTextAsync, KillOnParentExit, SafeProcessHandle APIs, and full control over standard handle redirection — no more deadlock boilerplate.
The Hard Part of AI Development Is No Longer Access. It Is Operating the Right Model Well
A new Microsoft Foundry guide makes a strong case that model selection, cost control, evaluation, and lifecycle management are now the real differentiators in production AI systems.
.NET 11 Preview 4: MCP Server Template, Runtime-Async Libraries, Process API
.NET 11 Preview 4 is out. Here are the highlights that caught my eye: the MCP Server template shipping in the SDK, runtime libraries compiled with runtime-async, dotnet watch for mobile, and a major Process API expansion.
Foundry’s Observability-to-ROI Story Is What Serious Agent Platforms Need
The latest Foundry observability announcement matters because it connects tracing, evaluation, optimization, and ROI into one operating loop for AI agents.
Cosmos DB Shell Is in Public Preview — And It Has an MCP Server Built In
Azure Cosmos DB Shell is a new open-source CLI that exposes database commands as MCP tools. Your AI agents can navigate containers, run queries, and manage data using the same interface you use.
The .NET Sessions From Build 2026 Worth Your Time
The latest .NET at Build roundup points to the sessions that matter most if you care about .NET 11, agentic web apps, AI building blocks, Aspire, and modernization.
How Copilot Studio Migrated to .NET 10 WebAssembly and Got 20% Faster
.NET 10 WASM improvements aren't just for new projects. Here's what Copilot Studio measured after upgrading from .NET 8: automatic fingerprinting, WasmStripILAfterAOT by default, and real execution performance numbers.
NuGet Package Pruning in .NET 10 Is the Kind of Improvement You Feel Everywhere
NuGet package pruning in .NET 10 reduces false-positive vulnerability reports, simplifies the restore graph, and improves restore performance. It is one of those platform changes that quietly makes daily work better.
Azure SQL Can Generate Embeddings Now — In Pure T-SQL, No App Layer Needed
AI_GENERATE_EMBEDDINGS and CREATE EXTERNAL MODEL are now GA in Azure SQL Database and Managed Instance. RAG pipelines built entirely in T-SQL, no data movement required.
The Best GitHub Copilot Advice for .NET Developers Right Now Is to Stop Thinking in Features
A new .NET-focused GitHub Copilot guide makes a strong point: the best way to get value is not by memorizing Copilot modes, but by matching the tool surface to the actual job in front of you.
Agent Governance Toolkit MCP Extensions Make the Secure Path Much Easier in .NET
The new Agent Governance Toolkit MCP extensions for .NET take policy enforcement, startup scanning, and response sanitization and place them directly into the MCP server builder flow. That is exactly the kind of secure-by-default story I want to see.
Stop Hammering a Struggling Dependency: Retry Patterns for Azure Functions + Service Bus
Exponential backoff and circuit breaker patterns are now natively supported for Service Bus-triggered Azure Functions — here's how they work and why you want both.
Integrated Embeddings in Cosmos DB Remove One of the Most Annoying AI Plumbing Jobs
Integrated Embeddings in Azure Cosmos DB are now in public preview. The big win is simple: embeddings stay in sync with your data without forcing you to build and maintain a separate update pipeline.
Your AI Agent Has an Identity Problem (And Here's the Template That Solves It)
A new azd template from Curity and Microsoft shows how to build AI agents that use short-lived OAuth tokens with fine-grained scopes — so agents can never see data they shouldn't.
Private Endpoints, VNets, NSGs — Aspire Handles the Networking Now
Aspire's new Azure enterprise networking support lets you model VNets, private endpoints, NAT gateways, NSGs, and Network Security Perimeters directly in your AppHost — no infrastructure drift required.
The MSSQL Extension for VS Code Is Quietly Becoming a Much Bigger Platform
The latest MSSQL extension update adds Azure SQL provisioning, Copilot-assisted schema design, Data API builder, and notebooks. The interesting part is how much database work can now stay inside VS Code.
Aspire 13.3: Kubernetes Support, Browser Logs, and the Aspireify Skill
Five weeks after 13.2, Aspire 13.3 lands with 45 new features including first-class AKS deployment, an AI-assisted onboarding skill, browser log capture, and structured command results.
Azure Functions Skills Might Be the Fastest Way to Get Agentic Functions on the Right Track
The new azure-functions-skills preview is interesting because it does more than scaffold code. It teaches coding agents to build Azure Functions with current patterns, managed identity, and deployment-aware defaults.
VS Code 1.119: OpenTelemetry for Agent Sessions, Browser Integration, and Security
VS Code 1.119 (May 2026) adds OpenTelemetry tracing for agent sessions, browser tab sharing for agents, trust & security improvements, and a 1.119.1 security patch.
Visual Studio 2026 April Update: Cloud Agent, Custom Agents, and Debugger Agent
Visual Studio 2026 (18.5) April update brings cloud agent integration, user-level custom agents, C++ code tools GA, and a Debugger Agent that validates fixes against live runtime behavior.
SDK-Style Support for Extension Projects in Visual Studio
Visual Studio 18.5 brings officially supported SDK-style project format to VSSDK-based extensions, cutting build times by up to 75% and reducing project files to ~20 lines.
LangChain + Azure Cosmos DB for Agentic Apps and RAG
langchain-azure-cosmosdb is a new Python package that consolidates vector search, chat history, agent state checkpointing, semantic caching, and long-term memory into a single Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL backend.
Governing MCP Tool Calls in .NET with the Agent Governance Toolkit
The Agent Governance Toolkit is a .NET 8+ package for scanning MCP tool definitions for threats, enforcing YAML-based policy, and sanitizing tool output — covering OWASP MCP Top 10.
Fixing All-or-Nothing Batch Processing in Azure Service Bus
Azure Functions now supports per-message settlement for Service Bus triggers, letting you complete, abandon, dead-letter, or defer each message independently in a batch.
Azure Data Studio Is Retired: Move Your Azure SQL Workflow to VS Code
Azure Data Studio retired February 6 2025, with support ending February 28 2026. Here is the complete migration path to VS Code with the MSSQL extension.
Azure Developer CLI (azd) April 2026 Updates
azd shipped five releases in April 2026, headlined by multi-language hook support for Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, and .NET — plus azd update public preview, AI quota preflight checks, and more.
Combining API Versioning with OpenAPI in .NET 10
Asp.Versioning v10 is the first release to officially support both .NET 10 and Microsoft.AspNetCore.OpenApi, generating separate OpenAPI documents per API version out of the box.
Building an AI-Powered Conference App with .NET's Composable Stack
Microsoft built ConferencePulse — a live conference Blazor app — by composing Microsoft.Extensions.AI, DataIngestion, VectorData, MCP, and Agent Framework together. Here's how the pieces fit.
Microsoft Agent Framework Part 3: From Tools to Workflows — The Building Blocks Click Into Place
Part 3 of the .NET AI building blocks series covers the Microsoft Agent Framework — from single agents with tools to multi-agent workflows with memory. Here's what actually matters.
Removing the Monkey Work of Migration with Agentic Platform Engineering
Git-Ape walks through migrating a real AWS Terraform deployment to Azure Bicep — extracting deployment intent and remapping architecture rather than doing a 1:1 syntax conversion.
SQL MCP Server on Azure App Service — No Containers Required
The SQL MCP Server can now run on Azure App Service without Docker or Kubernetes. Here's what that means for .NET developers building AI agents that talk to SQL databases.
WinApp VS Code Extension: Run, Debug, and Package Windows Apps Without Leaving the Editor
The WinApp VS Code extension brings the full Windows App Development CLI into VS Code — run, debug with package identity, package, and sign Windows apps (WPF, WinUI, .NET, C++) without touching Visual Studio.
A2A v1 Is Here: Cross-Platform Agent Communication in Microsoft Agent Framework for .NET
The A2A Protocol v1.0 has shipped and the Microsoft Agent Framework .NET packages are updated to match — stable interoperability for connecting and exposing AI agents across providers.
Azure DevOps MCP Server April Update: WIQL Queries, PAT Auth, and Experimental MCP Apps
The Azure DevOps MCP Server gets WIQL-powered work item queries, Personal Access Token authentication, MCP annotations, and an experimental MCP Apps feature that packages common workflows into reusable tools.
SQL Server 2025 as Your Agent-Ready Database: Security, Backup, and MCP in One Engine
The final part of the Polyglot Tax series tackles the hard production problems: unified Row-Level Security across relational, JSON, graph, and vector data — plus cryptographic audit trails and MCP integration that make SQL Server 2025 genuinely agent-ready.
.NET 10 Ships with Ubuntu 26.04 LTS — Here's What's New
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (Resolute Raccoon) launched today with .NET 10 as a first-class supported toolchain. Native AOT, chiseled containers, Linux 7.0 — here's what you need to know.
Azure MCP Server Is Now a .mcpb — Install It Without Any Runtime
The Azure MCP Server is now available as an MCP Bundle (.mcpb) — download it, drag it into Claude Desktop, and you're done. No Node.js, Python, or .NET runtime required.
Azure SDK April 2026: AI Foundry 2.0 and What .NET Developers Should Know
The April 2026 Azure SDK release ships Azure.AI.Projects 2.0.0 stable with significant breaking changes, critical Cosmos DB security fixes, and a wave of new Provisioning libraries for .NET.
CodeAct in Agent Framework: How to Cut Your Agent's Latency in Half
CodeAct collapses multi-step tool chains into a single sandboxed code block — cutting latency by 52% and token usage by 64%. Here's what it means for your agents and when to reach for it.
GPT-5.5 Is Here and It's Coming to Azure Foundry — What .NET Developers Need to Know
GPT-5.5 is generally available in Microsoft Foundry. Here's the progression from GPT-5 to 5.5, what's actually improved, and how to start using it in your agents today.
VS Code 1.118: Copilot CLI Gets Session Names, Model Badges, and TypeScript 7.0 Nightly Opt-In
Visual Studio Code 1.118 is a focused release centered on Copilot CLI improvements — session naming, model badges, auto model selection, and a new option to opt into TypeScript 7.0 nightlies.
Where Does Your Agent Remember Things? A Practical Guide to Chat History Storage
Service-managed or client-managed? Linear or forking? The architectural decision that shapes what your AI agent can actually do — with code examples in C# and Python.
Aspire 13.2 Gets Bun, Better Containers, and Less Debugging Friction
Aspire 13.2 adds first-class Bun support for Vite apps, fixes Yarn reliability, and ships container improvements that make local dev behavior honest. Here's what actually changed and why it matters.
68 Minutes a Day Re-Explaining Code to Copilot? There's a Fix for That
Context rot is real — your AI agent drifts after 30 turns, and you're paying the compaction tax every hour. auto-memory gives GitHub Copilot CLI surgical recall without burning thousands of tokens.
azd Hooks in Python, TypeScript, and .NET: Stop Fighting Shell Scripts
The Azure Developer CLI now lets you write hooks in Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, or .NET. No more context-switching to Bash just to run a migration script.
Foundry Toolboxes: One Endpoint for All Your Agent Tools
Microsoft Foundry just launched Toolboxes in public preview — a way to curate, manage, and expose AI agent tools through a single MCP-compatible endpoint without re-wiring everything per agent.
Windows App Dev CLI v0.3: F5 from the Terminal and UI Automation for Agents
Windows App Development CLI v0.3 ships winapp run for terminal-based debug launches, winapp ui for UI automation, and a new NuGet package that makes dotnet run work with packaged apps.
Patch This Now: .NET 10.0.7 OOB Security Update for ASP.NET Core Data Protection
.NET 10.0.7 is an out-of-band release fixing a security vulnerability in Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection — the managed authenticated encryptor was computing HMAC over the wrong bytes, leading to potential elevation of privilege. Update immediately.
azd + GitHub Copilot: AI-Powered Project Setup and Smarter Error Fixes
The Azure Developer CLI now integrates with GitHub Copilot to scaffold your project and fix deployment errors — all without leaving the terminal.
Writing Node.js Native Addons in C# with .NET Native AOT
The C# Dev Kit team replaced C++ Node.js addons with .NET Native AOT — and the result is cleaner, safer, and only needs the .NET SDK.
VS Code 1.117: Agents Are Getting Their Own Git Branches and I'm Here For It
VS Code 1.117 ships worktree isolation for agent sessions, persistent Autopilot mode, and subagent support. The agentic coding workflow just got way more real.
Foundry's RFT Just Got Cheaper and Smarter — Here's What Changed
Microsoft Foundry shipped three RFT updates this month: global training for o4-mini, new GPT-4.1 model graders, and a best practices guide that'll save you hours of debugging.
Your AI Experiments on Azure Are Burning Money — Here's How to Fix That
AI workloads on Azure can get expensive fast. Let's talk about what actually works for keeping costs under control without slowing down your development.
Docker Sandbox Lets Copilot Agents Refactor Your Code Without Risking Your Machine
Docker Sandbox gives GitHub Copilot agents a secure microVM to run wild with refactoring — no permission prompts, no risk to your host. Here's why that changes everything for large-scale .NET modernization.
Stop Babysitting Your Terminal: Aspire's Detached Mode Changes the Workflow
Aspire 13.2 lets you run your AppHost in the background and take your terminal back. Combined with new CLI commands and agent support, this is a bigger deal than it sounds.
Azure MCP Tools Are Now Baked Into Visual Studio 2022 — No Extension Required
Azure MCP tools ship as part of the Azure development workload in Visual Studio 2022. Over 230 tools, 45 Azure services, zero extensions to install.
Pin Clustering Finally Lands in .NET MAUI Maps — One Property, Zero Pain
.NET MAUI 11 Preview 3 adds native pin clustering to the Map control. One property, separate clustering groups, and tap handling — all built in.
.NET April 2026 Servicing — Security Patches You Should Apply Today
The April 2026 servicing release patches 6 CVEs across .NET 10, .NET 9, .NET 8, and .NET Framework — including two remote code execution vulnerabilities.
Aspire 13.2 Gets MongoDB EF Core and Azure Data Lake — Two Integrations Worth Trying
Aspire 13.2 adds MongoDB Entity Framework Core and Azure Data Lake Storage integrations with zero-config health checks and service discovery. Here's what they look like in practice.
azd update — One Command to Rule All Your Package Managers
The Azure Developer CLI now has a universal update command that works regardless of how you installed it — winget, Homebrew, Chocolatey, or install script.
Azure DevOps Server April 2026 Patch — PR Completion Fix and Security Updates
Azure DevOps Server gets Patch 3 with a fix for PR completion failures, improved sign-out validation, and restored GitHub Enterprise Server PAT connections.
Azure Smart Tier Is GA — Automatic Blob Storage Cost Optimization Without Lifecycle Rules
Azure Blob Storage smart tier is now generally available, automatically moving objects between hot, cool, and cold tiers based on actual access patterns — no lifecycle rules needed.
Where Should You Host Your AI Agents on Azure? A Practical Decision Guide
Azure offers six ways to host AI agents — from raw containers to fully managed Foundry Hosted Agents. Here's how to pick the right one for your .NET workload.
Agent Skills in .NET Just Got Seriously Flexible
The Microsoft Agent Framework now supports three ways to author skills — files, classes, and inline code — all composed through a single provider. Here's why that matters and how to use each one.
Azure MCP Server 2.0 Just Dropped — Self-Hosted Agentic Cloud Automation Is Here
Azure MCP Server 2.0 goes stable with self-hosted remote deployments, 276 tools across 57 Azure services, and enterprise-grade security — here's what matters for .NET developers building agentic workflows.
.NET Aspire 13.2 Wants to Be Your AI Agent's Best Friend
Aspire 13.2 goes all-in on agentic development — structured CLI output, isolated runs, auto-healing environments, and full OpenTelemetry data so your AI agents can actually build, run, and observe your apps.
Agentic Platform Engineering Is Getting Real — Git-APE Shows How
Microsoft's Git-APE project puts agentic platform engineering into practice — using GitHub Copilot agents and Azure MCP to turn natural-language requests into validated cloud infrastructure.
Aspire's Isolated Mode Fixes the Port Conflict Nightmare for Parallel Development
Aspire 13.2 introduces --isolated mode: random ports, separate secrets, and zero collisions when running multiple instances of the same AppHost. Perfect for AI agents, worktrees, and parallel workflows.
Building Real-Time Multi-Agent UIs That Don't Feel Like a Black Box
AG-UI and Microsoft Agent Framework team up to give multi-agent workflows a proper frontend — with real-time streaming, human approvals, and full visibility into what your agents are doing.
Connect Your MCP Servers on Azure Functions to Foundry Agents — Here's How
Build your MCP server once, deploy it to Azure Functions, and connect it to Microsoft Foundry agents with proper auth. Your tools work everywhere — VS Code, Cursor, and now enterprise AI agents.
GitHub Copilot's Modernization Assessment Is the Best Migration Tool You're Not Using Yet
GitHub Copilot's modernization extension doesn't just suggest code changes — it produces a full migration assessment with actionable issues, Azure target comparisons, and a collaborative workflow. Here's why the assessment document is the key to everything.
MCP Apps Get a Fluent API — Build Rich AI Tool UIs in .NET with Three Steps
The new fluent configuration API for MCP Apps on Azure Functions lets you turn any .NET MCP tool into a full app with views, permissions, and CSP policies in just a few lines of code.
Microsoft Foundry March 2026 — GPT-5.4, Agent Service GA, and the SDK Refresh That Changes Everything
Microsoft Foundry's March 2026 update is massive: Agent Service hits GA, GPT-5.4 brings reliable reasoning, the azure-ai-projects SDK goes stable across all languages, and Fireworks AI brings open models to Azure.
SQL MCP Server — The Right Way to Give AI Agents Database Access
SQL MCP Server from Data API builder gives AI agents secure, deterministic database access without exposing schemas or relying on NL2SQL. RBAC, caching, multi-database support — all built in.
That Visual Studio Floating Windows Setting You Didn't Know About (But Should)
A hidden Visual Studio setting gives you full control over floating windows — independent taskbar entries, proper multi-monitor behavior, and perfect FancyZones integration. One dropdown changes everything.
VS Code 1.116 — Agents App Gets Keyboard Navigation and File Context Completions
VS Code 1.116 focuses on Agents app polish — dedicated keybindings, accessibility improvements, file-context completions, and CSS @import link resolution.
VS Code 1.115 — Background Terminal Notifications, SSH Agent Mode, and More
VS Code 1.115 brings background terminal notifications for agents, SSH remote agent hosting, file paste in terminals, and session-aware edit tracking. Here's what matters for .NET developers.
C# 15 Gets Union Types — and They're Exactly What We've Been Asking For
C# 15 introduces the union keyword — compiler-enforced discriminated unions with exhaustive pattern matching. Here's what they look like, why they matter, and how to try them today.
Aspire 13.2 Ships a Docs CLI — and Your AI Agent Can Use It Too
.NET Aspire 13.2 adds aspire docs — a CLI for searching, browsing, and reading official documentation without leaving your terminal. It also works as a tool for AI agents. Here's why this matters.
Microsoft Agent Framework Hits 1.0 — Here's What Actually Matters for .NET Developers
Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0 is production-ready with stable APIs, multi-agent orchestration, and connectors for every major AI provider. Here's what you need to know as a .NET developer.
Aspire 13.2's Dashboard Just Got a Telemetry API — and It Changes Everything
.NET Aspire 13.2 ships smarter telemetry export, a programmable API for traces and logs, and GenAI visualization improvements. Here's why this matters for your debugging workflow.
azd Now Lets You Run and Debug AI Agents Locally — Here's What Changed in March 2026
The Azure Developer CLI shipped seven releases in March 2026. The highlights: a local run-and-debug loop for AI agents, GitHub Copilot integration in project setup, and Container App Jobs support.
Azure DevOps Finally Fixes the Markdown Editor UX Everyone Complained About
The Azure DevOps Markdown editor for work items gets a clearer preview-vs-edit mode distinction. It's a small change that fixes a genuinely annoying workflow issue.
Bookmark Studio Brings Slot-Based Navigation and Sharing to Visual Studio Bookmarks
Mads Kristensen's new Bookmark Studio extension adds keyboard-driven slot navigation, a bookmark manager, colors, labels, and export/share capabilities to Visual Studio bookmarks.
Visual Studio's March Update Lets You Build Custom Copilot Agents — and the find_symbol Tool Is a Big Deal
Visual Studio's March 2026 update ships custom Copilot agents, reusable agent skills, a language-aware find_symbol tool, and Copilot-powered profiling from Test Explorer. Here's what matters.
KubeCon Europe 2026: What .NET Developers Should Actually Care About
Microsoft dropped a wall of Kubernetes announcements at KubeCon Europe 2026. Here's the filtered version — only the AKS and cloud-native updates that matter if you're shipping .NET apps.
SQL MCP Server, Copilot in SSMS, and a Database Hub with AI Agents: What Actually Matters from SQLCon 2026
Microsoft dropped a stack of database announcements at SQLCon 2026. Here's the stuff that actually matters if you're building AI-powered apps on Azure SQL.
Azure DevOps MCP Server Lands in Microsoft Foundry: What This Means for Your AI Agents
The Azure DevOps MCP Server is now available in Microsoft Foundry. Connect your AI agents directly to DevOps workflows — work items, repos, pipelines — with a few clicks.
Background Responses in Microsoft Agent Framework: No More Timeout Anxiety
Microsoft Agent Framework now lets you offload long-running AI tasks with continuation tokens. Here's how background responses work and why they matter for your .NET agents.
Foundry Agent Service is GA: What Actually Matters for .NET Agent Builders
Microsoft's Foundry Agent Service just hit GA with private networking, Voice Live, production evaluations, and an open multi-model runtime. Here's what you need to know.
From Laptop to Production: Deploying AI Agents to Microsoft Foundry with Two Commands
The Azure Developer CLI now has 'azd ai agent' commands that take your AI agent from local dev to a live Foundry endpoint in minutes. Here's the full workflow.
VS Code 1.112: What .NET Developers Should Actually Care About
VS Code 1.112 just dropped and it's packed with agent upgrades, an integrated browser debugger, MCP sandboxing, and monorepo support. Here's what actually matters if you're building with .NET.
Tutorials
Getting Started with Microsoft Agent Framework
Build your first multi-agent workflow with the Microsoft Agent Framework — orchestrate specialized agents, connect tools, and keep the control flow understandable in .NET.
Getting Started with Semantic Kernel
A practical first look at Semantic Kernel — the open-source SDK from Microsoft for building AI-powered .NET applications with LLMs, plugins, and memory.
Single-File Apps in .NET 10
How to build, publish, and optimize single-file executables with .NET 10 — from a basic console app to a trimmed, AOT-compiled binary.
Posts
New Design: Dark Mode and a Minimal Theme
The .NET Blog got a full visual refresh — a custom minimal dark theme built from scratch. Here's what changed and why.
We Added Multi-Language Support
The .NET Blog now publishes every post in 17 languages using automated translation — and here's how we built it into the Hugo workflow.
The .NET Blog Is Live
After months of tinkering, The .NET Blog is finally live. Here's what it is, why I built it, and where I want to take it.