Vscode | The .NET Blog

VS Code 1.117: Agents Are Getting Their Own Git Branches and I'm Here For It

Emiliano Montesdeoca — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The line between “AI assistant” and “AI teammate” keeps getting thinner. VS Code 1.117 just dropped and the full release notes are packed, but the story here is clear: agents are becoming first-class citizens in your dev workflow.

Here’s what actually matters.

Autopilot mode finally remembers your preference

Previously, you had to re-enable Autopilot every time you started a new session. Annoying. Now your permission mode persists across sessions, and you can configure the default.

The Agent Host supports three session configs:

Default — tools ask for confirmation before running
Bypass — auto-approves everything
Autopilot — fully autonomous, answers its own questions and keeps going

If you’re scaffolding a new .NET project with migrations, Docker, and CI — set it to Autopilot once and forget about it. That preference sticks.

Worktree and git isolation for agent sessions

This is the big one. Agent sessions now support full worktree and git isolation. That means when an agent works on a task, it gets its own branch and working directory. Your main branch stays untouched.

Even better — Copilot CLI generates meaningful branch names for these worktree sessions. No more agent-session-abc123. You get something that actually describes what the agent is doing.

For .NET developers running multiple feature branches or fixing bugs while a long scaffolding task runs, this is a game changer. You can have an agent building out your API controllers in one worktree while you’re debugging a service layer issue in another. No conflicts. No stashing. No mess.

Subagents and agent teams

The Agent Host Protocol now supports subagents. An agent can spin up other agents to handle parts of a task. Think of it as delegating — your main agent coordinates, and specialized agents handle the pieces.

This is early, but the potential for .NET workflows is obvious. Imagine one agent handling your EF Core migrations while another sets up your integration tests. We’re not fully there yet, but the protocol support landing now means tooling will follow fast.

Terminal output auto-included when agents send input

Small but meaningful. When an agent sends input to the terminal, the terminal output is now automatically included in the context. Before, the agent had to make an extra turn just to read what happened.

If you’ve ever watched an agent run dotnet build, fail, and then take another round-trip just to see the error — that friction is gone. It sees the output immediately and reacts.

Self-updating Agents app on macOS

The standalone Agents app on macOS now self-updates. No more manually downloading new versions. It just stays current.

The smaller stuff worth knowing

package.json hovers now show both the installed version and the latest available. Useful if you manage npm tooling alongside your .NET projects.
Images in JSDoc comments render correctly in hovers and completions.
Copilot CLI sessions now indicate whether they were created by VS Code or externally — handy when you’re jumping between terminals.
Copilot CLI, Claude Code, and Gemini CLI are recognized as shell types. The editor knows what you’re running.

The takeaway

VS Code 1.117 isn’t a flashy feature dump. It’s infrastructure. Worktree isolation, persistent permissions, subagent protocols — these are the building blocks for a workflow where agents handle real, parallel tasks without stepping on your code.

If you’re building with .NET and haven’t leaned into the agentic workflow yet, honestly, now’s the time to start.

VS Code 1.116 — Agents App Gets Keyboard Navigation and File Context Completions

Emiliano Montesdeoca — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

VS Code 1.116 is the April 2026 release, and while it’s lighter than some recent updates, the changes are focused and meaningful — especially if you’re using the Agents app daily.

Here’s what landed, based on the official release notes.

Agents app improvements

The Agents app continues to mature with usability polish that makes a real difference in daily workflows:

Dedicated keybindings — you can now focus the Changes view, the files tree within Changes, and the Chat Customizations view with dedicated commands and keyboard shortcuts. If you’ve been clicking around the Agents app to navigate, this brings full keyboard-driven workflows.

Accessibility help dialog — pressing Alt+F1 in the chat input box now opens an accessibility help dialog showing available commands and keybindings. Screen reader users can also control announcement verbosity. Good accessibility benefits everyone.

File-context completions — type # in the Agents app chat to trigger file-context completions scoped to your current workspace. This is one of those small quality-of-life improvements that speeds up every interaction — no more typing full file paths when referencing code.

CSS `@import` link resolution

A nice one for frontend developers: VS Code now resolves CSS @import references that use node_modules paths. You can Ctrl+click through imports like @import "some-module/style.css" when using bundlers. Small but eliminates a friction point in CSS workflows.

Wrapping up

VS Code 1.116 is about refinement — making the Agents app more navigable, more accessible, and more keyboard-friendly. If you’re spending significant time in the Agents app (and I suspect many of us are), these changes add up.

Check the full release notes for the complete list.

VS Code 1.115 — Background Terminal Notifications, SSH Agent Mode, and More

Emiliano Montesdeoca — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

VS Code 1.115 just dropped, and while it’s a lighter release in terms of headline features, the agent-related improvements are genuinely useful if you’re working with AI coding assistants daily.

Let me highlight what’s actually worth knowing.

Background terminals talk back to agents

This is the standout feature. Background terminals now automatically notify agents when commands complete, including the exit code and terminal output. Input prompts in background terminals are also detected and surfaced to the user.

Why does this matter? If you’ve used Copilot’s agent mode to run build commands or test suites in the background, you know the pain of “did that finish yet?” — background terminals were essentially fire-and-forget. Now the agent gets notified when your dotnet build or dotnet test completes, sees the output, and can react accordingly. It’s a small change that makes agent-driven workflows significantly more reliable.

There’s also a new send_to_terminal tool that lets agents send commands to background terminals with user confirmation, fixing the issue where run_in_terminal with a timeout would move terminals to the background and make them read-only.

SSH remote agent hosting

VS Code now supports connecting to remote machines over SSH, automatically installing the CLI and starting it in agent host mode. This means your AI agent sessions can target remote environments directly — useful for .NET developers who build and test on Linux servers or cloud VMs.

Edit tracking in agent sessions

File edits made during agent sessions are now tracked and restored, with diffs, undo/redo, and state restoration. If an agent makes changes to your code and something goes wrong, you can see exactly what changed and roll it back. Peace of mind for letting agents modify your codebase.

Browser tab awareness and other improvements

A few more quality-of-life additions:

Browser tab tracking — chat can now track and link to browser tabs opened during a session, so agents can reference web pages you’re looking at
File paste in terminal — paste files (including images) into the terminal with Ctrl+V, drag-and-drop, or right-click
Test coverage in minimap — test coverage indicators now show in the minimap for a quick visual overview
Pinch-to-zoom on Mac — integrated browser supports pinch-to-zoom gestures
Copilot entitlements in Sessions — status bar shows usage info in the Sessions view
Favicon in Go to File — open web pages show favicons in the quick pick list

Wrapping up

VS Code 1.115 is an incremental release, but the agent improvements — background terminal notifications, SSH agent hosting, and edit tracking — add up to a noticeably smoother experience for AI-assisted development. If you’re using Copilot’s agent mode for .NET projects, these are the kinds of quality-of-life fixes that reduce friction daily.

Check out the full release notes for every detail.

Vscode | The .NET Blog

VS Code 1.117: Agents Are Getting Their Own Git Branches and I'm Here For It

Autopilot mode finally remembers your preference

Worktree and git isolation for agent sessions

Subagents and agent teams

Terminal output auto-included when agents send input

Self-updating Agents app on macOS

The smaller stuff worth knowing

The takeaway

VS Code 1.116 — Agents App Gets Keyboard Navigation and File Context Completions

Agents app improvements

CSS @import link resolution

Wrapping up

VS Code 1.115 — Background Terminal Notifications, SSH Agent Mode, and More

Background terminals talk back to agents

SSH remote agent hosting

Edit tracking in agent sessions

Browser tab awareness and other improvements

Wrapping up

CSS `@import` link resolution