Skip to main content

Giving Copilot Agent in Visual Studio a try

After using the GitHub Copilot Agent mode for some time in VS Code, I finally found some time to give it a try in Visual Studio. Agent mode got introduced as part of the 17.14 release so if you are still using an older Visual Studio version, please update first.

Remark: Other interesting AI features in the same release are Next Edit Suggestions and AI comment generation.

Let’s dive in!

  • Open Visual Studio and go to the GitHub Copilot Chat window:

 

  • Click on the dropdown icon next to Ask and choose Agent:

Remark: Notice that the Edits feature has disappeared. So you only have Ask or Agent. I don’t know if the feature is still there, but at least I couldn’t find it…

  • Now we can ask the agent to perform specific tasks or let it figure out a solution based on a PRD (Product Requirement Document) or similar you’ve provided. So far so good.
  • The not-so-secret superpower of agents is that they are not limited to your IDE but can interact with the outside world. Out-of-the-box, you get access to MCP tools that can interact with GitHub:

 

  • Of course you are not limited to GitHub only and we can add other tools as well. Therefore create a .mcp.json file in your solution folder.
    • Notice the . in .mcp.json. This is not a typo!
    • The mcp configuration can be stored in multiple places. Dome of these locations require .mcp.json while others require mcp.json. Don't ask me why!

 

    • In our MCP configuration we can point to multiple MCP servers. STDIO, SSE and HTTP based servers are supported.
    • After the file is saved and if the configuration is valid Github Copilot Agent will restart and the tools become available:

     

    • In case it doesn’t work, have a look at the GitHub Copilot information in the output window:

     

     

    If you prefer a video, here is a good starting point:

    More information

    GitHub Copilot Agent mode (Preview)

    Copilot Agent mode is GA- What has changed?

    Agent mode for every developer  - Microsoft for Developers

    Visual Studio 2022 v17.14 is now generally available! - Visual Studio Blog

    Use agent mode - Visual Studio (Windows) | Microsoft Learn

    Use MCP servers (Preview) - Visual Studio (Windows) | Microsoft Learn

    Labels:

    Popular posts from this blog

    Kubernetes–Limit your environmental impact

    Reducing the carbon footprint and CO2 emission of our (cloud) workloads, is a responsibility of all of us. If you are running a Kubernetes cluster, have a look at Kube-Green . kube-green is a simple Kubernetes operator that automatically shuts down (some of) your pods when you don't need them. A single pod produces about 11 Kg CO2eq per year( here the calculation). Reason enough to give it a try! Installing kube-green in your cluster The easiest way to install the operator in your cluster is through kubectl. We first need to install a cert-manager: kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.14.5/cert-manager.yaml Remark: Wait a minute before you continue as it can take some time before the cert-manager is up & running inside your cluster. Now we can install the kube-green operator: kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kube-green/kube-green/releases/latest/download/kube-green.yaml Now in the namespace where we want t...
    Read more

    Azure DevOps/ GitHub emoji

    I’m really bad at remembering emoji’s. So here is cheat sheet with all emoji’s that can be used in tools that support the github emoji markdown markup: All credits go to rcaviers who created this list.
    Read more

    DevToys–A swiss army knife for developers

    As a developer there are a lot of small tasks you need to do as part of your coding, debugging and testing activities.  DevToys is an offline windows app that tries to help you with these tasks. Instead of using different websites you get a fully offline experience offering help for a large list of tasks. Many tools are available. Here is the current list: Converters JSON <> YAML Timestamp Number Base Cron Parser Encoders / Decoders HTML URL Base64 Text & Image GZip JWT Decoder Formatters JSON SQL XML Generators Hash (MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA512) UUID 1 and 4 Lorem Ipsum Checksum Text Escape / Unescape Inspector & Case Converter Regex Tester Text Comparer XML Validator Markdown Preview Graphic Col...
    Read more