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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. Some 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

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