Visual Studio’s AI Strategy Hits New Milestone: November Roadmap Revealed

Visual Studio is rolling out its November roadmap detailing how AI-powered agents will become more deeply integrated into the IDE, from new custom and test agents to enhanced chat and planning workflows. The update signals a push to make the IDE “smarter, faster and more intuitive”, including support for multiple simultaneous agents, advanced memory and tool-call features, and governance controls for bring-your-own models.

Here’s what’s in progress:

• New Agents:

  Microsoft is refining how you find and switch between modes, ensuring both built-in and extension-provided agents can handle more complex workflows. New agents like custom user-created, test, and debugger agents are in the works.

• Agent Mode & Chat:

  Expect major improvements, including Slash Commands for invoking prompts and managing chats, memory enhancements, tool call updates, and planning lead development.

• Model Context Protocol (MCP):

  Integrate your entire development stack into Visual Studio with the same security and governance you trust. Microsoft is enhancing MCP UX, performance, and token optimization, alongside a unified experience for MCP servers.

• Models:

  Developers will gain access to the latest AI models, including GPT-5 Codex in Chat. Work is underway to improve model UX, expand Auto Model in chat, and introduce custom system prompts per model.

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