Visual Studio Code v1.88 Changelog

This update is all about making your coding life smoother and less frustrating. It matters to anyone who writes code, especially if you work on big projects with lots of files or use AI tools like Copilot to help you write scripts faster.

What's new

• Custom labels for tabs: If you have two files open named index.js in different folders, it gets confusing. You can now set up rules to automatically rename the tabs based on their folder path (like "Homepage - index.js" and "Dashboard - index.js") so you always know which is which.
• Locked scrolling: When comparing two files side-by-side, you can now lock them together. When you scroll down on one, the other scrolls down at the exact same speed, keeping the lines perfectly matched.
• Activity Bar at the bottom: The strip of icons on the far left of your screen (the Activity Bar) can now be moved to the bottom of the window, giving you more vertical space for your code.
• Terminal inline chat (Preview): You can now open a small AI chat box right inside your terminal to ask Copilot for help with commands, so you don't have to switch windows.
• Run notebook sections: If you use coding notebooks (which mix text and runnable code blocks), you can now run all the code blocks in a specific section with one click, rather than running them one by one.
• Voice recording sounds: For people who use voice-to-text features, VS Code will now play a start and stop sound so you know exactly when it's listening.

Improvements

• Smarter extension updates: When an add-on tool updates, you can now just restart that specific tool instead of having to refresh your entire VS Code window. Also, VS Code will automatically grab the newest versions of tools that match its latest updates.
• Better AI chats: Copilot's chat interface looks better, writes better commit messages (the notes you leave when saving code changes), and is better at telling you which files it used for its answers.
• Accessibility upgrades: Screen readers (which read screen text aloud for visually impaired users) now announce when you're looking at a "diff editor" (a screen showing differences between two files). Screen reader users can also now use keyboard shortcuts to insert AI chat code directly into their files.
• Quick Search tweaks: When searching your whole project, the file paths now "stick" to the top of the results so you don't lose track of which file a result belongs to. You can also use keyboard shortcuts (Alt+Up/Down on Windows, Cmd+Up/Down on Mac) to jump between different files in your search results.
• Python auto-detect: If you code in Python, VS Code is now better at automatically finding your startup files for popular web frameworks like Flask and Django, and it can find special Python environments set up by a tool called Hatch.
• Minimap folding markers: The tiny map on the right side of your screen now shows little lines for different sections of your code, making it easier to jump to the exact part you need.
• Floating windows for custom editors: Special viewer windows (like a Markdown preview or a hex editor) can now be popped out into their own separate floating windows.

Fixes

• The release notes mention a small follow-up update (1.88.1) that fixed various issues, though specific bugs aren't detailed here.

Breaking changes

No breaking changes in this release.