Visual Studio Code v1.96 Changelog

This update is a big step forward for anyone using AI to write code. It makes GitHub's AI assistant, Copilot, accessible for free with a basic account, and introduces smarter ways to let the AI edit your projects. It also includes handy quality-of-life improvements to the editor, making day-to-day coding faster and less frustrating.

What's new

• GitHub Copilot Free plan: You can now use Copilot (an AI that writes and suggests code for you) for free. You just need a GitHub account, and you get a set number of AI chats and code completions each month.
• Overtype mode: Normally, typing inserts new text and pushes the old text to the right. You can now switch to "overwrite" mode, where typing replaces the existing text character-by-character, just like older text editors.
• Add imports on paste: If you copy and paste code from one file to another in JavaScript or TypeScript, VS Code will now automatically figure out what extra code needs to be imported and add it for you.
• Debug with Copilot: Setting up a "debugger" (a tool that runs your code step-by-step to find errors) can be hard. You can now type copilot-debug before your normal run command, and Copilot will automatically set up the debugging session for you.
• Terminal ligatures: The terminal (your built-in command line) can now display "ligatures." This is a font feature that combines characters like > and = into a single, cool-looking ≥ symbol for programming symbols.
• Extension allow list: If you manage computers for a school or company, you can now create a list of exactly which add-ons (extensions) people are allowed to install.

Improvements

• Smarter Copilot Edits: Copilot Edits lets you tell the AI to change multiple files at once. It now shows a clearer progress bar, lets you easily accept or undo changes, and remembers what it was doing even if you restart VS Code.
• Better AI context: When chatting with Copilot, you can now drag and drop folders or "symbols" (like specific functions or variables) into the chat box so the AI knows exactly what you are asking about.
• Moving from Chat to Edits: If you brainstorm ideas with the AI in Chat, you can now send that whole conversation straight to Copilot Edits to actually apply the code changes to your files.
• Moving views: It's now much easier to drag your side panels (like your file explorer or search bar) between the main side bar and the secondary side bar to organize your screen.
• Test coverage filtering: When you run tests to see which parts of your code are being checked, you can now quickly filter the results to see exactly what a specific test is covering.
• Custom commit messages: When you save your work using Git, Copilot can write the summary for you. You can now give it custom rules on how to format it (like always starting with a specific word).
• Inline Chat upgrades: When chatting with the AI directly inside your code file, the interface is less distracting. If you type out a plain-English idea of what you want the code to do, VS Code will pop up a hint asking if you want the AI to turn it into real code.

Fixes

• The release notes mention several small updates (versions 1.96.1 through 1.96.4) that fixed various bugs and issues to make the software more stable, though specific details on what was broken were not provided.

Breaking changes

No breaking changes in this release.