Catalog / Visual Studio Code

1.137.0

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Visual Studio Code 1.137

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Release date: September 9, 2026

Welcome to the 1.137 release of Visual Studio Code. This release helps you automate recurring work, continue quick chats in a workspace, talk with agents by voice, and work with GitHub issues and pull requests without leaving the Agents window.

Don't forget to join the GitHub Copilot Day live on September 10, 2026. Learn the most effective ways to use Copilot, from agents and model choice to working across GitHub, Copilot app, Copilot CLI, and Visual Studio Code.

Happy Coding!

The Story of VS Code

Discover the story behind VS Code, from its early beginnings to the platform millions of developers use today, and the community that helped shape it along the way.

Agents

Automations (Preview)

Setting: setting(chat.automations.enabled)

Automations run recurring agent tasks on a schedule, so routine work does not have to be started manually. Start with a template for catching up on changes, triaging issues, or finding bugs, or define your own prompt and schedule.

To try automations, enable setting(chat.automations.enabled), open the Agents window, and select Automations in the sidebar. You can run an automation on demand or schedule it to run hourly, daily, or weekly. Learn more about automations in the documentation.

Automations is in Preview and is rolling out gradually to all users.

Open GitHub issues and PR details (Experimental)

Setting: setting(extensions.experimental.enableAgentsWindowCapability)

When a chat conversation references work on GitHub, the Agents window can provide direct integration with the GitHub Pull Requests extension. Select a github.com issue or pull request link to open its details directly in the Agents window, without switching to a browser. This also works when you don't have a workspace for that repository open.

To try this initial integration, install the GitHub Pull Requests extension in your default VS Code profile and enable setting(extensions.experimental.enableAgentsWindowCapability).

Attach GitHub issues and pull requests in any chat

Add a GitHub issue or pull request as context from the Add Context... menu in any chat input, including the Chat view, Chat editor, and Agents window. This makes the issue description, comments, or pull request changes available to the agent without copying them into your prompt.

You can also paste a GitHub issue or pull request URL into the new-session input. The URL remains in your prompt and a context attachment is added automatically.

Help name the VS Code pet (Experimental)

The experimental VS Code pet is an interactive companion that reacts as you work with agents. Enter /vscode-pet in chat to meet it, then help choose its name.

From September 10 through September 17, 2026, submit a name for the VS Code pet. Review the contest terms and conditions.

Continue quick chats in a workspace

You can start a quick chat in the Agents window without associating it with a workspace, for example, to discuss general questions or ideas. If the conversation later becomes project-specific, ask the Copilot agent to attach a local folder and continue the same chat.

After you confirm the workspace and choose whether to use the folder directly or create an isolated worktree, the chat becomes a workspace session. The session retains its title, conversation history, and current request, and the agent automatically continues with access to the project files when workspace setup finishes.

Alternatively, you can start the project work in a new workspace session.

Note: Continuing a chat conversation in a workspace session is currently available only in the Copilot harness.

Agent-queued messages

Keep agents working in parallel without interrupting a chat that is already processing a request. When an agent uses the send_message session-management tool to contact a busy chat, VS Code queues the message and starts it after the active turn completes successfully.

An agent can queue multiple messages for chats in the same session or another session. VS Code processes queued messages in the order they were sent, making multi-chat workflows more predictable.

Agent host

The agent host lets you connect to the same agent session from multiple VS Code windows. It runs agent harnesses in a dedicated process based on the Agent Host Protocol (AHP). The agent host's Copilot agent is powered by the Copilot SDK, which aligns the agent's behavior and functionality with the Copilot CLI, the standalone GitHub Copilot app, and other Copilot products.

We're actively developing the agent host. Learn more in the agent host documentation and our agent host blog post, where we share why we built the agent host, what it enables in VS Code, how the architecture and open protocol work, and workflows you can try yourself.

If you have any feedback or requests, please let us know by filing an issue.

Chat

Voice Mode (Experimental)

Settings: setting(agents.voice.enabled), setting(agents.voice.showTranscript), setting(agents.voice.voice)

Voice Mode enables you to have a natural, spoken conversation with an agent while it works on your code.

To try it, enable setting(agents.voice.enabled) and select the Voice Mode button in the chat input.

While the agent is speaking, start speaking or use the push-to-talk shortcut to interrupt the response and continue the conversation.

Voice Mode is aware of your active session and can answer questions about running sessions, the selected model, and attached files. You can also ask Voice Mode to start a new session. When a request is routed, Voice Mode announces whether it is sending the request to an existing session or starting a new one.

You can customize Voice Mode in the following ways:

  • Enable setting(agents.voice.showTranscript) to show the conversation transcript in the chat input while Voice Mode is active. Use the Voice Mode controls to show or hide the transcript and mute or unmute your microphone without ending the voice session.
  • Run Chat: Dictate: Select Microphone from the Command Palette to choose the input device used by both dictation and Voice Mode.
  • Use setting(agents.voice.voice) to select the voice that reads responses aloud.
  • Run Voice Mode: Show Introduction from the Command Palette to reopen the introduction, where you can select a microphone and preview the available voices.

You can also right-click the Voice Mode button in the chat input to quickly access its configuration, instructions, introduction, microphone selection, and transcript controls. Learn more about using Voice Mode.

Administrators can disable Voice Mode by turning off Copilot preview features for their organization.

Code Editing

Smart diff editor layout

Choose a diff layout in the same way across regular diffs, multi-file diffs, and the Agents window Changes editor. Open More Actions (...) > Diff View, and then select Inline, Side by Side, or Automatic.

The Automatic option shows which layout is active and adapts as the editor width changes. If you deliberately widen an inline diff by dragging a sash, the diff remains inline while you resize so the content doesn't shift unexpectedly.

Binary files in multi-file diffs

Changed binary files, such as images, remain visible in multi-file diffs instead of being omitted. The diff shows a Binary file changed placeholder in the file's original position. Select Open Diff to review the file in the standard diff experience, such as an image diff or applicable custom editor.

Multi-file diffs in editor windows also use the same visual design as multi-file diffs in the Agents window.

Languages

GitHub links in the Markdown editor (Experimental)

Settings: setting(markdown.experimental.richLinks.enabled), setting(chat.experimental.richLinks.enabled)

GitHub issue and pull request links in the Markdown editor show the current title and state, so you can understand each reference without opening it first. The link updates when its issue or pull request state changes, including CI updates.

To use the same link rendering in chat, set setting(chat.experimental.richLinks.enabled) to true.

Contributions to extensions

GitHub Pull Requests

There has been more progress on the GitHub Pull Requests extension, which enables you to work on, create, and manage pull requests and issues. New features include:

  • Faster opening of the pull request webview
  • All github.com links in VS Code will be opened with the extension (can be disabled with githubPullRequests.openPullLinks)

Review the changelog for the 0.166.0 release of the extension to learn about everything in the release.

Deprecated features and settings

None

Thank you

Contributions to vscode:

Contributions to vscode-pull-request-github:

Issue tracking

Contributions to our issue tracking:

We really appreciate people trying our new features as soon as they are ready, so check back here often and learn what's new.

If you'd like to read release notes for previous VS Code versions, go to Updates on code.visualstudio.com.