Dev Blogs
GitHub Copilot modernization for C++ is out of preview as of Visual Studio 2026, helping you upgrade your MSVC Build Tools with an AI-guided workflow.
Visual Studio 2026 versions 18.1 through 18.6 deliver a wave of improvements for C++ developers. For MSVC Build Tools, the v14.51 release is now generally available with runtime performance gains and improved C++23 conformance. We also introduced Sample Profile Guided Optimization to help you improve the runtime performance of your C/C++ programs. ...
With the launch of Visual Studio 2026, we announced a Private Preview of GitHub Copilot app modernization for C++, which reduces the cost of adopting the latest version of the MSVC Build Tools. We used the feedback we received from our many Private Preview participants to make improvements that benefit all our users. After receiving feedback, we ad...
Refactoring a C++ codebase can often require tracking updates across various sections of multiple files to ensure accuracy and relevancy. Historically, developers have relied on manual searches across a codebase and refactoring tools to perform these types of edits. However, with GitHub Copilot agents, developers can now delegate these complex...
A few problems have reared their heads at every company where I’ve worked on C++ as a Software Engineer over the past 20 years. For the most part, those problems have nothing to do with the language and how it is used, but instead all the “other” stuff, like dealing with long build times, getting consistent build environments, and managing the ...
Another year and another CppCon is all wrapped up! Microsoft was pleased to once again be an exhibitor and to have several of our employees present sessions at the conference. Here are my major takeaways from the keynotes, sessions, conversations, and the general vibe. The week before CppCon, we announced Visual Studio 2026 and Mic...
When working in a C++ repo, you often are maintaining and updating existing code just as often as you are writing new code. However, updating code in C++ can often require navigating to several different locations in a file to ensure consistency, which can disrupt your logical workflow. For example, changing a data member’s access level typically i...
The 1.25 release of the C++ extension in Visual Studio Code introduces a new way to understand your code faster with GitHub Copilot-powered symbol summaries, as well as new customization options for recursive #include path processing. With these enhancements, you gain AI-powered insights into unfamiliar or undocumented code and can optimize Intelli...
Have a difficult time documenting your C++ code? Spending too much time thinking of what a function and its parameters accomplish when generating documentation? Copilot is now integrated into C++ doc comments to automatically provide documentation suggestions based on the function’s contents in Visual Studio 2022 17.14 Preview 2. To learn...
Have you ever wanted greater control over the sensitive content AI-powered tools can access in your repositories? You can now customize Copilot’s access to your files with the newly announced GitHub Copilot Content Exclusion in both Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code. Through this new process you can configure Copilot to ignore certain files in y...
