Visual Studio Code 1.102 brings new features for Copilot Chat and MCP support
Numerous new functions for the AI assistant, MCP support and accessibility features are among the updates in this release.
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Microsoft's free source code editor Visual Studio Code has some new features to offer in version 1.102. The June release brings additional functions for the AI-based GitHub Copilot Chat, general support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and updates for accessibility.
GitHub Copilot Chat: open source and with LLM selection
Microsoft recently announced that it will make its AI functions for Visual Studio Code (VS Code) available as open source. As part of this, the company has already made the Copilot Chat extension open source. New functions are also available in this release of VS Code.
In addition to the predefined chat modes "Ask", "Edit" and "Agent", developers have been able to create their own modes with specific instructions and a set of permitted tools, which the Large Language Model (LLM) is designed to follow, since the last release as a preview. Now they can also specify which language model should be used for the chat mode by adding the model metadata property to the chatmode.md file and specifying the model identifier. The model information is available using the IntelliSense autocomplete tool.
(Image:Â Microsoft)
In addition, the editor for chat modes, prompts and instruction files now offers completion, validation and hovering for all supported metadata properties. The Configure Chat settings icon in the chat view toolbar allows you to manage custom modes as well as reusable instructions, prompts and toolsets:
(Image:Â Microsoft)
The selection of Modes shows all currently installed custom modes and allows you to open, create or delete a mode. Numerous other updates to Copilot Chat can be found in the announcement post of the new VS Code version.
MCP support for agent mode
Support for the Model Context Protocol is now generally available in VS Code. With this standard, which allows AI models to interact with external tools and services through a standardized interface, the Agent Mode available in VS Code can be extended, for example to connect to databases or to call APIs. In addition, companies can now control the availability of MCP servers using a GitHub copilot policy.
To get started right away, the VS Code team provides a curated list of popular MCP servers for Agent Mode.
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Increased accessibility
VS Code regularly introduces new features to improve accessibility. In this release, three corresponding innovations are on board:
The Keep All Edits command for accepting all changes can also be executed while the focus is on the editor. Previously, the focus had to be on the chat view. In the event of a rendering error in the chat, screen reader users are now notified and can focus on this information using the keyboard, and if the chat requires a user action, an acoustic signal sounds.
Further details on the June update VS Code 1.102 can be found in the announcement post. The VS Code extensions for Python, Pylance and Jupyter have also been updated, according to a dedicated blog entry.
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