GitHub Previews a Copilot SDK Agent and Built-In Skills in Visual Studio
The July update adds an SDK-based agent, opt-in .NET and Azure expertise, selected-code review and organization-wide instructions.
GitHub has added a new preview agent, built-in .NET and Azure skills, selected-code review and organization-level instructions to Copilot in Visual Studio 2026. The July update moves more agent behavior into explicit tools and shared configuration, giving individual developers new review options while allowing organizations to define guidance once across their repositories.
What changed
Copilot Chat now includes an Agent Preview option built on the same Copilot SDK that powers GitHub Copilot CLI. GitHub says the agent is designed to complete more tasks with less back-and-forth and return shorter responses, but the company has not supplied independent comparisons or task-level evaluation results. Developers select the agent from the picker at the bottom of the Copilot Chat window.
Visual Studio also gains built-in skills authored by Microsoft's .NET and Azure teams. The skills appear in the Built-in category when the corresponding development workloads are installed. They are disabled by default, so developers can inspect and enable only the skills that match their work. That opt-in design gives teams a clearer boundary between the base assistant and domain-specific instructions.
A new selected-code review action narrows Copilot's attention to a highlighted block. Developers can request inline comments, apply a proposed change or ask Copilot to generate a suggestion from a comment. This is separate from repository-wide review: it is an editor action intended for a specific piece of code under the developer's immediate control.
Team configuration
GitHub organization owners can now add custom instructions that shape Copilot responses across repositories in the organization. The instructions appear in Copilot's reference list and can be disabled from Visual Studio's Copilot Chat settings. This reduces the need to repeat shared conventions per developer, though a common instruction does not guarantee that every generated response will comply or that the guidance is safe.
Organization-level instructions require Copilot Business or Copilot Enterprise. GitHub says the preview agent, built-in skills and selected-code review are available across all plans, while feature availability may otherwise vary.
Why it matters
The release connects three layers of coding-agent control: a common SDK-based agent, optional platform expertise and organization-wide instructions. That can make behavior easier to standardize and review inside Visual Studio. The evidence does not establish productivity gains, code quality improvements or security outcomes, and the agent remains a public preview. Teams should treat generated changes as proposals that still require normal review and testing.
Status
Confirmed. GitHub documented the Visual Studio changes in its official changelog. Internal confidence is medium because the source is the vendor's own announcement and provides no independent performance or safety evaluation.
Sources
Update note: Last reviewed 2026-07-31. We will revise this post if GitHub changes preview status, plan eligibility or organization controls.
Sources
Drafted with AI assistance from source briefs; reviewed for citation completeness and label accuracy.