Copilot Compared: Advanced AI Features in Visual Studio 2022 vs. VS Code -- Visual Studio Magazine (2025)

News

Copilot Compared: Advanced AI Features in Visual Studio 2022 vs. VS Code

By David Ramel
06/18/2025

GitHub Copilot continues to evolve in both Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code, offering developers increasingly intelligent, context-aware tools that go far beyond basic autocomplete. The latest updates -- from both GitHub and Microsoft -- bring powerful capabilities like Agent mode, Next Edit Suggestions (NES), MCP integration, and deep .NET productivity enhancements. Here's a comprehensive look at what developers can use today, based on official release notes from GitHub and Microsoft.

Agent Mode: Goal-based Development Across Both IDEs
Agent mode is now generally available in both Visual Studio and VS Code. It transforms Copilot from a reactive chatbot into a proactive coding agent capable of achieving goals through multi-step reasoning and execution.

GitHub describes it this way: "Agent mode helps you accomplish end-to-end development tasks by planning, taking action, and iterating until your goal is complete... it can reason across multiple steps, edit your code across files, fix bugs, and even respond to errors till it achieves your goal. And it does this all from a single prompt."

Microsoft adds: "It builds a plan, executes it, adapts along the way, and loops through tasks until completion." Developers can still steer the agent manually using prompts, but with Agent mode, Copilot will actively select tools, generate and apply code, resolve errors, and ask for confirmation when needed.

MCP Support: Tool-powered, Context-rich Interactions
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) enables Copilot to interact with external tools and services by providing them as servers configured via mcp.json. This allows Copilot to access and use logs, test results, issues, pull requests, and other live context to inform its decisions.

In Visual Studio: MCP lets Copilot pull live project data to inform edits or actions. Developers can add mcp.json to their solution or use shared configurations such as .vscode/mcp.json.
In VS Code: Support for prompts, resources, server authentication, sampling, and dev/debug mode is now included. Prompts can be used as slash commands (e.g., /gistpad.promptname) and resources can be attached to chat input or dragged into context.

Extension authors can even publish their own MCP servers, allowing tailored integration of tools like GitHub issues, deployment scripts, or design assets.

Tool Sets and Custom Modes in VS Code
VS Code adds new customization layers for how Agent mode operates. Developers can group related tools into "tool sets" and reference them in chat using #-mentions. Custom chat modes can also be defined by specifying instructions and allowed tools in markdown files, enabling personalized workflows like "Planning mode" or "Debug mode."

Next Edit Suggestions (NES): Contextual Edits in Motion
Next Edit Suggestions (NES) help developers make logical, follow-up edits based on recent changes. NES differs from standard completions in that it can suggest insertions, deletions, or modifications anywhere in the file -- not just where your cursor is.

In Visual Studio: NES is enabled via the GitHub Copilot options menu and presents diffs inline with navigation arrows and a Tab-to-accept workflow. NES also predicts likely follow-up locations to guide you across files.
In VS Code: NES now supports Python files in addition to JavaScript and TypeScript, with improved import suggestions and accept/jump navigation through suggestions.

Enhanced Chat Experience and Context Tools

Visual Studio: Chat now supports using the Output Window as context. Developers can click to include build or debug logs in prompts, use #output, or right-click log lines and select "Explain with Copilot."
VS Code: Chat UI now includes visible undo buttons, better separation between user/AI messages, and simplified attachment handling. Developers can use keyboard shortcuts to toggle file context or navigate attached content more easily.

Developer Workflow Integrations

Pull request integration in VS Code: With the GitHub Pull Requests extension, developers can now assign issues to Copilot, view its progress in the PR view, and track coding agent sessions inside the editor.
Source control history as context: Developers in VS Code can now add past commits or diffs to Copilot prompts, giving it richer, revision-aware context when answering questions or generating changes.

Model Choices and Transparency
Visual Studio now supports both GPT-4.1 (default) and Gemini 2.5 Pro. A new Copilot usage dashboard also shows how many completions and chat requests you've used each month. Premium models include visible multipliers to reflect consumption rates.

.NET-specific Enhancements in Visual Studio

Implement with Copilot: After triggering refactorings like "Implement Method" or "Implement Interface," developers can now select "Implement with Copilot" to generate method bodies inline.
Doc comment generation: Typing /// above a method or class invokes Copilot to generate full XML doc summaries with descriptions for each parameter.
QuickInfo support: Hovering over any symbol shows a "Describe with Copilot" link, generating a temporary summary of the element while hovered.
Learn integration: When Copilot doesn't know something, it can now retrieve official content from Microsoft Learn, if you're signed in with a Microsoft account and have the setting enabled.

IDE Comparison: What's Available Where

Feature	Visual Studio 2022	Visual Studio Code
Agent mode	Yes (GA)	Yes (GA)
MCP support	Yes (via `mcp.json`)	Yes (plus prompt/resource/sampling support)
Next Edit Suggestions	Yes (diff view, inline actions)	Yes (with Python/JS/TS support)
Custom modes/tool sets	No	Yes (Markdown + UI)
Output Window as context	Yes	No
Doc comments / hover summaries	Yes	No
MS Learn integration	Yes (feature flag)	No

Conclusion
Developers in both Visual Studio and VS Code now have access to a rich array of GitHub Copilot features that enable prompt-driven, context-aware, and increasingly autonomous workflows. While core capabilities like Agent mode and MCP integration are shared across both IDEs, each environment brings its own strengths -- VS Code focuses on extensibility and control, while Visual Studio adds productivity refinements for .NET developers and stronger model integrations.

For more information, consult these GitHub and Microsoft resources:

About the Author

David Ramel is an editor and writer at Converge 360.