Visual Studio's August update lets developers tune AI model thinking effort (Low/Medium/High) for Copilot tasks, share custom agents at the organization level, and view Copilot plan usage directly in the IDE. Git workflows gain worktree support for working on multiple branches simultaneously without stashing, plus first-class submodule management with a dedicated UI section, automatic discovery, and read-only-by-default protection.
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Adjust model thinking effort to match your task Not every question needs the same amount of reasoning. For supported models, you can now set thinking effort to Copy linkOrganization-level custom agents Teams can now share custom agents across repositories instead of configuring the same specialized help one project at a time. GitHub organization and enterprise owners can publish agents for everyone in the organization, helping Copilot follow shared workflows and expectations more consistently. Visual Studio automatically detects organization-level agents when you work in an eligible repository and adds them to the Copy linkAccess your Copilot usage Curious how much of your Copilot plan you have used? Open the context window from the prompt box, then select Copy linkWorktrees: work on multiple branches at once Ever stashed half-finished work just to investigate another branch? Copy linkGit submodule support One of our Copy linkQuestions this post answers
How do I work on multiple Git branches at the same time in Visual Studio without stashing changes?
Visual Studio 2026's August update adds Git worktree support, giving each branch its own working directory so current changes stay in place while switching tasks. Right-click a branch in the Git Repository window and select New Worktree From, choosing a new or existing branch or a commit from history, then open it in the current window or a new instance. Developers juggling parallel branches can follow git tooling updates like this on daily.dev.
Does Visual Studio support Git submodules natively now?
Yes, Visual Studio 2026's August update introduces dedicated submodule support with a Submodules section in the Git Repository window, better visibility in Git Changes, and a repository picker showing parent-child hierarchy. Submodules are discovered automatically and read-only by default; enabling edits requires setting Automatically activate multiple repositories to include submodules under Tools > Options > Source Control > Git. Teams managing multi-repo projects can track Git tooling changes like this via daily.dev.
Can I control how much reasoning effort GitHub Copilot uses in Visual Studio?
Yes, Visual Studio 2026's August update lets you set model thinking effort to Low, Medium, or High for supported models, balancing response depth, speed, and token usage. Low suits straightforward questions and code suggestions, Medium fits everyday development, and High is for tricky algorithms, architecture decisions, or hard-to-debug problems, adjustable from the Model picker or Language Models view. Developers tuning AI assistant behavior for different tasks can follow tooling updates like this on daily.dev.
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