---
title: "Visual Studio July 2026 Copilot update: new SDK-based agent, built-in skills, and org-wide instructions"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/visual-studio-july-2026-copilot-update-new-sdk-based-agent-built-in-skills-and-org-wide-instructi-psgavsdh1
source_url: https://daily.dev/posts/visual-studio-july-2026-copilot-update-new-sdk-based-agent-built-in-skills-and-org-wide-instructi-psgavsdh1
type: collection
source: "Collections"
published: 2026-07-30T15:27:37.679Z
updated: 2026-07-30T15:28:16.091Z
tags: ["github", "azure", ".net", "visual-studio", "ai-assisted-development"]
reading_time: 2
upvotes: 25
comments: 3
language: en
---

> ## Documentation Index
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# Visual Studio July 2026 Copilot update: new SDK-based agent, built-in skills, and org-wide instructions

**[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 2 min read · 25 upvotes · 3 comments

## Summary

The July 2026 Visual Studio update brings several Copilot improvements: a new agent built on the GitHub Copilot SDK (public preview) for a more consistent experience across CLI, VS Code, and Visual Studio; built-in .NET and Azure skills in the agentic tool picker; a 'Review Selection' feature for inline code review comments; org-wide custom instructions for Copilot Business/Enterprise plans; branch context attachment in Copilot Chat; and a new opt-in C++ toolset auto-discovery property for MSVC builds.

## Content

## What's new

The July 2026 Visual Studio update ships several Copilot changes worth knowing about.

### New agent built on the GitHub Copilot SDK

The biggest addition is a new Agent (currently in public preview) that replaces the previous Copilot Chat backend with one built on the GitHub Copilot SDK. The practical effect is a more consistent experience across Copilot surfaces — CLI, VS Code, and Visual Studio all share the same foundation now. Microsoft says responses are more accurate with less back-and-forth, though it's a preview, so expect rough edges.

### Built-in .NET and Azure skills

The tool picker in agentic workflows now includes built-in skills authored by the .NET and Azure teams at Microsoft. These show up directly in the picker rather than requiring any manual setup.

### Review Selection

A new "Review Selection" feature lets you highlight a block of code and get inline review comments on it. Useful for a quick sanity check without leaving the editor.

### Org-wide custom instructions

Organization owners can now set custom instructions that apply automatically across all repositories and team members. This requires a Copilot Business or Enterprise plan. Previously, custom instructions had to be configured per-repository or per-user.

### Branch context in Copilot Chat

You can now attach a branch as context directly in Copilot Chat, which should help when asking questions that span multiple files or recent changes on a specific branch.

### C++ toolset auto-discovery

For C++ builds, there's a new opt-in property — `EnableVCToolsVersionDiscovery` — that lets the build system auto-discover pinned MSVC toolset versions across multiple Visual Studio installations. It's opt-in, so nothing changes unless you explicitly set it.

## Community discussion

Top comments from developers on daily.dev.

**@bob\_marley\_556** · 1 upvotes

> co pilot is good but it take too much token that i have used its 200 ai credit with in the few hours just by making the login page and sign up page inside there may but i am not able to login  i have work on react native mobile app

**@arlangalvez21** · 0 upvotes

> Ohh, here we go, the big ones release something, and everyone needs to release something.

**@pdfopsdev** · 0 upvotes

> we hit this exact problem building an agent harness: repo-level instructions and org-level policy silently conflict and whichever loads last wins, no precedence rule, no warning. glad to see MS naming it explicitly instead of leaving it to load order like most tools do.

## Similar posts on daily.dev

- [GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio — April update](https://daily.dev/posts/github-copilot-in-visual-studio-april-update-smq2h4vdp) · GitHub Changelog · 33 upvotes · 2 comments

---

Tags: [#github](https://daily.dev/tags/github), [#azure](https://daily.dev/tags/azure), [#.net](https://daily.dev/tags/.net), [#visual-studio](https://daily.dev/tags/visual-studio), [#ai-assisted-development](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-assisted-development)

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