GitHub Copilot in VS Code v1.146

GitHub Copilot in VS Code v1.146 was released on .

Summary

VS Code 1.146 is here: Copilot harness sessions now run in the background, Inbox mode gathers what needs your attention, and permission prompts get more precise. Curious what else changed?

Release Context

  • This was the 16th GitHub Copilot in VS Code release of 2026 tracked by Havoptic.
  • It shipped 7 days after GitHub Copilot in VS Code v1.145 (November 4, 2026).
  • GitHub Copilot in VS Code: ships every 7 days — 4 releases in the last month.

Why it matters: Copilot harness now runs agents in the background.

Shipped around the same time

Within 3 days of this release, other AI coding tools also shipped:

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Release Notes

Agents Copilot harness and deprecation of the Local harness The Copilot harness is our latest agent harness and has been the default for new sessions since VS Code 1.143. It's built on the Copilot SDK, a shared foundation that helps align behavior, capabilities, and improvements across Copilot products. Copilot harness sessions run through the Agent Host, so you can keep them running in the background and access them from both the VS Code editor wind... Inbox mode for sessions (Experimental) Setting: setting(sessions.list.inboxEnabled) Keep track of your agents without checking each workspace. Inbox mode gives you one view of what needs your attention, what's still running, and what's ready to merge. Enable the setting(sessions.list.inboxEnabled) setting (off by default), and then select Grouping > Inbox Mode in the Agents window's sessions list. Sessions that need your attention appear at the top, above the Working, Ready to merge, On hold, and Done groups. If a session can wait, use Dismiss from Inbo... Session list inline actions (Experimental) Setting: setting(sessions.list.inlineActions) Fix failing checks and address review comments directly from the Agents window's sessions list. Enable this setting (off by default) to show inline actions for fixing checks, addressing comments, or both. Each action sends a request to that row's session or nested session in the background without opening it. The setting does not enable Agent Merge or change action permissions. Chat windows (Preview) Setting: setting(sessions.chatWindows.enabled) When several chats run at once, keeping them all in one Agents window means switching between them and losing sight of the one you are waiting on. With chat windows, you can open a chat in a window of its own, and arrange that window so that the chat, its editors, and its terminals fit the task. To try this preview feature in Stable, enable setting(sessions.chatWindows.enabled). It is enabled by default in VS Code Insiders, and off by default in Stable. Learn more about chat windows The Extensions section of Agent Customizations lets you choose which installed extensions run in the Agents window without changing their enablement in editor windows. Previously, adding an extension meant switching to an editor window to install it. In this release, you can find, install, and uninstall extensions without leaving the Agents window: Install from the Marketplace: Searching also queries the Marketplace and lists matching extensions that you don't have yet, with their publisher, install count, and... Model comparison improvements (Preview) Setting: setting(sessions.chat.compareAgents.tools.enabled) Compare Models in the Agents window lets you run the same prompt across models, evaluate their results with a judge, and combine their strengths with a synthesizer. This release makes comparisons easier to configure, organize, and automate: Judge and synthesize chat-only responses: Add a judge and synthesizer without selecting a workspace. Synthesis starts when you select Synthesize and creates a new chat w... Canvases improvements (Preview) Setting: setting(chat.canvases.enabled) Canvases are shared, interactive surfaces where you and Copilot work together on plans, dashboards, and other artifacts. This release adds permission prompts and improves canvas discovery and continuity: Permissions for canvas extensions: In Copilot harness sessions, canvas extensions ask for your approval before initializing privileged capabilities, such as hooks. Find and reopen canvases: Canvas menus distinguish Running canvases fr... Configure computer sharing (Experimental) Setting: setting(sessions.chat.experimental.remoteEnvironmentsThisComputer) The Remote Environments editor in the Agents window is a central place for managing remote connections. In this release, you can now manage how this computer is shared with other clients. Regardless of whether sharing is enabled, local sessions continue to run directly on this computer. Share this computer through GitHub Environments or Dev Tunnels, or turn sharing off. You can also change the computer name that other clients see. Open the editor with Manage... Agent Host support for virtual repositories VS Code supports virtual workspaces, allowing you to do things like viewing a GitHub repository without having to clone it. The Copilot harness previously did not work in virtual repositories. In this release, we added support for virtual repositories, so you can use the same Copilot features and workflows as you do in local folders. Chat Continue a Copilot CLI session in VS Code (Experimental) When you're working with the GitHub Copilot CLI in a terminal outside VS Code, you can now move the session into VS Code and keep going. Enter /code in the CLI, or /code-insiders for VS Code Insiders. The CLI exits, and VS Code opens the same session in the Chat view of the window for the session's folder, starting VS Code if it isn't running. The session keeps its conversation history, its model and reasoning effort, and its mode and permissions. The /code command is experimenta... Configurable shortcut for the background send action Setting: setting(chat.sendInBackgroundTip.enabled) Start a new session without opening it by pressing kb(sessions.sendInBackground) in the Agents window composer. You can rebind or remove the shortcut for Chat: Send in Background in Keyboard Shortcuts. An optional tip shows your configured shortcut and links to Keyboard Shortcuts. Enable it with setting(chat.sendInBackgroundTip.enabled) (Experimental, off by default). MCP Skills over MCP (Preview) Setting: setting(chat.agentHost.mcpSkills.enabled) This release of VS Code adds support for SEP-2640 Skills over MCP, allowing MCP servers to automatically provide skills to the model. The first time you connect to an MCP server that provides skills, you are asked to allow them into your model context. Afterwards, the model can interact with these skills and you can see them on the Skills tab of the Agent Customizations editor. Trust and security Improved permission prompts The Copilot harness previously suggested overly broad tool-level allowances for operations like web fetches, terminal commands, and file reads. For example, the default action for fetching a URL was "Allow in this Session", which would let the model access any URL during that session. Now, permission prompts are more granular, by default adding allowances for specific domains, commands, and directories. Sandbox status in the chat input See whether terminal sandboxing is enabled without opening the Permissions menu. In both the editor and the Agents window, the empty chat input shows (sandbox enabled) when Sandboxing for terminal is on. The placeholder stays in sync as you switch chats or change the setting. Enterprise Copilot sessions behind enterprise proxies Copilot sessions follow VS Code's proxy configuration, including proxy auto-configuration (PAC) and Kerberos authentication, when running locally, in WSL, or in a local Dev Container. Your organization's routing rules can select different proxies or a direct connection for each destination, rather than forcing requests through a single proxy.

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