Agent-First Development Workflows in VS Code

The Shift to Agent-First Development

Brigit Murtaugh and James discuss the evolution of VS Code from a traditional code editor to a hub for agentic workflows. As developers increasingly delegate complex tasks to AI, the traditional "one workspace, one window" model has become a bottleneck. The team observed that developers were manually managing multiple instances of VS Code to handle different features or bug fixes, often leading to context switching fatigue. The new Agents Window is designed to solve this by providing a dedicated, streamlined environment that prioritizes task management over line-by-line code editing.

Centralizing Multi-Project Workflows

The core innovation of the Agents Window is its ability to manage multiple agent sessions across different projects simultaneously. By integrating Git worktrees as a default primitive, the tool allows developers to isolate work on different branches or features without needing to clone the repository multiple times or manage separate editor windows. This creates a cohesive experience where a developer can kick off a task in one project, switch to another, and review outputs in a unified interface.

UI and Experience Design

To ensure a low barrier to entry, the Agents Window maintains visual and functional parity with the standard VS Code experience. Key bindings, themes, and authentication states carry over seamlessly. The UI is structured with a session list on the left—organized by workspace—and a central area for interacting with various agent harnesses like the Copilot CLI, cloud agents, or local models. This design allows users to transition between "code-first" and "agent-first" modes fluidly, depending on whether they are performing deep manual edits or managing high-level automated tasks.

Streamlining the Development Lifecycle

The workflow within the Agents Window is built around "task-oriented" development. Developers can initiate tasks, monitor progress, and review diffs within a single pane. The integration of run tasks and PR flows directly into the agent session view reduces the need to jump between the terminal, browser, and editor. By making these features the default, the team aims to reduce the cognitive load associated with managing complex agentic interactions, allowing developers to focus on the outcome rather than the orchestration of the tools themselves.