VS Code April 2026: Agents Window, CLI remote control
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the gist
[Agents Window](https://aka.ms/agent-window) — preview app for agent workflows with sessions, customizations, chat, changes. Chat eval extension analyzes prompts. Copilot CLI adds thinking effort, remote GitHub control. New Learn courses.
The Breakthrough
VS Code ships Agents Window in preview alongside Insiders, Chat Customizations Evaluations extension, Copilot CLI thinking effort control and remote access, plus Learn site courses on agents and customizations.
What Actually Worked
- Agents Window provides a focused environment for agent-first workflows; users open it via icon in VS Code Insiders and see sessions list upper left, customization controls (agents skills, instructions, hooks, MCP servers, plugins) bottom left, main agent chat center, changes view (edited files, diffs, merges) right.
- Chat Customizations Evaluations extension analyzes customization files like prompt files via Analyze button; it flags issues with squiggly lines (e.g., yellow for cognitive load), explains on hover, offers quick fixes to optimize.
- Copilot CLI introduces configurable thinking effort that controls model reasoning per request to balance response quality and latency.
- Remote Control for Copilot CLI lets users check progress, respond to approvals, steer sessions from github.com or GitHub mobile while the CLI session runs on the original machine.
- VS Code Learn site launches introductory courses including agent foundations (introduction to agent-first development, first agent, reviewing and controlling agent changes) and customization (UI for instructions, skills, custom agents, hooks).
Context
The video highlights select features from VS Code's second month of weekly releases. It urges viewers to check full release notes for complete list and new Learn section for expanding tutorials. Presenter Reynald Adolphe shares favorites and solicits content requests.
Notable Quotes
"Agents window is a focused environment built for agent first development workflows." "Thinking effort controls how much reasoning the model applies to each request which can help balance response quality and latency based on your needs." "Remote control for Copilot CLI lets you check your progress respond to approvals and steer work from another device using github.com or GitHub mobile app while your copilot CLI session keeps running in the background."
Content References
Links to docs and sites only; no books, papers, or datasets mentioned.