| Visual Studio Adds Planning Mode To Copilot |
| Written by Kay Ewbank | |||
| Tuesday, 11 November 2025 | |||
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Microsoft has added an AI-powered planning mode to Visual Studio as part of GitHub Copilot's Agent mode. The feature is available in public preview as part of Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14. Copilot is GitHub's AI-based code helper system. It was originally based on OpenAI's Codex, but now has multi-model support meaning developers can select from multiple models.
In Agent mode, Copilot predicts what a developer might be going to type next based on what they have already typed. The tool's agents can also implement changes across multiple files. The new planning feature extends the Agent mode to handle larger, multi-step coding tasks. Microsoft says that in Agent mode, Copilot can now create plans that research your codebase, break down big tasks, and run them step by step while iterating along the way. They say the result is a more predictable and transparent workflow that helps you understand exactly what it’s doing. Planning uses transparent tool calls. When you ask Copilot to handle a multi-step task, when planning is enabled it automatically determines whether to respond directly or switch into built in planning. Simple prompts get quick answers, while multi-step ones trigger a coordinated plan. If Planning has been invoked, it creates a markdown file that defines the task, research steps, and progress updates as each execution begins. As Copilot works, it revises and refines the plan to take account of new context or results. The Visual Studio team says that if you edit the plan while a response is running, changes may not take effect immediately, and developers will need to stop the response, update the file or prompt, and restart it. Progress is tracked directly in the plan file, so developers can see what's completed and what's next. The team says Planning makes Copilot more predictable and consistent by giving it a structured way to reason about your project. It builds on techniques from hierarchical and closed-loop planning research, and can plan at a high level, execute step-by-step, and adjust dynamically as it learns more about your codebase and issues encountered during implementation. In Microsoft's latest SWE-bench runs, both GPT-5 and Claude Sonnet 4 performed better with planning, around 15% higher success and 20% more tasks resolved. The team says future versions will focus on smarter caching, refined reasoning, and deeper project context. The new planning mode is available in preview now.
More InformationPlanning in VS Code Chat Documentation Related ArticlesMicrosoft Announces GitHub Copilot App For Java And .NET GitHub Copilot Gets Agent Mode GitHub Copilot Adds VSCode Agent Mode VS Code Extensions Can Now Use Copilot APIs GitHub Universe AI Announcements - Copilot And Spark Microsoft Adds Copilot Key To Windows To be informed about new articles on I Programmer, sign up for our weekly newsletter, subscribe to the RSS feed and follow us on Facebook or Linkedin. 
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