Introduction
Welcome! VS Code just released version 1.110 (Pre-March) and it's packed with upgrades.
What's new video Link
🤖 1. AI Agents Got Smarter
Background Agents — Let AI Work While You Do Something Else
Imagine you tell your AI assistant to "refactor this code" and then go grab a coffee. Background agents let you hand off tasks to Copilot, which keeps working in the background while you do other things. When it's done, you can check back.
What's new this month:
- You can now use
/compactto summarize the conversation history so it doesn't run out of memory. - Slash commands like
/compact,/agents, and/hooksare now available in background sessions. - You can rename background sessions to keep things organized.
Claude Agents — An Alternative AI Brain
VS Code now also supports Claude AI agents (from Anthropic). Think of it like choosing between different AI assistants — you can now pick Claude as your agent.
New features:
- You can send mid-conversation messages to steer the agent in a different direction.
- Claude now has access to
/compact,/agents, and/hooksslash commands. - Significant performance improvements make it faster.
🔍 2. Debug Your AI Agent (No More Black Box!)
Ever wondered what your AI is actually doing behind the scenes? The new Agent Debug Panel shows you exactly that.
Open it from the Command Palette: Developer: Open Agent Debug Panel
It shows:
- Which prompt files are loaded
- What tools were called
- A visual chart of the sequence of events
💡 Perfect for beginners who want to understand why the agent made certain choices.
⚡ 3. Auto-Approve AI Actions — But Be Careful!
You can now type /autoApprove in the chat box to let the agent run commands without asking for your approval each time. This speeds things up a lot.
To turn it off, type /disableAutoApprove.
⚠️ Warning for beginners: Only use auto-approve when you trust what the agent is doing. It can run terminal commands without asking — which could cause unintended changes.
🧠 4. Smarter Chat Sessions
Context Compaction — Don't Lose Your Work
Long conversations can fill up the AI's memory (called the "context window"). When this happens, VS Code now automatically summarizes the history so you can keep going without starting over.
You can also trigger it manually:
/compact focus on the important decisions we made
Fork a Session — Branch Your Conversation
You can now fork a chat session! Think of it like creating a copy of your conversation at a specific point so you can explore a different approach without losing the original.
/fork
Or hover over any message and click Fork Conversation to create a branch from that point.
🧩 5. Agent Plugins — Install AI Superpowers
VS Code now supports Agent Plugins — prepackaged bundles of AI tools and customizations you can install just like regular extensions.
To find them:
- Open the Extensions view (
Ctrl+Shift+X/Cmd+Shift+X) - Type
@agentPluginsin the search box
Plugins can include custom slash commands, AI skills, MCP servers, and more.
🌐 6. AI Can Now Use a Browser!
This one is really cool. VS Code now has agentic browser tools — meaning your AI agent can literally open a browser, click around, read the page, and take screenshots — all without you doing anything!
Use cases:
- Build a web app and have the agent test it automatically
- Let the agent verify that UI changes look correct
📌 This is experimental, so you need to enable it in settings first.
✏️ 7. Smarter Code Suggestions
Long-Distance Next Edit Suggestions
VS Code's AI doesn't just suggest what to type next — it can now suggest edits anywhere in your file, not just near your cursor. This is like having an AI co-pilot that can anticipate what you'll need to change later in the file.
Control How Eager the AI Is
You can now set an eagerness level for suggestions:
- High eagerness = more suggestions (some might be less relevant)
- Low eagerness = fewer, more precise suggestions
Find this in the Copilot Status Bar at the bottom of VS Code.
🖥️ 8. Terminal Upgrades
See Images in the Terminal!
VS Code's built-in terminal now supports the Kitty graphics protocol, which means you can display images directly in the terminal. Tools like kitten icat let you view PNG, RGB, and RGBA images without leaving VS Code.
Ghostty Terminal Support
If you use the Ghostty terminal app on macOS or Linux, you can now set it as your default external terminal inside VS Code.
// macOS
"terminal.external.osxExec": "Ghostty.app",
// Linux
"terminal.external.linuxExec": "ghostty"
🐍 9. Python Got Easier to Manage
A new Python Environments extension is now rolling out to all users. It gives you a single place to manage all Python environments — whether you use venv, conda, pyenv, poetry, or pipenv.
Key features:
- Quick Create: One click to create a new environment
- Package management: Install/uninstall packages from a visual UI
- uv integration: Faster environment creation
Enable it in settings with python.useEnvsExtension.
⚙️ 10. Quality-of-Life Improvements
You Can Move Notifications
Tired of chat notifications hiding behind other panels? You can now move them to top-right, bottom-right, or bottom-left. Go to Settings and search for "notification position".
AI Co-Author Credits on Commits
When you commit AI-generated code, VS Code can now automatically add a Co-authored-by: GitHub Copilot line to the commit message. This is optional but useful for transparency.
The setting options are:
-
off— Don't add anything (default) -
chatAndAgent— Tag commits from Copilot Chat -
all— Tag all AI-generated code including inline suggestions
JavaScript/TypeScript Settings Unified
Previously, you had to set some options twice — once for JavaScript and once for TypeScript. Now they share a single js/ts.* settings prefix.
Before:
"javascript.format.enable": false,
"typescript.format.enable": true
After (cleaner!):
"[javascript]": { "js/ts.format.enabled": false },
"[typescript]": { "js/ts.format.enabled": true }
🎨 11. Personalization Fun
Custom Thinking Phrases
You know that spinning message VS Code shows when the AI is thinking? You can now customize it!
"chat.agent.thinking.phrases": {
"mode": "replace",
"phrases": ["Bribing the hamster", "Untangling the spaghetti", "Consulting the oracle..."]
}
Summary Table
| Feature | What It Does | Good for Beginners? |
|---|---|---|
| Background Agents | AI works while you rest | ✅ Yes |
| Agent Debug Panel | See what your AI is doing | ✅ Yes |
| /autoApprove | Skip approval prompts | ⚠️ Use carefully |
| Context Compaction | Keep long chats alive | ✅ Yes |
| Fork Session | Explore alternative paths | ✅ Yes |
| Agent Plugins | Install AI bundles | ✅ Yes |
| Browser Tools | AI can click around the web | 🧪 Experimental |
| Python Envs Extension | Manage Python environments visually | ✅ Yes |
| Images in Terminal | View images in the terminal | 🆒 Cool extra |
| Custom Thinking Phrases | Personalize the loading text | 😄 Fun |
🏁 Wrapping Up
VS Code 1.110 is a huge step forward for AI-assisted development. Whether you're just starting out or already building apps with Copilot, there's something here for you. The key theme this month: more control, better visibility, and smarter sessions.
Want to try these features? Make sure you're on VS Code 1.110 or higher and have GitHub Copilot enabled.
Happy coding! 👩💻🧑💻
What's new video Link
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