2026-01-26 - 17:00Z

Commit: b074b32 · Previous: abb70fb · Compare: GitHub Version: 1.109.0-insider · Branch: main · Upstream: microsoft/vscode

✨ NEW

• #290216 animations for reasoning and tool calls inside reasoning

  Adds animations and rotating status messages to chat reasoning and tool calls, providing clearer visual feedback while the model processes, enhancing user experience during waiting periods.

• #290426 Workspace Trust - display URI label in dialog

  Enhances the workspace trust dialog to show a formatted URI label of the folder being trusted, giving users clearer information about the resource involved.

• #290418 Auto approve Set-Location PowerShell command

  Automatically approves the PowerShell Set-Location command for terminal execution, aligning it with existing approval for the cd command to streamline command runs.

• #290385 Add proposed API support for agent sessions workspace

  Introduces a proposed API for extensions to detect if the current workspace is a special "agent sessions workspace," enabling tailored extension behavior for these sessions.

• #290404 Workspace Trust - add support to request trust for a resource

  Adds support for requesting trust on individual resources (folders/files) via a new API, allowing extensions to prompt users about trust at a finer granularity than entire workspaces.

• #289977 Add debug logging for file dialog default path selection

  Adds detailed debug logging to track the source of default paths used in file and folder dialogs, helping diagnose why the files.dialog.defaultPath setting may not seem effective.

• #289655 Support model as string[] in custom agent definitions

  Enables custom agents to specify a prioritized list of models instead of a single model, allowing selection of the first available model for better flexibility and fallback.

• #290366 Implement await terminal tool

  Implements a new awaitTerminal tool that lets chat agents wait for terminal commands to finish, removing the need for manual workarounds when waiting for background tasks.

• #288414 Add goal parameter to runInTerminal tool for subtitle display

  Adds a goal parameter to runInTerminal tool to show a command's purpose as a subtitle in confirmation dialogs, giving users clearer context about terminal commands.

• #290336 docs - add guidance for handling disposables

  Adds guidance to the repository documentation on proper handling of disposable resources to prevent leaks in frequently-called code paths.

🐛 FIXES

• #290432 Browser focus fixes

  Improves focus handling in the Integrated Browser editor so the browser container properly gains and maintains focus, enhancing user interaction with the browser view.

• #290416 Revert "Chat - Keep/Undo actions polish in the multi-file diff editor (#290188)"

  Reverts recent changes to multi-file diff editor actions, restoring simpler Keep/Undo all edits commands for clearer and more consistent user operations.

• #288052 Close inline chat when AI features are disabled

  Automatically closes the inline chat widget when AI agent features are disabled, preventing leftover UI when chat agents become unavailable.

• #290341 fix - update `chat.viewSessions` setting to show active only

  Fixes a profile setting name from chat.viewSessions.showPendingOnly to the correct chat.viewSessions.showActiveOnly to ensure proper configuration behavior.

• #290349 Simplify PR chat card into just title

  Simplifies pull request chat cards by removing the description and expanding the clickable area to the entire title, fixing user confusion about card expansion.

• #290348 Agent Sessions - trust the agent sessions workspace file

  Automatically trusts the Agent Sessions workspace file to prevent unnecessary workspace trust prompts when opening agent session windows.

• #290345 Revert "Adding helpful message when domains are restricted due to san…

  Reverts prior sandbox-related messaging changes in RunInTerminal tools to avoid leaking sandbox concepts and maintain compatibility with terminal refactors.

• #290344 Revert "use scroll-shadow tricks from SCM (#280930)"

  Reverts scroll shadow CSS and event listener changes in the chat input area that caused incorrect shadow behavior when scrolled, fixing visual glitches.

• #289043 Filter README.md from custom agents in .github/agents/

  Fixes an issue where README.md files in .github/agents/ were incorrectly listed as custom agents by explicitly excluding them from detection.

• #290294 Update workspace trust dialog: "Browse" → "Open" in restricted mode

  Changes workspace trust dialog wording from "Browse folder in restricted mode" to "Open folder in restricted mode" to correctly indicate that editing is allowed.

🔨 REFACTORS

• #290409 debt - fix import to same name aliases

  Simplifies imports by removing redundant aliasing where imported symbols were renamed to the same name, improving code readability without changing behavior.

• #290379 agent sessions - grouping redesign

  Redesigns the Chat Welcome menu for agent sessions by replacing the session visibility submenu with a toggle and adding a new grouping submenu to better organize sessions.

• #290396 Add explanation model manager

  Introduces a centralized explanation model manager for chat editing, enabling better explanation management and UI updates when following up in chat sessions.

• #290364 agent sessions - card visual updates to reduce clutter

  Adds feature flags to reduce visual clutter in agent session cards by toggling badge and diff file count visibility, allowing a cleaner UI.

• #290369 chore - remove unused settings from `agent-sessions`

  Internal maintenance/refactoring; no user-visible change expected.

• #290365 Enhance light bulb functionality with observable state management and tooltip updates in inline chat editor affordance

  Enhances the inline chat editor light bulb icon with observable state management and dynamic tooltips, enabling real-time updates and better toolbar integration.

• #289705 Get codicons from node module

  Moves the codicon.ttf font file to be sourced from the @vscode/codicons npm package, simplifying font management and CI/CD caching.

• #290359 place system profiles under builtin folder

  Moves system user profiles to a new 'builtin' folder, separating them from user profiles to improve profile directory organization.

• #290143 Unify background and non-background terminals

  Unifies foreground and background terminal execution handling into a single code path, improving support for switching modes and awaiting background terminals.

• #289951 Break chat context provider into 3 different providers

  Splits the chat context provider API into three distinct providers for workspace, explicit, and resource contexts, clarifying API usage and responsibilities.

• #290339 refactor - simplify session grouping logic in `groupAgentSessionsByActive`

  Simplifies agent session grouping logic by removing redundant tracking and promotion of "most recent" sessions, relying on per-session criteria only.

• #290330 Adding helpful message when domains are restricted due to sandboxing

  Internal maintenance/refactoring; no user-visible change expected.

• #290309 A semi-working way to send a message in chat

  Internal maintenance/refactoring; no user-visible change expected.

⬆️ UPGRADES

• #290427 Engineering - adopt the ACES VMs

  Updates macOS build pipelines to run on the new ACES Sequoia VM image, ensuring builds use the latest environment for better stability and performance.

• #290425 Update codicons to get worktree icon

  Updates the codicons icon set dependency to include the new worktree icon, enabling its use in the workbench and web.

• #290410 Engineering - update distro

  Updates the repository's distro version reference to a newer commit hash, ensuring build and CI tools use the latest distribution info.

• #290399 Enhance 2026 Dark theme styling

  Improves the 2026 Dark theme by increasing editor widget opacity and adding blur and shadow effects to peek view and chat UI for enhanced visual clarity.

• #290397 Update color settings in 2026 theme files for improved readability

  Updates colors across the 2026 light and dark themes to improve syntax readability and overall visual clarity in the editor.

• #290381 Engineering - update notebooks

  Updates GitHub Issues endgame notebooks to use the current milestone (January 2026), keeping issue tracking up-to-date for the release cycle.

• #290368 Update editor widget background opacity and enhance token colors

  Enhances 2026 themes by adjusting editor widget background opacity and extending token color sets, including HTML/XML and operators for better readability.

• #290362 Enhance theme styles for editor and keybinding widgets

  Improves theme styles by making editor widget backgrounds more translucent with blur effects, and adds new styling for the define keybinding widget.

• #290358 Update editor widget background opacity and enhance tab shadow effects

  Adjusts editor widget background opacity and enhances shadow effects on active tabs in the 2026 themes to improve visual hierarchy and polish.

• #290353 agent sessions - update icon for profile

  Changes the built-in Agent Sessions profile icon to use the Copilot icon, clarifying the agent’s branding in user settings.