Overview
Visual Studio Code is Microsoft's code editor, developed in the open as "Code - OSS" under the MIT licence. The product you download from code.visualstudio.com is a distribution of that repository with Microsoft-specific customisations released under a Microsoft product licence. It combines editing, navigation, lightweight debugging and an extension model, and ships a monthly release.
The AI features are part of the editor rather than a separate product. VS Code's documentation groups them as agents (the most autonomous option, for multi-step tasks), chat and inline chat for conversational help, inline suggestions for completions, and smart actions for refactoring. Agents are gated behind the `chat.agent.enabled` setting.
Two things make it a platform rather than a single assistant. Custom instructions let you shape how the agent behaves in a given repository, and MCP server support lets it reach tools and data outside the editor. Model choice is open: you sign in with a GitHub account to use a GitHub Copilot subscription, or bring your own models — including ones running locally.
What it does
- Agents for multi-step tasks, plus chat and inline chat, built into the editor
- Inline suggestions and smart actions for completion and refactoring
- Custom instructions to shape agent behaviour per project
- MCP server support, so the agent can call tools and data sources outside the editor
- Model choice: a GitHub Copilot subscription, other providers, or bring-your-own including local models
- Core editor developed in the open at microsoft/vscode under MIT, with a large extension marketplace
Getting started
Download the product build rather than compiling the repository — the AI features are enabled from inside the editor.
Install VS Code
Builds for Windows, macOS and Linux are on the download page; the Insiders build ships daily.
https://code.visualstudio.com/DownloadPick where the models come from
Sign in with your GitHub account to use a GitHub Copilot subscription, or configure your own model provider (BYOK), including a locally-run model.
Turn agents on
Agent mode is behind a setting. Open Settings and enable it, then open the Chat view and pick the agent.
chat.agent.enabledGive the agent project context
Add custom instructions so the agent follows your repository's conventions, and register MCP servers to give it tools beyond the workspace.
Build from source (optional)
The Code - OSS repository builds on Linux, macOS and Windows; a dev container is included and wants at least 4 cores and 6 GB of RAM.
git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vscode.gitCommands and code are distilled from the project's own documentation — always check the official repo for the latest.
When to use it
- Use one editor for both hand-written and agent-written code, without leaving for a separate tool
- Standardise how an agent behaves across a team by checking custom instructions into the repository
- Connect an in-editor agent to internal systems through MCP servers
- Keep code and prompts on your own model provider, or a local model, instead of a hosted subscription
How Visual Studio Code compares
Visual Studio Code alongside other open-source ide copilots tools AI/TLDR tracks, ranked by GitHub stars.
| Tool | Stars | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Visual Studio Code | ★ 193k | Microsoft's editor, with chat, agents, inline suggestions and MCP built into the product |
| Zed | ★ 90.5k | A high-performance multiplayer code editor written in Rust, with a built-in AI agent panel that the operating system sandboxes by default. |
| Refact.ai | ★ 3.5k | AI coding agent with in-IDE chat, autocompletion, and refactoring; offers a self-hosted open-source edition alongside paid plans. |
| Huzzah | ★ 196 | An experimental editor where persistent .hz pseudocode files are the artefact and an LLM keeps a real implementation reconciled with them. |
| Cursor | — | AI-native code editor (VS Code fork) with predictive tab completion, multi-file edits, and autonomous coding agents. |
| Windsurf | — | AI-native editor (formerly Codeium) with the Cascade agent for in-editor completion, chat, and codebase-aware edits; now part of Cognition. |
| Tabnine | — | Privacy-focused enterprise AI assistant offering code completion, chat, and agents with on-prem and air-gapped deployment options. |
| Sourcegraph Cody | — | Enterprise AI coding assistant that uses whole-codebase context to autocomplete, explain, and fix code across VS Code, JetBrains, and Visual Studio. |