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6 new AI coding features in VS Code and Copilot
From MCP server support to BYOK, A big update for VS Code v 1.99
I have tried several AI-assisted coding tools such as Windsurf or VS Code with Copilot, Claude Code, and, recently, JetBrains Junie (I will write about Junie in future articles). In practice, because of the generous free plan and great integrated features with VS Code, I use VS Code with Copilot the most on a daily basis.
The recent VS Code update (March 2025, version 1.99) contains many new features and improvements related to GitHub Copilot. In this article, we will discuss six important ones.
· What is new in the VS Code 1.99 related to Copilot?
∘ 1- Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers tool in Agent mode
∘ 2- Access more language models (Bring Your Own Key)
∘ 3- Unified chat view
∘ 4- Agent mode new built-in tools
∘ 5- Create a new workspace with agent mode (Experimental)
∘ 6- AI-powered semantic text search (Experimental)
· Final thoughts
What is new in the VS Code 1.99 related to Copilot?
The most important feature that made this release a big update was the availability of the new Copilot Agent mode in VS Code Stable. If you read my previous article, I used VS Code Insider to test Copilot Agent mode:
Considering that some features that we examine in this article are experimental and some others were experimental and now are generally available.
1- Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers tool in Agent mode
We can definitely say that this is the most important feature of Copilot in this version of VS Code. Given the importance of MCP in expanding LLM capabilities by introducing new tools, support for MCP servers is critical for any AI-assisted coding tool.
MCP servers can be configured in different ways in this version of VS Code, such as the mcp section in your user, remote, or .code-workspace…
