Enhanced Codespaces Connection

We’re excited to announce an important upgrade to the Codespaces connection infrastructure. Our team has been working to enhance the security, reliability, and overall performance of both the main connection and port forwarding features.

What’s Changing

To support these enhancements, we require the addition of *.visualstudio.com to be allowlisted for your firewall rules. This is a crucial step to ensure a seamless and secure experience with Codespaces.

Release Plan

Today we are going to enable you to opt into this new connection system through the Feature Preview section on github.com. This feature flag will be an opt-in flag for two weeks to enable you to test these changes against your own firewalls.

In two weeks we will turn on these changes as a default. Users can opt out of using this new connection system for 30 days under the same feature flag. Customers who need more time will be able to request extra time through GitHub Support.

After 30 more days we will move everyone over to our new connection system.

Your Action Needed

Ensure that *.visualstudio.com is allowlisted under your firewall rules.

Enable the feature flag under github.com to test these changes out yourself, as well as to ensure these domains are added to your firewall rules promptly to maintain uninterrupted access and optimal functionality of Codespaces.

If you’re having any issues, read our firewall troubleshooting guide.

We appreciate your cooperation and understanding as we continue to improve your experience with Codespaces. If you have any questions or need assistance, our support team is here to help.

Thank you for being a valued member of the Codespaces community.

GitHub Issues & Projects – Projects without Limits Private Beta

When we first introduced GitHub Projects, we set a limit of 1,200 items per project to keep projects snappy and encourage tracking of only active work. Your feedback over the years has been invaluable, and we heard you loud and clear – sometimes, 1,200 items just isn’t enough for those growing, scaling projects. That’s why today, we’re excited to announce the private beta of Projects without Limits, which will enable unlimited issue limits on your projects.

While this feature is still under development, the private beta currently supports the table, board, and roadmap layouts. Stay tuned for upcoming support for other beloved features such as slice by, swimlanes, mobile support, Projects API, and insights.

If you’re a project admin and your project is nearing the item limit while exclusively using our supported features, this banner will appear over your project.

To join the private beta waitlist, click the Join waitlist button. If space is available, your project will be granted beta access.

For questions and feedback, please visit our Community Discussion.

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VS Code Copilot Chat January 2024 (version 0.12)

Copilot enhancements in Visual Studio Code

We have introduced several features to the Copilot Chat extension in Visual Studio Code. These updates, available in Visual Studio Code 1.86 and the latest Copilot Chat extension 0.12, aim to provide a more streamlined and interactive coding experience. From new context variables that offer more control over the context you provide to Copilot, to expanded voice control capabilities, these updates are designed to improve your interaction with Copilot. Let’s take a closer look at these new features.

Context variables

You can use context variables to provide additional context to your questions in chat by using the # symbol. We have introduced two new context variables: #file and #editor to give you more control to specify that context.

The #file variable lets you reference specific files from your workspace in your chat prompt. This helps make the answers from Copilot Chat more relevant to your code by providing context about the file you are working with. You can ask questions like “Can you suggest improvements to #file:package.json?” or “How do I add an extension in #file:devcontainer.json?”. By using the #file variable, you can get more targeted and accurate responses from Copilot.

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With the #editor context variable, you have control over whether to include the visible code of the active editor in your prompt to Copilot Chat. Previously, this information was automatically included when you hadn’t selected text in the editor. Now, you can choose to explicitly add the visible code to the context or omit it for more general questions.

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The #selection context variable already enabled you to focus Copilot’s suggestions on the specific code you select in the editor. By combining the #file, #editor, and #selection variables, you have full control over the context you provide to Copilot Chat, ensuring that you receive the most relevant and helpful answers.

Inline chat

We also added several features, such as Copilot Code Actions and an updated live mode, to make your Copilot inline chat experience more productive.

As you’re writing and iterating over your code, you can now invoke Copilot through Code Actions (light bulb) on a specific line in the editor. This functionality gives you direct and targeted access to Copilot to improve your code. When there is an error in the code, you can use the sparkle Code Action to let Copilot explain the error or propose a fix.

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With the updated inline chat live mode, you can now see and evaluate the suggested code modifications in-place in the editor. Additionally, you have the option to drill through to the inline diff editor to compare the proposed changes against the original code.

Responsible AI

We emphasize responsible usage of AI, especially when it comes to source code. We’ve added a new setting that asks users for confirmation before saving code that was generated by Copilot. This ensures that users have control over the code generated by Copilot and can review it before saving.

This setting, inlineChat.acceptedOrDiscardBeforeSave, is enabled by default. When the setting is enabled, a file save will wait for the user to accept or discard any pending inline chat session. This also applies when Auto Save is enabled, which will be temporarily turned off until inline chat has ended.

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Enhancing voice interactions

We have further enhanced voice interactions in VS Code by giving you more flexibility and options for initiating voice interactions.

Now, you can use the “Hey Code” voice command to start a voice session with Copilot Chat. You can choose whether you want this voice command to open the Chat view, inline chat in the editor, quick chat, or choose dynamically based on where the focus is.

To enable this voice command, make sure to install the GitHub Copilot Chat and VS Code Speech extensions. Once installed, you can enable the “Hey Code” voice command in the accessibility.voice.keywordActivation setting.

In addition, you can accelerate voice input for chat by using the “hold to speak” mode: press and hold the keybinding for inline chat and voice recording automatically starts. As soon as you release the keys, the request is sent to Copilot.

Besides these main features, you can also explore our other exciting new preview features.

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