Mads Kristensen introduces the general availability of Visual Studio 2022 v17.14, highlighting GitHub Copilot Agent Mode, C++ enhancements, advanced debugging, and Git improvements for developers.

Visual Studio 2022 v17.14 Now Generally Available

Author: Mads Kristensen

We’re excited to announce the general availability of Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14, continuing our mission to empower developers with tools that are faster, smarter, and more productive across all workloads.

Download Visual Studio 17.14

This release brings an impressive array of updates, with new features and improvements for developers working in all areas. For complete details, refer to the release notes. A new monthly stable release cadence is also introduced, allowing users to receive updates even faster. Below are some of the major highlights from this release.

AI Assisted Development with GitHub Copilot

Visual Studio’s integration with GitHub Copilot continues to evolve, introducing powerful AI-assisted productivity features:

  • Agent Mode (Preview): Engage in natural language chat with Visual Studio, directing it to complete multi-step, complex coding tasks. The Copilot agent understands your full codebase—capable of error recognition and correction, suggesting and executing terminal commands, and analyzing run-time errors for task completion. Learn more here.

  • MCP Support (Preview): The Model Context Protocol (MCP) allows Copilot to access tools, data, and resources in a structured way—functioning as an AI universal adaptor. Preview support is now available.

  • AI Doc Comment Generation: Copilot can now automatically generate doc comments for C# and C++ functions. By triggering with documentation syntax (like ///), Copilot suggests function descriptions based on implementation content. See more details.

  • Next Edit Suggestion (NES): NES predicts your next edit—whether insertion, deletion, or a mix—leveraging your previous changes and working anywhere in your file, not just at the caret location. NES is configurable through settings.

Watch a demo video

Debugging & Diagnostics

  • Live UI Preview at Design Time: See UI changes reflected instantly in your application at design time. Live Preview is now available as you build, supplementing existing Hot Reload and live UI tools, especially valuable for .NET MAUI projects.

  • .NET MAUI Debugger: A new Mono debug engine for .NET MAUI is now integrated, streamlining the debugging experience.

  • Enhanced LINQ Expression Debugging: Improved datatip support for LINQ expressions with clause hovering.

  • Zero-Length Array Allocation Insights: The .NET Allocation Tool identifies and surfaces instances of zero-length array allocations, aiding memory optimization.

C++ Updates

  • C++ Dynamic Debugging (Preview): Enables full debugging for optimized C++ code without sacrificing performance.

  • C++23 Improvements: Updates include new lambda attributes, if consteval support, and static operators, targeting code efficiency and safety.

  • Productivity Boosts: Automatic template argument population and improved IntelliSense support for CMake modules.

Read more: What’s New for C++ Developers in Visual Studio 2022 17.14 – C++ Team Blog

Git Tooling Enhancements

  • Outgoing/Incoming Commits: The Git Repository window now provides toolbar filtering to display only incoming or outgoing commits.

  • Git Repository Window Persistence: Keep the repository window open after restarts with a new setting.

  • Configurable Default Branch Names: Users can now customize the initial default branch name when creating new repositories.

Release Party & Future Plans

A special live Visual Studio Release Party will be hosted on YouTube (May 14th, 1PM PT) to showcase the newest features, including Copilot Agent Mode, C++ debugging improvements, and Git updates with demos and behind-the-scenes commentary. The event will also be available on demand.

Monthly Release Cadence & Looking Forward

From this release forward, Visual Studio 2022 will receive monthly updates featuring rapid AI-powered Copilot enhancements, deeper integrations, and feedback-driven iteration. Update now to 17.14 and anticipate continuous improvements—including news later this year about the next major Visual Studio release.

Stay tuned to the Visual Studio Blog for ongoing updates and feature highlights!

This post appeared first on “Microsoft DevBlog”. Read the entire article here