Harshada Hole showcases the Copilot Diagnostics toolset, which leverages GitHub Copilot within Visual Studio to assist .NET developers with smarter debugging, profiling, and code analysis.

Copilot Diagnostics Toolset for .NET in Visual Studio

By Harshada Hole

Debugging and diagnosing performance issues in .NET applications is often challenging and time-consuming. The latest Copilot-powered diagnostics features in Visual Studio aim to make these tasks faster, more insightful, and less tedious by integrating AI-driven assistance directly into your workflow.

Copilot Debugging Toolbox

Breakpoint & Tracepoint Copilot Suggestions

Copilot analyzes your debugging context and suggests tailored conditional breakpoints and tracepoint actions, reducing manual setup.
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Breakpoint Troubleshooting

Instantly diagnose non-binding breakpoints with Copilot’s step-by-step guidance on symbol mismatch, build issues, or optimization settings.

IEnumerable Visualizer with Copilot-Assisted LINQ Queries

Inspect large collections in a tabular view, and ask Copilot to create or improve LINQ queries using natural language prompts.
Tutorial

LINQ Query Hover with Copilot

Hover over a LINQ statement while debugging to receive in-context explanations, performance highlights, and logic checks from Copilot.
Release Notes

Exception Assistance with Copilot

Copilot summarizes exceptions, diagnoses likely causes, and suggests code fixes—helping you quickly understand and resolve errors.
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Variable Analysis with Copilot

Use Copilot within DataTips, Autos, or Locals to get AI-powered explanations for unexpected variable results, turning debugging into a detective process.
Deep Dive

Return Value Analysis with Copilot

View and validate inline method return values directly in the code view, with Copilot offering explanations for correctness and troubleshooting.
Feature Details

Parallel Stacks Deadlock Analysis

Copilot automatically summarizes thread states in complex async/multithreaded debugging scenarios, providing deadlock and hang insights directly in the Parallel Stacks window.
In-Depth Guide

Copilot Profiling Toolbox

Auto Insights: CPU Usage, Instrumentation, and Memory Allocation

Copilot’s Auto Insights quickly point out CPU hotspots, expensive functions, and possible code bottlenecks.
Actionable guidance for optimizing loops, minimizing allocations, and improving overall efficiency—all accessible with ‘Ask Copilot’ in the debugger.
Instrumentation and .NET Allocation tools also benefit from Copilot’s AI summaries and suggestions, such as identifying zero-length array allocations.
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With the Profiler, these new Copilot-guided features help developers efficiently troubleshoot and optimize .NET applications—no deep profiling expertise required.

Conclusion

GitHub Copilot is not replacing your debugging acumen but helps eliminate repetitive steps and surfaces key information when you need it. As an AI-powered teammate inside Visual Studio, Copilot streamlines debugging, explains code behavior, and expedites solving issues, letting you focus on shipping quality features faster.

Want a live demonstration? Check out recommended videos: “Fuel Your Fixes: Visual Studio Debugging, Powered by Copilot” and “Make Software Faster with VS Profiler & Copilot” for practical walkthroughs.

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