Autopilot Mode with Justin Chen
Visual Studio Code shares a walkthrough with Justin and James on VS Code’s evolving chat UX and Autopilot (Insiders preview), covering how agent-style workflows can auto-approve tools, iterate toward a task_complete signal, and how the new permissions picker and input bar changes affect safe, hands-off usage.
Autopilot Mode with Justin Chen
Justin and James discuss two main areas in VS Code (Insiders):
- Chat UX updates that aim to declutter conversations
- Autopilot mode (Insiders preview) for more hands-off, agent-style task execution
Timeline
- 00:00:00 — Intro and banter
- 00:03:30 — Chat UI: shimmers and collapsing
- 00:10:00 — Input toolbar changes
- 00:15:30 — Permissions picker overview
- 00:21:00 — Autopilot mode deep dive
- 00:25:30 — Plan mode, workflows, and dogfooding
- 00:28:30 — Feedback and closing
Chat UX changes
Shimmers and collapsed containers
They explain UI changes intended to reduce visual noise in long chat threads:
- Shimmers: a visual affordance to indicate content is loading or being generated
- Collapsed containers: allow collapsing sections of a conversation to keep threads readable
The goal is to make multi-step agent interactions easier to follow without scrolling through excessive detail.
Input toolbar changes
They cover updates to the chat input experience, including:
- A split input bar (to better separate concerns/actions in the chat UI)
- General changes aimed at making the interaction model clearer as chat becomes more workflow/agent oriented
Permissions picker
A new permissions picker is discussed as part of making tool usage safer and more explicit when agents are running actions.
Autopilot mode (Insiders preview)
Autopilot is described as a mode that can:
- Auto-approve tools (depending on configuration/approval mode)
- Answer prompts and continue iterating
- Run until it hits a task_complete signal or reaches a max retries limit
They also discuss when to use:
- Default approvals vs
- Bypass approvals
…with practical guidance focused on safer “hands-off” workflows and knowing when you should still keep tighter controls.
Plan mode, workflows, and dogfooding
They touch on:
- Plan mode
- Building/using workflows
- “Dogfooding” (using these features internally) and how that informs iteration
Links
- VS Code v1.110 release notes: https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_110
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