Iteration Plan for July 2025

[kieferrm]

This plan captures our work in July 2025. This is a 4-week iteration. We will ship in early August.

Endgame

• July 28, 2025: Endgame begins
• August 1, 2025: Endgame done

The endgame details for this iteration are tracked here.

Plan Items

Below is a summary of the top level plan items.

Legend of annotations:

Mark	Description
🏃	work in progress
✋	blocked task
💪	stretch goal for this iteration
🔴	missing issue reference
🔵	more investigation required to remove uncertainty
⚫	under discussion within the team
⬛	a large work item, larger than one iteration

Accessibility

• 🏃 Accessibility issues, see query @meganrogge team
• Explore testing VS Code for accessibility via playwright vscode#250767 @meganrogge
• Chat link contrast vscode#18548 @kkbrooks

UX

• ✋ Remove all hard-coded styles with variables vscode#248725 @mrleemurray
• 🏃 Improve VS Code Figma design resources vscode#249227 @kkbrooks
• 🏃 Release Notes Refresh vscode-docs#8484 @eli-w-king
• UX pass over PR description header area vscode#253317 @mrleemurray @alexr00 @bamurtaugh

Workbench

• Support a multi-level tree structure in Quick Pick for tools use case vscode#250638 vscode#252054 @TylerLeonhardt
• Support Windows package identity to preserve device permissions vscode#254613 @deepak1556

Getting started

• 🏃 Improve #new getting started experience to support additional templates and entry points vscode#256739 @bhavyaus

Code Editor

• Render screen reader content as rich HTML vscode#251619 @aiday-mar
• Explore rendering "AI impact" vscode#255655 @hediet @mrleemurray

Notebook Editor / Jupyter Notebooks

• Improve inline chat for notebook (with inlineChat.enableV2) vscode#255807 @amunger
• 🏃 Improve next edit suggestions for notebooks vscode#255704 @DonJayamanne
• Jupyter kernel: support environments created by uv vscode-jupyter#16783 @DonJayamanne

Source Control

• Git: Copilot powered conflict resolutions vscode#255801 @lszomoru
• Support drag-and-drop of commits from the Graph view to Chat vscode#254903 @lszomoru
• Support for Git Worktrees vscode#68038 @nguyenchristy @lszomoru

Settings

• 🏃 Roll out AI settings search vscode#255486 @rzhao271
• Use /download/latest API when turning on sync vscode#255368 @sandy081

Extensions

• 🏃 Default settings should reload when exp service reloads vscode#255797 @sandy081

Languages

TypeScript and JavaScript

• 🏃 Ship TypeScript 5.9 vscode#258302 @mjbvz

Python

• 🏃 Roll out Python Environments Extension as bundled by default with the Python Extension vscode-python-environments#190 @eleanorjboyd @cwebster-99
• 🏃 Build "Diagnose with AI" flow for Python Environment Extension vscode-python-environments#592 @eleanorjboyd
• Improve experience for people opting into PyREPL for Python >= 3.13 vscode-python#25240 vscode-python#25241 vscode-python#25296 @anthonykim1

Terminal

• ⬛ Ship shell-agnostic terminal intellisense by default in stable vscode#226562 @meganrogge
• onTerminal activation event proposed API vscode#252413 @meganrogge
• onTerminalShellIntegration activation event proposed API vscode#252412 @meganrogge
• LSP documentation in terminal suggest vscode#252317 @anthonykim1
• Bugs in terminal env collection query @anthonykim1
• 🏃 Bugs in terminal shell integration query @anthonykim1

Tasks

• Expose terminal on taskExecution as proposed API vscode#234440 @meganrogge

API

• 🏃 API proposals: query @mjbvz @alexr00
• 🏃 API finalization: query @mjbvz @alexr00
• 🏃 BYOK API vscode#250007 @lramos15

Extension Contributions

GitHub Pull Requests

• Default to @copilot as a placeholder in comments in Padawan PRs vscode-pull-request-github#7284 @alexr00
• Wait to get timeline after commenting on Padawan PRs vscode-pull-request-github#7231 @alexr00
• Ability to open commits in VS Code without checking out the PR vscode-pull-request-github#7346 @alexr00
• Show Copilot Coding Agent tasks overall progress vscode-pull-request-github#7148 @alexr00
• Improve PR list view performance vscode-pull-request-github#7141 @alexr00

AI

MCP

• Revisit MCP tool refresh UX vscode#248010 @connor4312 @jo-oikawa
• 🏃 Polish MCP client experience, see query @sandy081

Prompt and Instruction Files

• None.

Chat

• 🏃 Support desktop notifications when in agent mode vscode#251621 @bpasero
• Improve terminal inline chat experience in sub-shells vscode#254462 @anthonykim1
• 🏃 Support for CoT tokens vscode#257104 @karthiknadig @justschen
• 🏃 Support math (Katex) syntax rendering in Chat vscode#255243 @mjbvz
• 🏃 Explore supporting Mermaid diagram rendering in Chat vscode-copilot-release#7440 @mjbvz
• 💪 Explore offering inline completions in the chat input box vscode#255818 @aiday-mar
• 🏃 Explore Auto mode vscode#252795 @lramos15 @isidorn @kkbrooks
• 🏃 Explore transparency around token use vscode#249983 @kkbrooks @isidorn
• 🏃 Explore pre-selection of tools vscode#248021 @connor4312
• Support chat participants in Agent mode vscode#255921 @roblourens
• Explore rendering checkpoints in SCM vscode#254458 @aiday-mar @lszomoru
• 💪 Explore rendering unaccepted files in SCM vscode#254456 @aiday-mar @lszomoru
• Render Copilot agent PRs in chat view vscode#255383 @alexr00
• 💪 Explore showing most recent chat history entries in empty chat vscode#251187 @justschen
• 🏃 Improve checkpoints and message editing vscode#256071 @justschen @jo-oikawa

Terminal/task tools

• Move run in terminal tool into core vscode#252650 @Tyriar
• 🏃 Investigate run in terminal tool hanging issues vscode#255396 @Tyriar
• 🏃 Investigate run in terminal output read issues vscode#257439 @Tyriar
• Terminal auto approve
  • Refine the setting vscode#253314, vscode#253472 @Tyriar
  • Allow matching against full command line vscode#256280 @Tyriar
  • Support flags in regular expression matchers vscode#256742 @Tyriar
  • 🏃 ✋ Tell the user why or why not something was auto approved vscode#256793 @Tyriar
  • 💪 UI entry point to auto-approve future commands vscode#253268 @Tyriar
  • 🏃 💪 Opt-in to LLM-based approval vscode#253267 @Tyriar
• Copilot Terminal Awareness for Long-Running or Error-Prone Commands vscode#251653 @meganrogge
• 🏃 Auto handling and announcing Y/N terminal confirmations vscode#258252 @meganrogge
• Track all terminals in agent context vscode#254495 @meganrogge
• Move run in task tool into core vscode#257100@meganrogge

NES / Completions

• Adopt NES provider onchange event vscode#256458 @hediet
• Experiment: Increase the NES debounce times vscode#255727 @ulugbekna
• 🏃 Experiment: Re-invoke NES with a larger edit window after replies with "no edits" vscode#255728 @ulugbekna
• Optimize caching for TypeScript context provider vscode#255371 @dbaeumer
• Monitor the current TypeScript context provider experiment vscode#255373 @dbaeumer

Integrations

• Improve the integration with the GH Coding Agent (aka Padawan) vscode#255483 @rebornix @alexr00 team
  • GitHub Pull Requests extension improvements (query) @alexr00
  • 🏃 Explore bringing Copilot Agents command center into VS Code vscode#256987 @osortega
  • 🏃 Explore integrated chat view for Coding Agent session vscode#256988 @joshspicer @mjbvz
  • 🏃 Chat session provider api vscode#256396 @mjbvz
  • 🏃 Add docs for Coding Agents vscode-docs#8561 @bamurtaugh
  • Share instruction.md files between Coding Agent and VS Code vscode#255913 @rebornix @Chuxel

Engineering

• ✋ Explore a better Windows update flow vscode#249239 @deepak1556
• Move to GitHub Actions for Code OSS vscode#257093 @lszomoru
• 🏃 STest cache explorer vscode#255803 @joaomoreno

Electron

• Electron 37 update vscode#252152 @deepak1556

Documentation

• Investigate updates needed for Python Environments extension vscode-docs#8603 @cwebster-99

Website

• 🏃 Improve width of ToC, and overall the width of a docs page that's available vscode-docs#8485 @hawkticehurst
• Support headings (H2, H3) inside a <details> tag vscode-docs#8486 @hawkticehurst
• Enable showing an expanded version of a table (useful for wide tables) vscode-docs#8488 @hawkticehurst
• Include telemetry for ToC click behavior vscode-docs#8489 @hawkticehurst

---

Deferred

• Collapse consecutive file edits of the same file @connor4312
• Explore supporting a selection of CLI agents @roblourens
• Improve rendering of prompt file usage in Chat vscode#253014 @aeschli @justschen
• 💪 Improve tool picker for toolsets vscode#252054 @roblourens @TylerLeonhardt
• Support Copilot Chat in web vscode#245860 @bpasero
• 💪 Explore anchored quick widget for mouse interactions to attach context vscode#238095 @TylerLeonhardt
• Suggest to user to move app to /Applications on startup vscode#213909 @deepak1556

[iwangbowen]

Always looking forward to new updates

[wadamczyk-insolutions]

@kieferrm Is there any chance of looking at #117862 in this or next iteration? Please 🥺 . This is a simple change that's been waiting for merging since February 2025 and is a known bug in VS Code for 4+ years, all checks have passed, from what I understand it only needs to be reviewed by 2 people from the core VS Code team, and the problem is very frustrating when working on large codebases with deep directory structures. This simple change would bring immense happiness to my small team, because now after every VS Code update we have to patch the internal CSS just to be able to work on our projects.

I know that there were plans for the new UI of the quick widget, but... since it's been already 4 years and the change in the existing UI is only a few CSS lines...

Thanks!

[teuxnkha619-design]

#253268