Visual Studio 2026, .NET 10, and C# 14 are released

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Visual Studio 2026 GA: 'First Intelligent Developer Environment (IDE)'

• By David Ramel
• 11/12/2025

Microsoft announced the general availability of Visual Studio 2026 on Nov. 11, during .NET Conf 2025. The release introduces what Microsoft calls the world's first Intelligent Developer Environment (IDE), combining AI-driven assistance with redesigned performance and user experience improvements. The company said it fixed more than 5,000 reported bugs and added 300 feature requests during development, with performance improvements cutting UI hangs by more than half compared to Visual Studio 2022.

Mads Kristensen, principal product manager, said developer feedback helped shape this release more than any other, especially in the Insiders Channel release introduced in September.

"With several performance improvements, a redesigned user experience, and a major leap in AI-driven development, this release is built to help developers focus on what truly matters: creating. Every click, keystroke, and compile is now smoother, faster, and more intuitive -- empowering you to turn ideas into code at unprecedented speed," Kristensen wrote in a blog post.

AI-Native Development
Microsoft described Visual Studio 2026 as AI-native, marking a shift toward what it calls an Intelligent Developer Environment. The company said this approach embeds intelligence directly into the IDE so it can assist at the point of need without changing how developers work. When debugging, profiling performance, or modernizing applications, AI identifies issues, surfaces insights, and provides targeted recommendations intended to streamline common workflows.

The new release introduces C# and C++ agents designed for professional developers who rely on precision and speed. These AI-powered agents extend existing functionality without adding complexity, allowing developers to automate repetitive tasks, diagnose problems faster, and maintain control of their workflow. Microsoft emphasized that Visual Studio 2026 applies AI to elevate existing practices rather than replace them, aligning with its goal of integrating intelligence throughout the toolchain.

GitHub Copilot remains central to the AI strategy within the IDE. New features include the Profiler Agent, which highlights performance bottlenecks and suggests optimizations, and a Debugger Agent that automatically analyzes and fixes failing unit tests. Early adopters cited the integration as a major improvement for both code quality and performance analysis. Microsoft said the combination of Copilot and the new agent architecture represents a step toward making AI an ambient, context-aware part of everyday development.

Visual Studio 2026 also introduces a refreshed user interface, flexible new settings system, and improved responsiveness throughout the IDE. Large .NET solutions load in roughly half the time of prior versions, and the UI remains responsive while projects are loading. The release is fully compatible with projects and extensions from Visual Studio 2022, including more than 4,000 existing extensions that work without modification. The company said developers can upgrade immediately without migration steps or workspace changes.

Performance and Compatibility Improvements
Microsoft said Visual Studio 2026 delivers its fastest startup and solution load times to date. Large enterprise projects open up to twice as fast compared to Visual Studio 2022, and the IDE remains responsive during background indexing and restore operations. The underlying performance work also reduces memory usage by 30 percent on average and improves UI responsiveness through a reengineered shell framework.

The release introduces adaptive concurrency management, which dynamically adjusts background processes based on available system resources. This lets developers continue editing or debugging while complex operations like solution analysis, dependency resolution, or container builds occur in the background. Visual Studio 2026 also adds more granular telemetry controls, allowing users to limit or disable AI-related data collection at the workspace or organization level.

Compatibility was another primary focus. Visual Studio 2026 maintains full backward compatibility with Visual Studio 2022 projects, extensions, and SDKs. The new SLNX solution format simplifies large solution management, providing faster parsing and reduced disk overhead while remaining interoperable with older versions of the IDE. The release also improves Git and GitHub integration, with simplified branch switching, better pull request workflows, and enhanced code review features directly within the IDE.

Microsoft highlighted its commitment to improving stability through automated testing and Copilot-assisted quality control. The team said it applied AI-based triage across telemetry and crash reports, allowing faster detection and resolution of regressions during preview cycles. Visual Studio 2026 shipped with over 300 community-requested features and incorporated feedback from more than 1,200 developers during its private preview program.

Visual Studio 2026 is available for download through the Visual Studio Installer and the Microsoft Store, with Enterprise, Professional, and Community editions released simultaneously. Subscription-based activation remains unchanged, and all current licenses carry forward. Microsoft said the update underscores its goal to make Visual Studio “faster, smarter, and more intuitive with every release.”

Developer Tools and Ecosystem Integration
Visual Studio 2026 expands integration across Microsoft's developer ecosystem, aligning with .NET 10, GitHub Copilot, Azure DevOps, and Visual Studio Code. The IDE now connects seamlessly to Copilot Workspace, enabling shared sessions and AI-assisted planning between Visual Studio, VS Code, and GitHub web environments. Developers can view, edit, and commit changes across connected tools without switching contexts.

New project templates reflect the .NET 10 platform's focus on AI and distributed application development. Aspire projects, introduced in the .NET release, are supported directly within the IDE, allowing developers to orchestrate multi-service applications from a unified dashboard. The integrated Profiler Agent and Debugger Agent introduced earlier also extend to Aspire workloads, providing real-time insight into microservice performance and interservice communication.

Azure DevOps integration receives an overhaul with faster pipeline configuration, updated YAML IntelliSense, and native support for GitHub Actions. Build and deployment logs now include AI-generated summaries, and developers can query logs conversationally through Copilot chat. Container tooling adds improved Dockerfile analysis, dependency scanning, and contextual recommendations for optimizing image size and build time.

Microsoft said it focused on continuity across the toolchain to support teams using mixed environments. Visual Studio 2026 maintains compatibility with more than 4,000 existing extensions, now managed through a faster, asynchronous extension host. Extension developers gain new APIs for real-time telemetry and agent integration, letting them build AI-enhanced tools that interact directly with Copilot and IDE agents.

The release concludes a major phase of Microsoft's AI integration strategy across its developer platforms. Visual Studio 2026, .NET 10, and the latest Visual Studio Code update form a coordinated suite of tools aimed at bringing AI into everyday software development while maintaining performance, stability, and backward compatibility. More detailed information can be found in the release notes.