# Visual Studio 2026 June Update: Debugger Agent, Profiler Agent, Cloud Agent > Source: > Published: 2026-06-27 23:11:28+00:00 The Visual Studio 2026 June update (version 18.6, shipped June 23) crosses a line worth paying attention to. GitHub Copilot is no longer a chat window bolted onto your IDE. The new `@debugger` agent runs your code, validates bugs against live runtime behavior, and suggests fixes with real telemetry. The `@profiler` agent benchmarks, pinpoints bottlenecks, and validates its own recommendations. The Cloud Agent takes bounded tasks and opens pull requests while the IDE is closed. This is the shift from AI that suggests to AI that executes — and Visual Studio is now the only full IDE with runtime-validated debugging and AI-driven profiling built in. ## The Debugger Agent: It Actually Runs Your Code Previous AI debugging help gave you suggestions based on static source analysis — plausible, but unverified. The `@debugger` agent works differently. Describe a bug in Copilot Chat using Debugger Mode and the agent runs a five-step workflow: it constructs a minimal reproducer scenario, generates failure hypotheses, instruments your code with tracepoints and conditional breakpoints, runs the live debug session to capture telemetry, and then suggests a fix at the exact failure point, validated against real runtime behavior, not a guess. In practice, the agent is setting breakpoints and watch variables, running the app, reading the output, and refining its hypothesis before it ever gives you a suggestion. For straightforward, reproducible bugs this eliminates significant manual investigation time. For complex race conditions or non-deterministic failures, you still need a human — but for the long tail of unit test regressions and logic errors, this is a genuine time saver. Full details are in the [Debugger Agent announcement post](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/stop-hunting-bugs-meet-the-new-visual-studio-debugger-agent/). A smaller but useful addition: the Text Visualizer now has a new “Auto-detect and format” button that identifies the encoding or compression format of a string (Base64, GZip, JSON, and more) and decodes it in one click. No more copying values to external decoders mid-debug session. ## The Profiler Agent: 24% Gains With a Single Prompt The Copilot Profiler Agent has been available since VS 2026 18.4, but the June update gives it a more prominent entry point: a “Profile with Copilot” command in Test Explorer. Right-click any .NET test and select it — the agent runs the test, captures CPU and instrumentation data, explains what it found, proposes fixes, writes benchmarks to validate those fixes, and re-runs to confirm improvement. The [Profiler Agent deep-dive post](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/copilot-profiler-agent-visual-studio/) from the Visual Studio team documents the full loop. The numbers hold up on real-world code. The Visual Studio team applied the Profiler Agent to CsvHelper, a widely-used open-source library, targeting the `WriteRecords` method. The agent identified delegate invocation overhead — reducing delegate calls from 40,000 to 10,000 per 10,000 records — and produced a **24% performance improvement**. A manually staged PR for the same issue delivered 15%. The agent found more, faster. Support is currently limited to .NET tests using Instrumentation profiling. C++ profiling is next on the roadmap. If most of your performance-critical code is in .NET, this is ready to use today. ## Cloud Agent: Assign a Task, Close the IDE The Cloud Agent, now in preview, runs asynchronously on GitHub’s infrastructure. Select “Cloud” in the Copilot Chat picker, describe a bounded task, and Copilot creates a GitHub issue as the handoff point. From there, the agent runs on GitHub Actions, clones the repo, does the work, and opens a pull request. You get a notification and can review in Visual Studio or the browser — or wait until you are ready. As [Visual Studio Magazine noted when it launched](https://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2026/04/29/vs-2026-joins-vs-code-with-integrated-cloud-agent-assign-a-task-close-the-ide-get-a-pr.aspx), the async loop is the real story here. The key word is “bounded.” Complex, open-ended tasks still need human direction. But for work that is well-defined but tedious — test scaffolding, doc updates, UI cleanup, dependency upgrades — this is the right abstraction. Requires a GitHub-connected repo and Copilot subscription. Enable it via the Copilot badge dropdown → Settings & Options → Coding Agent (Preview). ## The .NET Modernization Agent The `@modernize` agent handles a category most teams avoid: migrating legacy .NET projects. Supported scenarios include Web Forms to Blazor, adding .NET Aspire for cloud observability, Newtonsoft.Json to System.Text.Json, Azure Functions upgrades, and MSVC C++ project modernization (now generally available after public preview). Right-click any project in Solution Explorer and select “Modernize,” or invoke it with `@Modernize` in Copilot Chat. The agent assesses the project, builds an upgrade plan, and executes step by step with developer approval at each stage. The full release notes are on [Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/releases/2026/release-notes). ## What to Do Now **Update:** Help → Check for Updates, or use the Visual Studio Installer to get 18.6**Enable Cloud Agent:** Copilot badge dropdown → Settings & Options → Coding Agent (Preview)**Try the Profiler Agent:** Test Explorer → right-click any .NET test → “Profile with Copilot”**Try the Debugger Agent:** Open Copilot Chat → Debugger Mode → describe a failing test or bug**Custom skills:** Add a`SKILL.md` file to`.github/skills/` in your repo — VS discovers and loads it automatically**Prerequisite:** GitHub Copilot subscription required for all agent features (Pro starts at $10/month) Cursor and Kiro get most of the AI coding tools coverage, but neither does what the Visual Studio Debugger Agent and Profiler Agent do: execute, validate, and iterate against live code. The June update is a reminder that the enterprise .NET and C++ market has its own answer to the agentic IDE wave — and it is further along than the current conversation suggests.