Visual Studio Code 1.129 introduces dedicated agent host

Microsoft released Visual Studio Code 1.129 on July 15, introducing a dedicated agent host that runs agent harnesses like Claude, Copilot, and Codex via the Agent Host Protocol, enabling sessions to persist across multiple VS Code windows. The update also adds an editor panel in the Agents window, terminal command execution from chat prompts with a '!' prefix, and a preview of a modern UI for the workbench.

Microsoft has released Visual Studio Code 1.129, an update to its free, popular code editor that features a dedicated agent host and an editor panel in the Agents window. The updated editor also allows users to run terminal commands from chat prompts with a prefix and offers a preview of a modern UI for the workbench. Released July 15, VS Code 1.129 https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1 129 can be downloaded from code.visualstudio.com https://code.visualstudio.com/Download? exp download=fb315fc982 for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Microsoft is rearchitecting how agent sessions work in VS Code around the agent host — a dedicated process that runs agent harnesses such as Claude, Copilot, and Codex, based on the Agent Host Protocol https://microsoft.github.io/agent-host-protocol/ AHP . Since a session lives in its own process, the same session can be connected to and rendered from multiple VS Code windows at once. The agent host’s Copilot agent is powered by the Copilot SDK, which means that its behavior and functionality is aligned with the Copilot CLI, the standalone GitHub Copilot app, and other Copilot products. The agent host is being rolled out to users in the editor window and the Agents window https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/agents/agents-window . It’s enabled through the chat.agentHost.enabled setting. The Agents window shows conversation with an agent next to a detail area for the files and changes it produces. This release introduces a redesigned editor panel that brings the editor and the detail area together into one docked pane with a shared tab bar, so reviewing an agent’s work feels like working in the main editor instead of switching between separate panels. Other new features and improvements in VS Code 1.129: to run their contents as terminal commands. This works in agent host sessions, both in the editor and in the Agents window. workbench.experimental.modernUI VS Code 1.129 follows Visual Studio Code 1.128 https://www.infoworld.com/article/4196408/visual-studio-code-backs-multi-chat-claude-sessions.html , released July 13. An update, VS Code 1.129.1, fixes three bugs https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aclosed+milestone%3A1.129.1 including remote agent hosts failing to start.