Microsoft has released the August update for Visual Studio 2022, adding several features related to AI-assisted development.
The company announced that GPT-5 is now integrated into the IDE, and support for MCP is generally available as well. MCP support enables developers to authenticate with any OAuth provider directly from the IDE, perform one-click installation of MCP servers, and manage MCP access from GitHub policy settings.
Copilot Chat was updated with the ability to surface relevant code snippets more reliably using improved semantic code search to determine when queries should trigger a code lookup. Developers can now connect models from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic to Visual Studio Chat, as well.
Copilot Chat also now has full context of the user’s Git history, allowing developers to reference commits and uncommitted changes when engaging with the chat functionality.
Another new update is that developers can sign up for GitHub Copilot using their Google account directly within Visual Studio.
Additionally, developers can now debug Blueprint and native code in a single session, making it easier to trace interaction and fix issues across both.
Other new features in the August update include the ability to toggle Copilot suggestions on or off using a keyboard shortcut, the ability to accept only parts of a code completion, and Next Edit Suggestions have been hidden by default to keep the editor cleaner.
“Whether you’re building games, tuning performance, or exploring AI, this release brings meaningful improvements that make everyday development smoother and smarter,”
Mads Kristensen, principal product manager at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post.
