Welcome to the weekly technology news summary, where new updates are shaping software development, DevOps practices, and platform security. GitHub Copilot launches a series of tools and integrations—highlighted by new GPT and Claude models, automation workflows, Agent Skills, Mission Control, improvements for real-time code review, and cross-platform context management. Copilot’s trajectory from a code completion tool to a broad developer platform is now more visible, with prompt design and AI literacy becoming key skills for development teams.

Microsoft introduces new agent-based AI frameworks through Azure AI Foundry, along with open orchestration tools and secure, scalable approaches for enterprise AI. Microsoft Fabric’s machine learning workflows benefit from an improved runtime and security-first enhancements. Azure delivers a range of infrastructure and governance updates, enhancing performance, networking, DevOps, and data engineering tools. Security remains a major focus, as teams manage vulnerabilities like React2Shell and adopt new resilience controls. As VS Code and .NET bring updated workflows and DevOps platforms adjust cost and integration models, developers and organizations are better prepared to use AI in their workflows—securely and effectively. Explore the most relevant stories for your team this week.

This Week’s Overview

GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot introduced additional features this week, expanding its model choices and workflow tools to better serve development teams. OpenAI’s newest GPT models are now generally available, enhancing Copilot’s context-aware assistance across several IDEs. New rollouts include Agent Skills and a Mission Control dashboard, which extend Copilot’s usefulness for workflow automation and team customization. These improvements make Copilot more relevant for code review, issue tracking, and security tasks, reflecting its ongoing shift toward a complete developer productivity solution.

AI Model Releases and Chat Model Availability

GitHub Copilot’s list of supported AI models continues to grow. GPT-5.2 is now available on all plans, building on earlier GPT-5.1, GPT-5.1-Codex, and Codex-Max releases. Developers can access these models directly in supported tools, including VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, Eclipse, GitHub Mobile, and the GitHub website. The recent addition of Claude Opus 4.5 offers another model for users, while Gemini 3 Flash has entered public preview—demonstrating Copilot’s ongoing focus on giving organizations flexibility and more administrative control. These tools grant transparency and allow real-time model selection, making it easier to match team needs and governance policies.

Agent Skills and Automation Ecosystem

Developers can now use Agent Skills to organize and share reusable instructions following the open Skills.md standard. This helps standardize workflows and encourages sharing across teams. Community-curated repositories—such as ‘github/awesome-copilot’—enable faster onboarding and foster workflow automation. These additions support earlier work on creating repeatable, integrated DevOps flows.

Integrated Workflows and Mission Control

Mission Control is now available as a central tool for managing and observing agents, promoting better visibility into automated workflows. With real-time monitoring and tools for ensuring workflow consistency between local and cloud setups, Mission Control improves process management. The integration of Azure Boards with Copilot connects DevOps tracking directly with AI-aided code generation. New workflow options like manual branch selection and feedback tracking through Kanban boards also add to operational flexibility.

Code Review, Security, and Metrics

With the latest update, organizations can enable Copilot code review feedback for all contributors—even those without licenses—which broadens accessibility and usage across teams. New features have been added for tracking review actions, managing usage metrics, and monitoring team-level activity. Mission Control integrates security scanning tools like CodeQL and ESLint, further supporting compliance needs. Administrators now have access to detailed metrics for pull request activity and Copilot usage, making tracking and reporting more straightforward.

IDE Integration, Debugging, and Language Support

Visual Studio 2026 delivers a new debugging experience powered by Copilot for faster startup and improved diagnostics. The Debugger Agent is now integrated with test tools, creating a more consistent workflow from coding through to solution diagnosis. New C++ code editing tools for VS 2026 Insiders enhance symbol support and refactoring in multilingual environments. Copilot-driven SQL features for VS Code are now generally available, with capabilities for traditional and vector database projects.

Prompt Engineering and Context Management

Recent guidance helps developers apply prompt patterns—like Persona and Reflection—to refine Copilot’s support for specific use cases. Copilot can now generate dynamic prompts linked directly from GitHub documentation, bridging learning resources and AI code suggestions for a smoother workflow.

Advanced Agent Capabilities and Memory

Copilot introduces early access for repository-specific memory to Pro and Pro+ users, allowing agents to retain project knowledge and reduce repeated prompts. This addition follows ongoing improvements for agent persistence and more focused support on recurring automation.

Real-World Usage and Ecosystem News

Developer onboarding metrics show strong Copilot adoption. This week’s discussions reinforce the importance of AI fluency, prompt design, and open governance through standards like the Model Context Protocol. Security news—including the React2Shell vulnerability—connects to wider conversations about platform resilience and best practices.

Effective Use of Copilot in Domain-Specific Contexts

A new resource explains how to configure Copilot for highly specialized languages and workflows. It covers using copilot-instructions.md, maintaining up-to-date reference files, and incorporating compiler validation to improve Copilot’s performance in unique environments. This pairs with community-led initiatives like DSL-Copilot and custom repository templates for real-world situations.

Other GitHub Copilot News

When users assign GitHub Copilot to an issue, they are now added as an assignee, further improving team transparency and workflow clarity.

AI

Microsoft is rolling out new options for building, orchestrating, and scaling AI agents. Azure AI Foundry adds open-source runtime, managed hosting, and developer guides to support a range of projects. Microsoft Fabric extends automation, insight into agent activity, and lower-code options for data transformation—reinforcing efforts to streamline enterprise AI development and operations.

Azure AI Foundry and the Expanding Agentic AI Ecosystem

Azure AI Foundry brings new open-source components for orchestrating secure and flexible AI agents. Hosted Agents now provide persistent memory and simplified management, with deployment and onboarding tools supporting rapid development. The bring-your-own-model (BYO Model Gateway) now includes broader LLM support, such as Claude, Sora 2, and Mistral. Developers can use the Model Router, now generally available, to optimize AI model usage and manage costs. New Foundry Tools and security enhancements with Entra Agent ID centralize AI governance. Feedback from Discord and GitHub channels continues to shape feature planning and onboarding.

Agent-Oriented Architecture: Durable Task Extension and Orchestration Guides

Durable Task Extension enhances agent orchestration, making it simpler to manage dependable workflows. Examples like the AI Travel Planner demonstrate how agents can operate in sequence or in parallel. Human oversight and rollback features are supported for easier troubleshooting. Guides using Azure Functions, Static Web Apps, and OpenTelemetry continue to encourage best practices for agent communication and security.

Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Model Router in Developer Workflows

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) now features sessions that clarify how to link AI models, APIs, and data sources in daily work. Hands-on workshops and labs continue to build on this, while the new Model Router lets developers tune model use and integrate policies into agent workflows with better control.

Autonomous Agents and AI-Powered Data Transformation in Microsoft Fabric

Microsoft Fabric updates make agent consumption and billing reports more transparent, letting teams optimize usage and spending. Dataflow Gen2 gains AI-powered capabilities for prompt-based operations in Power Query, enabling summarization, classification, sentiment analysis, and translation directly—offering more advanced BI and analytics via easier-to-use interfaces and simple documentation.

ML

Machine learning on Microsoft Fabric benefits from quicker turnaround, more reliable orchestration options, and easier evaluation for document AI pipelines. New features boost large-scale analytics and streamline adoption for enterprise users.

Microsoft Fabric ML Platform Advances

Fabric Runtime 2.0 (experimental) debuts with Apache Spark 4.0 for scalable distributed processing. Additional upgrades include Java 21, Scala 2.13, Python 3.12, and Delta Lake 4.0, aiding migration and analysis speed. The year-end review covers improvements in platform security, migration help, Copilot access, improved SQL/KQL tooling, and consistent DevOps support—summarizing a year centered on usability and developer needs.

Performance, Reliability, and Security in ML Workflows

Fabric increases productivity with environment library management running up to 2.5 times faster for custom libraries, and Python Spark session startups now completing 70% quicker. New lightweight install modes are inbound for small deployments. Spark job orchestration supports Service Principal and Workspace Identity authentication, reducing reliance on user credentials in production pipelines. Updated documentation simplifies setup and migration.

Evaluation and Best Practices for Azure-based Document AI Pipelines

A practical guide outlines deploying and evaluating document AI workflows with Azure. The resource covers building a ground truth set, technical steps (OCR, labeling, retrieval), error assessment, and performance tuning with continuous monitoring. It includes architecture diagrams and code examples for developers working on enterprise IDP projects.

Azure

Azure’s latest updates reinforce reliability, data management, modern migration pathways, and governance. Infrastructure improvements, end-of-life advisories, developer tooling, and messaging features are central themes.

Azure Networking, Resiliency, and Security Enhancements

This week’s networking improvements include 400 Gbps ExpressRoute options for high-demand workloads, increased VPN Gateway throughput, larger Virtual WAN and Route Server scaling, new forced tunneling and DNS Security rules, and automated failover scoring through ExpressRoute Resiliency Insights. A Copilot-based chatbot helps with networking troubleshooting.

Updates to Azure Front Door clarify new deployment procedures (configuration validation, rapid rollback, edge resilience validation) and future enhancement plans around safety and isolation. Note also the upcoming deprecation of Docker Content Trust for Azure Container Registry, with planned migration to the Notary Project.

Migration, Modernization, and Strategic Guidance

Support for BizTalk Server ends in 2030; teams should migrate to Logic Apps and Integration Services. Existing mainframe connections remain supported through Host Integration Server, and tooling is available to help with these transitions.

Guidance for Oracle Database@Azure addresses deeper integrations and AI enablement, while Storage Account replication changes (LRS to GZRS) require planned downtime—see official resources for planning.

Developer Tools, Language Ecosystems, and Hands-On Guides

The December release of the Azure Developer CLI (v1.22.x) enhances extension management, distributed tracing, and resource management. The release supports easier onboarding and new agent-style extensions are in planning.

Updated guidance covers building and deploying MCP servers with Python, using Azure services for authorization, networking, and observability. Azure’s year-end Python review discusses top packages and workflow trends for Python developers.

Messaging Patterns, Data Engineering, and Microsoft Fabric Features

Azure Service Bus Premium supports active geo-replication for improved continuity. Developers benefit from workflow patterns—sessions, scheduling, retries, and dead-letter handling—for robust agent backends. SQL Telemetry on Microsoft Fabric highlights new analytics options, with autoscaling, data quality tools, and real-time analytics. Fabric adds support for DATE_BUCKET() and Eventstream SQL operator, providing improved time-series and event-based workflows.

Schema Management and Change-Driven Architecture

A new Azure schema language, JSON Structure, offers advanced typing, contract enforcement, and multi-language support. VS Code extensions and related tools simplify schema management. Drasi provides options for event-driven to change-driven migration, helping manage database change projections for phased modernization.

Other Azure News

Developers can now manage Azure NetApp Files from VS Code using an extension with AI-powered features. The Azure Update for December 19th covers improvements for Service Bus triggers, NetApp ransomware protection, data platform enhancements, and more. Azure Arc monthly forum brings upgrades for agent automation and Linux support. There are also troubleshooting guides for Azure Virtual Desktop and Data Gateway releases. Microsoft continues contributions to Fedora Linux and now offers GitHub Enterprise Cloud data residency in Japan. SQL Server and Azure SQL year-in-review posts track overall advancement in the data ecosystem.

Coding

Developer-focused platforms rolled out updated workspace experiences, expanded roadmaps, and improved diagnostics. VS Code and Cursor Editor offered fresh productivity features, and .NET teams gained new widgets guidance and transparent roadmap planning.

.NET Development: Cross-Platform Widgets and ASP.NET Core Roadmaps

A .NET MAUI walkthrough demonstrates how to build interactive iOS widgets leveraging shared .NET logic and integrating Swift for platform-specific needs. ASP.NET Core’s .NET 11 planning is underway, with opportunities for community input and transparent discussions—helping teams prepare for migration and long-term design decisions.

Editor Experiences: VS Code and Cursor AI Updates

VS Code 1.107 launches inline chat editing, advanced renaming, and persistent local agents for background tasks. Cursor AI Editor 2.2 introduces a visual workflow designer and quick access to LLM options but continues to draw developer concerns over frequent interface changes and complex pricing. These updates feed into broader conversations about balancing speed, usability, and control.

Practical Profiling and Feedback Workflows

A new guide details profiling the .NET CLR using C# and Silhouette, removing the dependency on C++ for diagnostics and performance monitoring. Another post explains how Visual Studio’s feedback process uses transparent triage and prioritization to connect developer suggestions directly to product improvements.

DevOps

The week brings cost model updates, dependency coverage improvements, workflow automation, and CI/CD integrations—addressing developer feedback and team needs.

GitHub Actions Self-Hosted Runners: Pricing Changes, Roadmap, and Community Impact

Starting in March 2026, GitHub will charge for self-hosted Actions runners on private repositories ($0.002/min), while maintaining free access on public repositories and Enterprise Server. Lower costs for hosted runners offset the change for most users, but planning and migration resources are central to the transition. Competitive alternatives (e.g., Depot), coming platform support, better workflow metrics, and ongoing documentation updates aim to ease migration.

Dependabot Expands Ecosystem: Conda, OpenTofu, Julia, Bazel Automated Updates

Dependabot now offers automatic updates for Conda (popular with Python/data science), OpenTofu (IaC), Julia (scientific), and Bazel (build systems), broadening security and maintenance coverage. Documentation and troubleshooting resources help support this expanded ecosystem.

Azure DevOps Productivity: Microsoft.Testing.Platform Integration and Security Workflows

Azure DevOps now fully supports Microsoft.Testing.Platform—streamlining .NET test commands, automatic retries, and publishing of results. Vulnerability management links GitHub Advanced Security alerts to Azure DevOps Boards, streamlining issue triage and resolution.

Microsoft Fabric and Azure DevOps: CI/CD Automation and Integration

Microsoft Fabric now features direct guides for automating SQL database deployment with Azure DevOps. Secure connection support (service principal, OAuth 2.0) enables better CI/CD integration and supports complex automation scenarios across cloud environments.

Other DevOps News

GitHub Teams administration is now consolidated under the ‘Settings → Teams’ menu, promoting easier management. The Azure SRE Agent automates incident response by running playbooks and collecting evidence when triggered by alerts in PagerDuty, ServiceNow, or Azure Monitor—removing the need for manual intervention in multi-cloud environments.

Security

Security updates include actionable guidance for vulnerability management, improved dependency workflows, more options for compliance, and identity lifecycle changes—as well as strategies for evolving cloud access.

React2Shell Vulnerability Response Across Microsoft Defender and Azure

React2Shell (CVE-2025-55182) affects Next.js and Node.js workloads, with attackers exploiting React Server Component build pipelines. Recommendations include updating to secured frameworks, scanning assets with Microsoft Defender, setting up custom Azure WAF rules, and using Sentinel or Security Copilot for further analysis. Teams should establish a combination of automated and manual incident handling.

GitHub Security Ecosystem Updates: Dependabot uv Support, Code Scanning, Secret Management

Dependabot now supports uv packages, improving automated vulnerability tracking. Code scanning alert assignment via REST API is now generally available. CodeQL improvements boost detection for Go and Rust. Secret scanning governance has been expanded, and dismissing Dependabot alerts now requires a peer review. More organizations can access Advanced Security trials with the latest expansion.

Evolving Cloud and Identity Security: TLS, Managed Identities, and Access Fabric Strategies

Azure App Service users should prepare for upcoming TLS certificate and authentication changes. Managed Identities for Azure Files SMB allow password-free access for automated agents, AKS nodes, and cloud applications. Microsoft’s Access Fabric moves device and network checks directly into access enforcement, supporting Zero Trust principles.

Other Security News

A Microsoft e-book explains the benefits of unified, AI-capable security platforms (Defender, Sentinel, Copilot) for incident management. Also available is a practical guide for configuring Sensitivity Labels in Microsoft Teams, employing Purview Information Protection for automated policies, encryption, and compliance.