Using Tools with Agents

Visual Studio Code walks through how Copilot Agents in VS Code use tools, how tools are grouped into tool sets, and how permissions and sandboxing help keep agent actions controlled.

Overview

The video covers the core concepts behind agent tool usage in VS Code:

• AI Agents: what an agent is in the Copilot/VS Code context.
• Tools: actions an agent can invoke to get work done.
• Tool sets: collections of tools that can be enabled/disabled together.
• Permissions: how tool usage is gated/approved.
• Sandboxing: isolating or constraining agent execution to reduce risk.

Reference links

• Docs: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/agents/agent-tools
• Copilot Free: https://aka.ms/vscode-activatecopilotfree

Chapters

• 00:00 Intro to AI Agents and Tool Sets
• 00:20 Tools
• 00:45 Demo
• 04:12 Tool sets
• 06:00 Permissions
• 07:26 Sandboxing
• 09:05 Recap