GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio: Agents That Debug, Profile, and Test | BRK207
Mads Kristensen and Nik Karpinsky demo GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio, focusing on agent-style workflows that go beyond code generation: diagnosing bugs from runtime behavior, profiling performance to find bottlenecks, recommending targeted fixes, and building tests to prevent regressions for enterprise C#, .NET, and C++ codebases.
Overview
This Microsoft Build 2026 breakout (BRK207) shows how Visual Studio’s GitHub Copilot experience includes built-in, diagnostics-oriented agents aimed at improving code quality—not just generating code.
Key themes from the session description and agenda:
- Debugging with runtime behavior: agents help root-cause bugs using live runtime signals rather than only static code context.
- Profiling and performance work: agents help identify performance bottlenecks and recommend targeted fixes.
- Testing and regression prevention: agents help build test coverage to catch regressions before shipping.
- Enterprise developer focus: scenarios are framed around professional workflows for C#/.NET and C++ developers.
Session resources
- BRK207 resources: https://aka.ms/build26/BRK207
Chapters (from the video description)
- 0:00 - Introduction and session overview on Visual Studio and Copilot
- 00:03:49 - Transition to demo with Nick showcasing professional development scenarios
- 00:04:26 - Inside Visual Studio demo: working on the Diagnostics Hub Profiler
- 00:11:55 - Initial test success and unexpected assert failure identified
- 00:22:30 - Importance of Using Data for Performance Profiling
- 00:22:45 - Implementing Low-Level Compression Optimizations
- 00:29:01 - Progressive Enhancement Analogy for Copilot-Assisted Development
- 00:33:01 - Upcoming Visual Studio features: Work tree and Git submodule support
- 00:33:20 - Introduction to new Copilot capabilities in Visual Studio