Visual Studio October update adds Claude coding models

Also with the Visual Studio October update, GitHub Copilot in the IDE allows users to target specific instructions to specific folders or files in a repository by using instruction files. In addition, GitHub Copilot chat now has built-in planning to help guide multi-step tasks. When developers ask a complex question, Copilot automatically creates a markdown plan file with a task list, files to edit, and context. Copilot updates the plan in real time, tracking progress, adapting to blockers, and keeping its logic transparent, Microsoft said.

Finally, two new commands are available for managing GitHub Copilot chat threads, /clear and /clearAll. The /clear command is to be used when issues are encountered with a current chat conversation that the developer would like to start fresh, while /clearAll can be used for clearing no-longer-needed threads.