GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio — August Update
What shipped: GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio got its August 2026 feature drop with organization-level custom agents, usage tracking, and more model control.
What changed:
- Organization-level custom agents: Org and enterprise owners can now publish custom Copilot agents for use across repositories. Visual Studio auto-detects these and shows descriptions plus org source in the agent picker. Requires a GitHub organization.
- Usage tracking: Open the context window from the Copilot prompt box and select "View all Copilot usage" to see your consumption.
- Model selection & reasoning control: More granular control over which model Copilot uses and how it reasons through code.
Why a builder cares: If your team maintains custom Copilot agents, the org-level publishing bypasses the per-repo grind. Usage visibility helps with budgeting and adoption tracking — two things every org lead eventually asks for.