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Developer tools and GitHub

Tools for building software on Microsoft's stack: GitHub Copilot for AI coding help, code review and a coding agent, Visual Studio Code and Visual Studio as editors, and Azure DevOps for boards, repos, pipelines, test plans and packages in the cloud or on premises.

6 technology profiles in this area

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Overview

GitHub Copilot suggests code as you type, answers questions about a codebase and reviews pull requests. Its coding agent can take a goal, research the repository, plan the work, edit files and prepare a pull request for a person to approve. Plans run from Copilot Free to Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise for organizations.

Azure DevOps provides Boards, Repos, Pipelines, Test Plans and Artifacts as a cloud service or as Azure DevOps Server on your own infrastructure. It is free for up to five users with basic features, and its MCP server lets AI assistants query work items, pull requests and pipelines in natural language.

Visual Studio Code and Visual Studio work with both, and Microsoft Foundry offers a VS Code extension and a skill that coding agents such as GitHub Copilot can use.

Teams already using GitHub for code may not need Azure DevOps as well; Azure DevOps works with GitHub, so either can remain the system of record.123

Problems it addresses

  • Repetitive coding tasks1

    Copilot's coding agent takes a goal, plans the work, edits files and opens a pull request that a person approves.

  • Slow code review1

    Copilot reviews code and pull requests with summaries and suggested improvements before a human reviewer looks.

  • Planning disconnected from delivery2

    Azure DevOps links work items, commits, pull requests and builds for end-to-end traceability.

  • Code that must stay on premises2

    Azure DevOps Server offers the same core services on your own infrastructure for organizations that cannot use the cloud service.

A typical workflow

  1. Plan the work2

    Track stories, bugs and sprints in Azure Boards or GitHub.

  2. Write code with AI help1

    Use GitHub Copilot in the editor for suggestions and chat, and assign well-scoped issues to the coding agent.

  3. Review1

    Request a Copilot review on each pull request, then have a person approve the merge.

  4. Build and deploy2

    Run CI/CD in Azure Pipelines to Azure, AWS, Google Cloud or on premises.

  5. Ask questions in plain language2

    Connect the Azure DevOps MCP Server so assistants can summarize sprint status, stale pull requests or pipeline health.

Technologies

  • Cloud service

    Azure DevOps

    Azure DevOps is a set of Microsoft software delivery services: Boards for planning, Repos for Git or TFVC, Pipelines for CI/CD, Test Plans and Artifacts. It runs as a hosted service or as Azure DevOps Server on your own infrastructure, and connects to GitHub Copilot and other AI assistants through an MCP server.

    • Developer
    • Security
  • Cloud application

    GitHub Copilot

    GitHub Copilot is GitHub's AI assistant for software work: code suggestions as you type, chat, agents that plan and change code and open pull requests, and AI code review. It runs in editors, the terminal, GitHub.com, GitHub Mobile and a desktop app, and is billed through plans that include GitHub AI Credits.

    • Developer
    • Agents
    • AI
  • Developer tool

    Visual Studio Code and Visual Studio 2026

    Microsoft's two code tools: Visual Studio Code, an open source editor for macOS, Windows, Linux and the web with built-in AI agents, and Visual Studio 2026, a full IDE for Windows aimed at .NET, C++ and game development. Both use GitHub Copilot, bring-your-own-key models and MCP servers for AI features.

    • Developer
    • Agents
  • Cloud service

    Azure Container Apps

    Azure Container Apps runs containers as a serverless service: you deploy images, set scale rules and ingress, and Azure runs the underlying Kubernetes, Dapr, KEDA and Envoy for you. Apps can scale to zero, run jobs, use serverless GPUs, and give AI agents sandboxed code execution through dynamic sessions.

    • Infrastructure
    • Developer
    • AI
  • Framework / SDK

    Microsoft 365 Agents SDK

    The Microsoft 365 Agents SDK is a pro-code framework for building conversational agents that receive and answer messages across Microsoft Copilot, Teams, websites, Slack and other channels. It handles channel plumbing, state and authentication, and leaves the choice of AI model and orchestrator to the developer.

    • Developer
    • Agents
    • Copilot and apps
  • Framework / SDK

    Microsoft Agent Framework

    Microsoft Agent Framework is an open-source SDK for building AI agents and graph-based multi-agent workflows in .NET and Python, with Go in preview. It is the direct successor to Semantic Kernel and AutoGen, works with many model providers, and reached version 1.0 on 3 April 2026.

    • Developer
    • Agents
    • AI

Use cases

Documented implementations

Next steps

  1. Pilot Copilot Business on a few repositories and compare review time before and after.

  2. Set organization policies for which Copilot features and models developers may use.

  3. Pick one system of record for work items to avoid tracking the same work twice.

Connected areas

Sources

  1. About GitHub Copilot (opens in a new tab)GitHub · Vendor-reported
  2. What is Azure DevOps? (opens in a new tab)Microsoft · Vendor-reported
  3. What is Microsoft Foundry? (opens in a new tab)Microsoft · Vendor-reported

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