With the launch of Visual Studio 2026, we announced a Private Preview of GitHub Copilot app modernization for C++, which reduces the cost of adopting the latest version of the MSVC Build Tools. We used the feedback we received from our many Private Preview participants to make improvements that benefit all our users. After receiving feedback, we added support for CMake projects, reduced hallucinations, removed several critical failures, improved Copilot’s behavior when encountering an internal compiler error, and reinforced Copilot’s understanding of when project files need to be modified to do the upgrade.
Here’s what one of our Private Preview participants said about their experience:
“Having Copilot guide the upgrade flow and surface suggested changes in context has made that process smoother than doing it entirely by hand or by another agent.” – Private Preview participant
We are happy to announce that this feature is now available to all C++ users as a Public Preview in Visual Studio 2026 Insiders.
To get started, check out the documentation on Microsoft Learn.
What to expect
After launching GitHub Copilot app modernization, Copilot will examine your project to see if there are any steps to take to update your project settings to move to the newer MSVC version. If so, it’ll assist you in making those changes.
Assessment
After the settings have been updated, Copilot will do an initial build to assess if there are any issues blocking your upgrade, such as stricter conformance, warnings whose warning level has changed, or non-standard extensions that have been deprecated or removed. After the assessment is complete, Copilot checks with you to confirm accuracy, and gives you a chance to give it further instructions like ignoring specific or entire categories of issues.