💻 Agent Builder — VS Code Path¶
L100 L200 L300
Build AI agents that extend Visual Studio Code — turning Copilot Chat into a powerful, customizable coding assistant with domain-specific knowledge and actions.
What You'll Build¶
- ✅ A VS Code Chat Participant (
@myagent) that responds in Copilot Chat - ✅ A chat participant that calls an MCP Server for live data
- ✅ Understanding of the VS Code Extension API for AI features
Path Labs (1 labs, ~45 min total)¶
| Lab | Title | Level | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lab 025 | VS Code Copilot Chat Participant | L200 | ✅ Free |
Key Concepts¶
Chat Participants (@participant)¶
Chat participants are VS Code extensions that register a handler for Copilot Chat. When a user types @myagent, your code runs and responds.
vscode.chat.createChatParticipant('myagent', async (request, context, stream, token) => {
stream.markdown(`You asked: **${request.prompt}**`);
// Call LLM, tools, MCP servers...
});
VS Code Language Model API¶
VS Code exposes LLMs (GitHub Copilot's models) directly to extensions — no API key needed for users.
Prerequisites¶
- VS Code 1.90+
- Node.js 20+
- GitHub Copilot extension installed