C++ Team Blog

C++ code navigation and build system tooling play an important role in the developer inner-loop. Code navigation tooling provides a precise, semantic understanding of your codebase, while build system tooling helps you express build configurations and variants for reproducible builds. In the VS Code ecosystem, these powerful capabilities are available through our C/C++ and CMake The post C++ symbol context and CMake build configuration awareness for GitHub Copilot in VS Code appeared first on C++ Team Blog.

Today we are releasing the first preview of the Microsoft C++ (MSVC) Build Tools version 14.51. This update, shipping in the latest Visual Studio 2026 version 18.4 Insiders release, introduces many C++23 conformance changes, bug fixes, and runtime performance improvements. Check out the release notes for an in-progress list of what’s new. Conformance improvements and The post Microsoft C++ (MSVC) Build Tools v14.51 Preview Released: How to Opt In appeared first on C++ Team Blog.

This blog post summarizes changes to the vcpkg package manager as part of the 2025.12.12 and 2026.01.16 registry releases and the 2025-11-13, 2025-11-18, 2025-11-19, 2025-12-05, and 2025-12-16 tool releases. These updates include support for targeting the Xbox GDK October 2025 update, removing a misleading and outdated output message, and other minor improvements and bug fixes. The post What’s New in vcpkg (Nov 2025 – Jan 2026) appeared first on C++ Team Blog.

When Visual Studio 2026 reached General Availability in November, it included several versions of the Microsoft C++ (MSVC) Build Tools: 14.50 (initially shipped with Visual Studio 2026) 14.44 (initially shipped with Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14) 14.29 (initially shipped with Visual Studio 2019 version 16.11) 14.16 (initially shipped with Visual Studio 2017 version 15.9) 14.00 The post MSVC Build Tools Versions 14.30 – 14.43 Now Available in Visual Studio 2026 appeared first on C++ Team Blog.

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 The post GitHub Copilot app modernization for C++ is now in Public Preview appeared first on C++ Team Blog.

We’re excited to announce the latest 1.22 release of the CMake Tools extension for Visual Studio Code. This update brings a host of new additions, including project outline updates for filtering and bookmarking CMake targets in large CMake projects and expanded CTest support to customize this output. To view the full list of updates with The post Visual Studio Code CMake Tools 1.22: Target bookmarks and better CTest output appeared first on C++ Team Blog.

Last year, we launched our new GitHub Copilot build performance capabilities in Private Preview. With help from our fantastic C++ community, we gathered insights and addressed key feedback. We’re happy to share that GitHub Copilot build performance for Windows is now in Public Preview. Today, all C++ developers can try out the new capabilities in The post Now in Public Preview: GitHub Copilot build performance for Windows appeared first on C++ Team Blog.

In November, we introduced C++ code editing tools for GitHub Copilot as a Private Preview, focusing on partnering with customers to tackle one of the common, taxing challenges for C++ development: refactoring at scale. Since then, we’ve listened to feedback and refined our tooling to make wide-sweeping C++ edits easier. “With C++ code editing tools The post C++ code editing tools for GitHub Copilot: now in Public Preview appeared first on C++ Team Blog.

Starting with Visual Studio 2026, we are introducing a new support lifecycle for the Microsoft C++ (MSVC) Build Tools. We are also updating the MSVC release cadence. As Visual Studio moves to a Modern Lifecycle with monthly feature updates and an annual new version, decoupling the compiler from the IDE offers you the best of The post New release cadence and support lifecycle for Microsoft C++ Build Tools appeared first on C++ Team Blog.

We are pleased to announce AddressSanitizer (ASan) support for the Microsoft C++ (MSVC) Build Tools for ARM64 targets. ASan is a runtime memory error detector that identifies difficult-to-find bugs with zero false positives and improves memory safety. More technical information on ASan can be found at aka.ms/asan.  ASan has long supported the x64 and x86 architectures. With the release of Visual Studio 2026 for The post Introducing MSVC AddressSanitizer for ARM64 targets appeared first on C++ Team Blog.