VS Code Can Now Schedule AI Agent Tasks and Take Voice Commands

Visual Studio Code 1.137 introduces Agent Automations, experimental Voice Mode, improved Quick Chats, GitHub integration, and even an interactive VS Code pet.

Microsoft released Visual Studio Code 1.136 last week, and it is already following up with Visual Studio Code 1.137, which focuses heavily on AI agents and automation.

Agent Automations can run tasks on a schedule

One of the biggest additions is Agent Automations, a new Preview feature that lets developers schedule recurring tasks for AI agents.

Microsoft includes templates for common jobs such as catching up on recent changes, triaging issues, and finding bugs. Developers can also create their own prompts and schedules depending on what they want the agent to handle.

The feature is rolling out gradually and can be enabled through the chat.automations.enabled setting.

Voice Mode lets developers talk to coding agents

VS Code 1.137 also introduces an experimental Voice Mode designed for interacting with coding agents without relying entirely on the keyboard.

Developers can speak or use push-to-talk to interrupt an agent, redirect what it is doing, or ask questions about the active session. Voice Mode can understand context such as running sessions and the model currently in use.

Users can also tell Voice Mode to start a new agent session. The feature requires the agents.voice.enabled setting.

Quick Chats can turn into full workspace sessions

Microsoft is also making it easier to start conversations before opening a specific project.

Users can create a Quick Chat from the Agents window without attaching a workspace. If the conversation later becomes related to a project, the Copilot agent can attach a local folder to that same session.

VS Code keeps the conversation title, history, and current request after the folder is attached, allowing the agent to continue working with access to project files.

GitHub issues now open inside the Agents window

GitHub issues and pull requests can also appear directly inside the Agents window.

Selecting a GitHub issue or pull request link displays its details without forcing users to open a browser. This also works when the related repository isn’t currently open as a workspace.

The feature requires the GitHub Pull Requests extension and the extensions.experimental.enableAgentsWindowCapability setting.

VS Code even gets an experimental pet

Microsoft is also experimenting with a lighter addition called the VS Code pet.

The interactive pet reacts while developers work with agents and can be activated by typing /vscode-pet in Chat.

The release continues Microsoft’s broader push to make AI agents more capable across its development tools. Microsoft 365 Copilot can now build apps from simple prompts, while another Microsoft AI workflow can build WinUI 3 apps faster than before.