C++ Team Blog
The latest in C++, Visual Studio, VS Code, and vcpkg from the MSFT C++ team
Latest posts
Rethinking C++ Performance: Faster Code Navigation and GitHub Copilot Tools with Whole Codebase Indexing
In large C++ codebases, your code understanding and navigation depend on quickly determining how symbols, declarations, definitions, and references are connected across your project. In Visual Studio Insiders 18.9, the new whole codebase indexing (WCI) enhances the existing browse database via a deeper, more comprehensive indexing approach. This preview feature allows Visual Studio to access richer symbol information more efficiently in your C++ project, with faster lookups for core IntelliSense scenarios like Find All References and semantic file colorization. It also enables new experiences like CodeLens ref...
Pure Virtual C++ 2026 [Meet the Speakers, Part 2]: The AI-Native C++ Developer Workflow
Pure Virtual C++ 2026 streams Tuesday, July 21, 2026 at 9:00 AM PT, a free, one-day virtual conference for the whole C++ community, live on YouTube (Microsoft Reactor) and Twitch, with on-demand recordings on the Visual Studio YouTube channel afterward. Register now → Welcome to part two of our Meet the Speakers series. In part one we looked at building and running faster. Today we turn to the theme shaping the future of development: the AI-native C++ developer workflow. Why this theme matters C++ development is evolving into an AI-native, agent-driven experience and it's happening everywhere you work, f...
Pure Virtual C++ 2026 [Meet the Speakers, Part 1]: Build Faster, Run Faster
Meet the speakers behind Pure Virtual C++ 2026. In part one, Ryan Shepherd and David Li show how to build faster and smaller with C++20 modules and GitHub Copilot build performance.
What’s New in vcpkg (June 2026)
These June updates add a vcpkg-tool switch to skip installation when packages are already cached, OpenHarmony (OHOS) platform support, and major library updates including curl 8.21, CGAL 6.2, and Graphviz 15.
Pure Virtual C++ 2026 Talks Announced
The featured talks for Pure Virtual C++ 2026 are here! Join us on July 21 for a free, one-day virtual conference for the whole C++ community.
Save the Date: Pure Virtual C++ 2026
Pure Virtual C++ is back for its 7th year! Join us on July 21 for a free, one-day virtual conference for the whole C++ community.
Streamline C++ Code Intelligence Setup in Copilot CLI
C++ developers can now bring IDE-style semantic intelligence into Copilot CLI with less setup. The C++ language server plugin supports richer code navigation, diagnostics, symbol understanding, and code changes by using the same build context your compiler does. That build context usually comes from a file, which tells the language server how each source file is compiled. Instead of manually wiring that file together, the C++ language server plugin now provides a setup LSP skill that can help generate or refresh compile commands for common project types, including CMake and MSBuild. For custom build systems, ...
Boosting Adobe Photoshop’s Performance with MSVC and SPGO
Boosting Adobe Photoshop’s Performance with MSVC and SPGO Adobe and Microsoft worked together to improve Photoshop performance and responsiveness on Windows by combining MSVC’s peak-performance build settings with Sample-based Profile-Guided Optimization (SPGO). The collaboration focused on real customer scenarios where latency matters most, including brush and stroke responsiveness, file open times, and other CPU-intensive operations that directly affect creative flow. Adobe’s combined benchmarking showed improvements of 20% on x64 and 13% on ARM64, demonstrating how modern compiler technology can translate int...
GitHub Copilot modernization for C++ is out of preview
GitHub Copilot modernization for C++ is out of preview as of Visual Studio 2026, helping you upgrade your MSVC Build Tools with an AI-guided workflow.