microsoft/vscode▌

The #1 bug category in VS Code. This skill encodes the patterns that prevent and fix leaks.

VS Code runs a hygiene check as a git pre-commit hook. Commits will be rejected if hygiene fails.

When working on the Agents workbench layout, always follow these guidelines:

When asked to update, accept, or refresh screenshot baselines from CI — or when the Screenshot Tests GitHub Action has failed with screenshot differences — follow this procedure to download the CI-generated screenshots and commit them as the new baselines.

When a tool or tool set reference name is changed, the old name must always be added to the deprecated/legacy array so that existing prompt files, tool configurations, and saved references continue to resolve correctly.

When working on the Agents window (src/vs/sessions/), always follow these guidelines:

When fixing an unhandled error from the telemetry dashboard, the issue typically contains an error message, a stack trace, hit count, and affected user count.

When modifying Azure DevOps pipeline files (YAML files in build/azure-pipelines/), you can validate changes locally using the Azure CLI before committing. This avoids the slow feedback loop of pushing changes, waiting for CI, and checking results.

Use this skill for any VS Code feature work that introduces or changes interactive UI. Use this skill by default for new features and contributions, including when the request does not explicitly mention accessibility.

When asked to find all files a specific author contributed to on a branch (compared to main or another upstream), follow this procedure. The goal is to produce a simple table that both humans and LLMs can consume.