Open sourcing the Copilot Chat extension while keeping the core AI engine proprietary strikes me as a smart balance: it invites community collaboration without giving away the business moat.

A few thoughts/questions:

• How fast do you think the dev community will respond with integrations or alternative AI workflows?

• Will this slow down or accelerate growth of VS Code forks like Cursor and Windsurf?

• From a usability standpoint, I’m curious how thick the line will be between what’s open and what stays behind paywalls.

I’ll be watching how this plays out — thanks for sharing!

This is an interesting move from Microsoft, and it provokes some real thoughts. Open-sourcing the Copilot Chat extension and prompt infra while keeping the core AI proprietary feels like a tightrope walk. It’s a play for both openness and control at once. I tend to think that’s the right balance for now, but it also sets up a bunch of pressure points for what “open” really means in the AI stack.

From my experience, what matters isn’t just having open interface code, but how well that open layer communicates with the rest of the pipeline; with tooling, workflow conventions, validation, performance expectations. I’ve built orchestration layers around Claude that enforce conventions, slice work incrementally, validate changes, and treat consistency almost like a first-order citizen. What I’d worry about here is that open-sourced UI components could create forks and custom workflows, but without guardrails those forks may diverge wildly, leading to fragmentation, drift, or messy UX.

On the upside, having prompt testing infrastructure open is huge. That’s where community can contribute meaningfully: fixing prompt drift, defining better fallback behaviors, improving consistency. If Microsoft can ensure that contributions here don’t just expand but enforce clarity, maybe even expose linting / validation hooks in the open infrastructure, developers could really lean into customizing workflows safely.

Strong opinion: open source UI alone is insufficient unless the rest of the stack (validation, orchestration, guardrails) becomes equally accessible. Otherwise you get a bunch of shiny UIs backed by opaque behavior, and that’s where trust cracks. If Microsoft wants this to amount to more than just goodwill, they need to bake in the invisible scaffolding because good interfaces won’t mask bad outputs forever.

As someone who’s been using VS Code for years, this feels like a natural next step. The editor’s always thrived because of its community, so open sourcing parts of the AI features could really accelerate things. I don’t mind that Copilot itself stays paid, as long as the core experience keeps improving and doesn’t get bloated. Curious to see how this plays out against forks like Cursor, but honestly, I’ve always ended up coming back to VS Code.

Great move from Microsoft. I have been using VS code for years now.

good job

I hope they move fast enough

Really interesting move by Microsoft 👀 — open sourcing the Copilot Chat extension but keeping the actual AI service proprietary feels like a way to grow the ecosystem while still protecting revenue streams.

What excites me most is the possibility of devs experimenting with new AI workflows directly inside VS Code. Open-sourcing the interface layer means indie hackers and open-source contributors could start building alternative AI integrations beyond Copilot.

For folks who like exploring how AI tools are shaping coding + productivity, I’ve been following platforms like Aiwebix.com — they share cool insights on AI-driven workflows and automation.

Curious to see if this shift makes AI editors the new default IDE experience in the next 1–2 years. 🚀

This move is huge — open-sourcing the Copilot Chat extension under the MIT license really opens up opportunities for the dev community. Especially with the prompt-testing infrastructure going open source, contributors will face much lower entry barriers.

I think this will enable a lot of indie devs to build their own AI-powered workflows and plugins on top of VS Code. In that spirit, I’ve been working on AIWebix, where we’re building lightweight AI widgets and integrations.

Curious to hear your thoughts — do you think this step will slow down the growth of forks like Cursor and Windsurf, or actually push more experimentation?

Cool that the chat extension will be open source, but the AI part is still paid. Wonder how forks will respond.

Mixed feelings on this.

On one hand, open sourcing the Copilot Chat extension + prompt infra is a solid move — makes the ecosystem more open and gives devs a chance to build on top of it. Super cool if you wanna hack on tools or workflows.

Still, smart play by Microsoft. Cursor, Windsurf, etc. are cool, but if VS Code bakes in solid AI features natively, a lotta folks won’t bother switching.

Curious to see how the community forks/reacts once the code drops.

Microsoft’s move to open-source Copilot Chat is a smart way to boost community collaboration while keeping the AI service proprietary and subscription-based. A win for developers and Microsoft alike!

Watch out Cursor, Windsurf and other AI IDEs

VS Code has been my staple IDE for years, i wonder what will be the net effect of this development on my workflow

This will be a lot of help to developers..

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I hope the model can be more stable

I’ve been building small side projects lately and noticed that content tied to popular interests (like gaming or modded apps) gets solid traction. For one of mine, I focused on mobile game mod experiences—nothing fancy, just something to test SEO and user feedback. It taught me a lot about what users actually care about. Curious if others here are experimenting with gamified content too?

Soon more cursor gonna be born

excellent

i hope the AI features are good.

At Microsoft build, the company announced plans to open source the GitHub Copilot Chat extension for Visual Studio Code (VS Code), marking a significant step toward making VS Code an open-source AI editor. The source code will be released under the MIT license, and key AI functionalities will be integrated directly into the VS Code core. This move aims to enhance transparency, foster community collaboration, and simplify the development and testing of AI-powered extensions. By open-sourcing these AI features, Microsoft seeks to empower developers to contribute to and innovate within the AI-driven development ecosystem.

Exciting move by Microsoft! Open sourcing Copilot Chat under MIT and integrating AI deeper into VS Code is a big win for transparency and community collaboration though keeping the backend proprietary shows they’re still playing the long game on monetization.

I hope their AI features are as good as Cursor AI or Augment Code

In the upcoming month, Microsoft will open source GitHub Copilot Chat under the MIT license, making powerful AI editing tools more accessible to developers worldwide.

Out of the big guys, microsoft is winning the AI race hands down

excellemt

great

AIcode can really improve work efficiency!

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wow that's such good move, from strategic point of view.

honestly Microsoft been doing some nice moves lately(well if u don't think anything related to windows at least...)

Makes sense strategically — keep the core AI proprietary, but open up the parts that build developer goodwill. I’m curious to see how this impacts forks like Cursor and Windsurf.

This is a big move and feels like a smart balance—open sourcing the interface while keeping the core service paid. It could open up exciting opportunities for teams like ours at RaftLabs, where we’re already experimenting with custom AI tooling for dev workflows. Curious to see how the community builds on top of this!

Microsoft open sourcing VS Code's AI features is a powerful move toward openness and shared progress in tech. It's a reminder that knowledge, like wealth, is meant to benefit others—a theme echoed in both and Surah Al-Waqiah. Just as every action is accounted for in Al-Zalzalah, and every soul is ranked in Al-Waqiah, so too should we use technology with purpose, accountability, and benefit to all.

excellent

Makes sense strategically — keep the core AI proprietary, but open up the parts that build developer goodwill. I’m curious to see how this impacts forks like Cursor and Windsurf.