Visual Studio Code 1.88 released with finalized Test Coverage API and Copilot improvements

Microsoft has just unveiled version 1.88 of Visual Studio Code, its widely-used code editor. The latest release brings a slew of new features designed to enhance user experience and productivity.

Among the notable updates is the ability to apply custom editor labels, allowing users to differentiate between editors that share the same file names. The update also introduces locked scrolling, a feature that enables side-by-side comparison of editors with synchronized scrolling.

Microsoft has also improved the extension update process in Visual Studio Code. Users can now restart extensions without having to reload and update extensions in tandem with VS Code releases.

The new Test Coverage API provides native code coverage support in VS Code, while the addition of folding markers in the minimap helps users easily identify and navigate to certain sections of code.

The Quick Search function has also been enhanced with sticky file path separators and separator buttons. The Notebook feature now allows users to run all cells in a section swiftly.

The update also brings improvements to Copilot, including an improved inline chat user interface, better commit messages, and used references.

For Python users, the auto-detect feature has been improved to detect startup files for Flask & Django, and discover Hatch environments.

Lastly, the update previews the Terminal inline chat, which lets users initiate a Copilot inline chat conversation directly from the terminal.