Visual Studio 2026 now available, 4 years since last release
11 days ago
- #Visual Studio 2026
- #C++ Development
- #IDE Improvements
- Visual Studio 2026 version 18.0 is now generally available with new features, bug fixes, and performance improvements for C++ developers.
- Key updates include a refreshed IDE UI, support for Visual Studio 2022 extensions, seamless upgrade experience, and MSVC Build Tools v14.50 with C++23 conformance.
- New IDE productivity improvements: GitHub Copilot Chat enhancements, C++ project system changes, clang-tidy configuration options, and Mermaid chart rendering.
- Microsoft C++ (MSVC) Build Tools v14.50 offers improved C++23 conformance, runtime performance, and includes features like auto(x) and #warning directive.
- AddressSanitizer support is now extended to ARM64 targets (Preview), aiding in identifying memory safety issues.
- IDE enhancements include more keyboard shortcut consistency, syntax highlighting for C++ attributes, and Class View substring searches.
- New debugging features: set command line arguments from the toolbar for all C++ project types.
- Container Tools now support Podman, and Git tools have updates including Copilot-generated code reviews.
- Visual Studio 2026 includes CMake 4.1.1 by default, with native support for profiling tools in CMake projects.
- Developers can download Visual Studio 2026 version 18.0 and provide feedback via the Visual Studio Developer Community.