The video, presented by Harold Krishna, demonstrates how developers can customize their experience in Visual Studio Code using GitHub Copilot and AI agents by adding repository-specific instructions, prompts, and custom agents to automate and streamline workflows. By leveraging these tools, teams can improve productivity, enforce coding standards, and tailor the development environment to their unique needs.
The video, presented by Harold Krishna from Mountain View, focuses on customizing the developer experience in Visual Studio Code (VS Code) using AI agents, particularly GitHub Copilot. Harold begins by explaining the importance of understanding what the agent can do out of the box, such as searching codebases, running terminal commands, and leveraging semantic indexes from GitHub. These built-in capabilities allow the agent to quickly find relevant code, run tests, and monitor tasks, all of which are enhanced by improvements in VS Code and GitHub’s underlying infrastructure.
Harold then delves into the concept of repository-wide and domain-specific instructions. He demonstrates how custom instructions can be added to a codebase to guide the agent’s behavior, such as pointing it to important folders, outlining coding standards, or clarifying how to use certain patterns like disposables and observables. These instructions help the agent navigate large or complex repositories more efficiently and produce higher-quality results by reducing ambiguity and focusing its attention on relevant areas.
The video also highlights the use of prompts and custom agents to automate and streamline workflows. Prompts are described as one-shot commands for tasks like increasing test coverage or creating commits, while custom agents are specialized personas designed for more complex workflows, such as data analysis or planning. Harold showcases how these agents can be tailored to specific needs, like running telemetry queries or breaking down large tasks into manageable steps using sub-agents, which help keep the main agent’s context focused and efficient.
A significant portion of the presentation is dedicated to test-driven development (TDD) and iterative design workflows. Harold demonstrates how multiple agents can collaborate on TDD by writing failing tests, implementing features, and refactoring code, all while maintaining a clear handoff and shared memory through artifacts like TDD files. He also shows how agents can be used for frontend design, leveraging research and specification agents to create detailed specs and UI mockups, and then handing off to designer agents for rapid prototyping and iteration.
In conclusion, Harold emphasizes the power of customizing VS Code’s AI capabilities through layered instructions, prompts, and agents. He encourages viewers to start with custom instructions for coding standards, use prompts to automate repetitive tasks, and develop custom agents for specialized workflows. By doing so, teams can significantly enhance productivity, maintain control over AI-driven changes, and adapt the development environment to their unique needs and best practices.