VS Code 1.138

Microsoft has shipped Visual Studio Code 1.138, the September 2026 update to its free, cross-platform code editor. The release, available since September 17, puts the agent host front and center, letting developers run AI agents inside the same container that holds their project dependencies.

What Changed

The headline feature is support for agent sessions in Dev Containers. Developers can now run agents with the exact tools and dependencies of a project inside a local Dev Container, bringing a more isolated and reproducible environment to AI-assisted work.

The Codex harness has also been expanded. Codex sessions can now continue across apps and subscriptions, so a session started in one place can be resumed elsewhere.

• Agent sessions and chats get browser-addressable links, making it easier to reopen or share a session from another app, issue, or terminal.
• New agent session cleanup controls let admins archive inactive sessions and remove safe worktrees after a pull request merges.
• A unified Agents window workspace picker covers local folders, GitHub repositories, Cloud repositories, and remote targets.
• A new editor.forceFullwidthCharacterWidth setting makes full-width characters occupy exactly two cells, improving alignment for CJK text in tables and comments.

Why It Matters

The release continues a steady shift of the editor from a plain text tool toward a control surface for AI agents. Running agents in Dev Containers is the clearest signal yet: the environment around the agent is now a first-class concern, not an afterthought.

What is Next

VS Code 1.138 is available now through the standard update channel. The Insiders build has already moved on to 1.139.