VS Code 1.118, the April 2026 monthly update, shipped on April 29. The release is available for Mac as a Universal binary and as separate Intel and native Apple Silicon builds. Three changes are worth attention for developers using VS Code as their primary editor on macOS: remote control of Copilot CLI sessions, semantic indexing extended to all local workspaces, and prompt caching for Anthropic models.
Remote control of Copilot CLI sessions
VS Code 1.118 adds the ability to monitor and steer an active Copilot CLI session from a different device. The feature, called Remote Control, lets you intervene in an ongoing execution without interrupting the session or opening a new terminal.
The practical case is a long-running task on a desktop build machine while you work from a laptop or a second display: instead of losing context, you can observe the session state and send guidance from wherever you are. It is not SSH access or screen sharing, but a supervision layer built into the Copilot workflow.
Alongside this, VS Code Agents App, still in Insiders, introduces a separate environment for running agentic sessions in parallel without cluttering the main editor window. Session titles are now synced across chat surfaces.
Semantic indexing for all workspaces
Until the previous release, Copilot’s semantic indexing only applied to repositories linked to GitHub or Azure DevOps. With VS Code 1.118 it extends to any local workspace, including monorepos that do not have a remote configured on GitHub or ADO.
Semantic indexing lets Copilot search by meaning rather than exact text. In practice, it can answer questions like “where is authentication handled” even when the relevant functions do not contain that exact word. For developers working on local or internal codebases not hosted on GitHub, this was the main limitation of contextual completion.
A new githubTextSearch tool has also been added, enabling grep-style searches across GitHub repositories or entire organizations directly from a chat session.
Prompt caching for Anthropic models
VS Code 1.118 enables prompt caching for Anthropic models used through Copilot. According to the release notes, the estimated saving is around 10x on repeated context tokens: when the project context does not change between turns, the cached portion is not reprocessed.
The reduction is most noticeable in long sessions or conversations that keep the same file in context across multiple exchanges. For developers using Claude as the backend of their VS Code workflow, this translates to lower latency and, for organizations managing usage on a per-token basis, lower costs.
A second efficiency change splits the toolset into a core subset that is always loaded and an extended set retrieved only when the context requires it. The release notes report up to 20% savings in overall session tokens.
Chronicle: local session tracking
As an experimental feature, VS Code 1.118 introduces Chronicle, a system that records chat interactions in a local SQLite database. The stated goal is to allow data extraction for internal reports, standups, and usage analysis over time.
Chronicle is off by default. It does not send data to Microsoft or any third party; the database stays local. The feature is experimental and the API may change in future releases.
What to evaluate before relying on it
Remote Control and VS Code Agents App require an active Copilot subscription; availability depends on your plan and organization. VS Code Agents App is still in Insiders, not in the stable channel.
Local semantic indexing works without a remote repository, but initial indexing time on large monorepos may be significant: worth checking before depending on it in CI.
The next monthly update is expected around the end of May. The direction is toward development environments built around parallel agentic sessions, with the editor acting less as a writing surface and more as a supervision panel for autonomous processes.
