Microsoft Adds Auto AI Model Selection to Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code includes built-in integration with GitHub Copilot and the ability to choose which AI model to use for code completions. But the latest Visual Studio Code version adds a new orchestration feature called Auto model selection that picks the best model for each request on the fly. It’s starting to roll out now in preview.

“Auto model selection picks the best available model for each request based on current capacity and performance,” Microsoft’s Isidor Nikolic writes. “With Auto you can’t choose a specific model, Auto handles that for you. Auto model selection in Chat is being rolled out in preview to all GitHub Copilot users in VS Code, starting with the individual plans.”

With Auto model selection enabled, Visual Studio Code will choose between Claude Sonnet 4, GPT-5, GPT-5 mini and other models with the goal of providing the best performance and preventing you from hitting your monthly rate limits. The model selection happens once per chat session, but that will change over time as Microsoft improves this feature. And if you’re a paid GitHub Copilot user, choosing Auto model selection will discount each premium request by 10 percent. If you reach your limit, it will auto select between free models.

To be clear, Auto model selection doesn’t necessarily pick the best model for the task you’re working on. Instead, it can pick the best model for Microsoft, similar to the way Google Maps might route you and others differently during a traffic jam to ease the issue broadly, and for everyone involved. That is, Auto model selection helps Microsoft “manage capacity, so [it] can handle the millions of agentic requests coming in each day. But this is temporary: In the long term, Microsoft says it aims to “make Auto model selection the best model selection for most users.”

In the future, Auto model selection will dynamically shift between local (small) and cloud (large) language models based on the task, work with a wider range of models, allow free users to access the latest models, and improve the model selection dropdown to be more transparent about which models are used and how each impacts those with paid GitHub Copilot plans.

Auto model selection is rolling out now in preview and will be available to all GitHub Copilot users in Visual Studio code in the coming weeks. You can learn more on the Visual Studio Code website.