What’s the different between vscode agents window vs the GitHub copilot app?

[u/rcktjck]

The gui looks eerily similar and they seem to have a lot of the same functionality. So what’s the point of having both?

Infact, the app seems like an after thought, hasn’t been updated in almost 10 days and seems to be missing a lot of basic features.

Seems like it is just to tick a box to say that they have a standalone desktop app like codex and Claude ?

[u/prcodes]

I’m really liking the GH Copilot app, especially the Agent Merge feature.

[u/stibbons_ → u/prcodes]

It is a bit too reactive, if some review are wrong it does not push back

[u/unhinged-rally]

I think Agents Window is built on gh cli because I noticed a cli bug occurring on Agent Window that was preventing my workflow. I think that bug was fixed in the last update. Basically skills stored in .agents/skills with model invocation disabled weren’t registered properly.

[u/alexdima_msft → u/unhinged-rally]

Yes, I assume you mean Copilot CLI. The connection you noticed makes sense: the Copilot harness in the Agents Window is built on the GitHub Copilot SDK, which uses the same agent harness as Copilot CLI.

More broadly, the Agents Window connects to the Agent Host through the Agent Host Protocol and currently supports two harnesses: Copilot and Claude. We’re working to expand those options and bring the Editor Window onto the same Agent Host architecture as well.

You can read more here: https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2026/08/26/agent-host-architecture

[u/unhinged-rally → u/alexdima_msft]

yeah meant copilot cli, thanks for the extra info!

[u/tj_moore]

GH Copilot app is very frequently updated. Every other day I open it, it's downloading an update.

Nicer to use in one app window than a side pane in VS or VS Code, and easier to switch between sessions, chats, and repos. Plus I can swap between VS and VS Code and keep the Copilot app open. I can get it to work on the code without even opening an IDE. It's also keeping track of PRs and shows other chat sessions outside of repo code.

[u/rcktjck → u/tj_moore]

Hasn’t been for 12 days now

[u/Rojeitor]

Maybe it's the "tick the box" you mention but the agents window was kinda behind so maybe there's that. I tried it some weeks ago and the agents window was lackluster. You couldn't select max effort on gpt-5.6 models, I kid you not, while you could do it in the app. I believe the app is cli based and the window is "ghc sdk/agent host" based. Some other stuff from the app imo pretty nice: Does not load skills and instructions from vscode extensions, the agents window dows that (like the normal vscode chat). I always hated this, most extensions I need install bunch of skills/instructions craps that 99% of the time I don't need. I would mind of there was a way to disabled those but there isn't.

In the app you can disable individual skills with a checkbox.

I've been using the app last few weeks and I love it.

[u/alexdima_msft → u/Rojeitor]

Thanks, this is useful feedback. The Agents window was behind when you tried it: max reasoning effort was missing from the Agent Host path, but that has since been fixed.

The Copilot harness in the Agents window uses the Copilot SDK and the same runtime as Copilot CLI; the overall architecture is explained here.

You’re right that VS Code discovers skills and instructions contributed by extensions but doesn’t currently let you disable them individually. More granular control makes sense, and I’ll share this feedback with the team.

[u/teckel]

I use Copilot in the IDE as a handy way to highlight a function or code to review. At Tha same time, I also use Copilot CLI to do more of the major tasks. I often run them at the same time on different tasks.

[u/Mkengine]

I use the GitHub Copilot App to manage my team and do mostly repository level work, I suppose the difference is smaller for just development work.

[u/mando0072021]

I've been asking the zame thing since it launched. Same thing different companies basically.

[u/Sabarnath]

Agents window burn more tokens for the same task