GitHub Copilot upgrade

Upgrade and migrate your projects with GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code. The GitHub Copilot upgrade extension adds an Upgrade agent to Copilot Chat that can inspect your workspace, recommend an upgrade path, guide required choices, and help you work through upgrade tasks step by step.

This release includes built-in support for .NET upgrade and migration scenarios. The GitHub Copilot upgrade plugin is also available from microsoft/upgrade-agent-plugins.

Getting started

Install GitHub Copilot Chat and sign in with an account that can use Copilot.
Install GitHub Copilot upgrade.
Open the project or solution you want to upgrade in VS Code.
Open Copilot Chat and select the Upgrade agent.
Ask for the upgrade you want, such as:
- Upgrade my solution to .NET 10
- Migrate this .NET Framework app to modern .NET
- Move this Web Forms app to Blazor Server
- Upgrade my Azure Functions project to the isolated worker model
- Replace Newtonsoft.Json with System.Text.Json
Follow the agent's prompts, review proposed changes, and run the validation steps it recommends.

You can also start from the @upgrade chat participant. It forwards your prompt to the Upgrade agent.

What it can help with

This release includes built-in support for these .NET upgrade scenarios:

Scenario	Use it when you want to...	Example prompt
.NET version upgrade	Move .NET Framework, .NET Core, or older .NET projects to a current supported .NET version such as .NET 8, .NET 9, .NET 10, or later targets as they become available.	`Upgrade my solution to .NET 10`
.NET Framework version upgrade	Stay on full .NET Framework while moving projects to .NET Framework 4.8.1.	`Upgrade this app to .NET Framework 4.8.1`
ASP.NET Web Forms to Blazor	Modernize ASP.NET Web Forms applications by moving pages and UI patterns toward Blazor Server.	`Move this Web Forms app to Blazor Server`
Azure Functions upgrade	Move Azure Functions projects from the in-process model to the isolated worker model.	`Upgrade my Azure Functions project to isolated worker`
Azure migration	Explore and start an application modernization path for moving .NET applications to Azure.	`Help me migrate this app to Azure`
Aspire integration	Add Aspire orchestration to an existing .NET solution for local development and optional Azure readiness.	`Add Aspire to this solution`
Aspire version upgrade	Upgrade projects that already use Aspire to a newer Aspire version, including required .NET target framework and package updates.	`Upgrade my Aspire project to the latest version`
SDK-style project conversion	Convert older C# or Visual Basic project files to modern SDK-style format.	`Convert these projects to SDK-style`
Visual Studio extension project conversion	Modernize Visual Studio extension projects that use legacy VSIX or VSSDK project formats.	`Convert this VSIX project to SDK-style`
Newtonsoft.Json migration	Replace Newtonsoft.Json usage with System.Text.Json where appropriate.	`Replace Newtonsoft.Json with System.Text.Json`
SqlClient migration	Move SQL Server data access from System.Data.SqlClient to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.	`Update this app to use Microsoft.Data.SqlClient`
Semantic Kernel agents migration	Move Semantic Kernel agent code to the Microsoft Agents framework.	`Migrate my Semantic Kernel agents`

The agent analyzes your workspace, identifies relevant upgrade work, breaks it into reviewable tasks, and helps you continue or resume progress over time. It can also work with additional language or platform extenders when they are installed.

Requirements

Visual Studio Code with GitHub Copilot Chat installed.
A signed-in GitHub Copilot account.
A workspace containing the project or solution you want to upgrade.
Network access to acquire and run the upgrade tools from NuGet.

The extension uses the .NET Install Tool for Extension Authors to locate or acquire the .NET SDK required to run the upgrade tools. You normally do not need to install that SDK manually.

Settings

The extension contributes these settings under GitHub Copilot upgrade:

copilotUpgrade.allowPrerelease: allow prerelease versions of the upgrade tools. Enabled by default.
copilotUpgrade.version: use a specific upgrade tool version. When set, this takes precedence over copilotUpgrade.allowPrerelease.
copilotUpgrade.nugetSource: use a custom NuGet feed source for the upgrade tools.

Troubleshooting

If the Upgrade agent is not available, confirm that GitHub Copilot Chat is installed and signed in, then reload the VS Code window.

If the extension cannot start the upgrade tools, check that VS Code can access NuGet and that your configured copilotUpgrade.nugetSource, if any, is reachable.

For MCP server logs, run MCP: List Servers from the Command Palette, select Upgrade, and choose Show Output. The Copilot upgrade for .NET Output channel shows extension startup and extender discovery messages.

To file an issue, use microsoft/upgrade-agent-plugins.

Privacy

GitHub Copilot upgrade uses GitHub Copilot to help modify code in your current workspace. It does not retain code snippets beyond the immediate session and does not collect, transmit, or store your custom tasks. See the Microsoft Privacy Statement for more information.

License

This extension is licensed under the GitHub Copilot Product Specific Terms.

Trademarks

This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft's Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos is subject to those third-party policies.