Microsoft has shipped Visual Studio Code 1.136, and the headline addition is an experimental Agent Merge preview that lets you combine multiple AI agent sessions into a single, unified workspace. Alongside that, the update brings multi-root workspace support for Copilot and Claude agent sessions and a set of session organization tweaks aimed at keeping long-running agent work tidy.
For developers who already lean on agentic coding tools inside the editor, this is a meaningful step toward managing several agent conversations at once instead of juggling them across separate, disconnected windows. Here is what actually changed in this release and how it affects your workflow.
What the Agent Merge preview does
The Agent Merge preview is an experimental feature that focuses on how agent sessions are grouped and combined. Rather than forcing you to keep each agent conversation isolated, the preview gives you a way to merge related sessions so their context and changes can be viewed together in one place.
This is particularly relevant for the kind of work where you might spin up a Copilot session to tackle one area of a codebase while running a Claude session on another. Historically, those sessions lived in separate panels with no natural bridge between them. The merge preview is designed to reduce that fragmentation for multi-agent workflows.
Because it is flagged as a preview, expect it to be behind an opt-in toggle rather than being turned on by default. Microsoft typically ships experimental agent features this way so it can gather feedback before deciding whether to promote them to stable status.
Multi-root workspace support for Copilot and Claude
One of the more concrete improvements in 1.136 is experimental multi-root workspace support for both Copilot and Claude agent sessions. In Visual Studio Code, a multi-root workspace lets you open several folders from a single project under one window, which is common for monorepos or apps that span multiple directories.
The new support means agent sessions can now operate across those multiple roots, so a single Copilot or Claude conversation can see and act on files spread across different folders instead of being confined to just the active folder. That is a meaningful shift for larger codebases where changes naturally cross folder boundaries.
Again, this is experimental, so it is likely gated behind an experimental setting. If you work primarily in single-folder setups, you may not notice the change immediately, but for anyone juggling a multi-folder project, it removes a real limitation in how agent sessions can reach your code.
Session organization improvements
Beyond the headline merge feature, the update includes session organization improvements. As agent tools have matured, a common complaint has been that once you accumulate several agent conversations in a session list, the interface gets cluttered and hard to navigate.
These tweaks target that problem by making it easier to keep agent sessions organized as they pile up during a work session. The exact mechanics are still maturing, but the direction is clear: Microsoft is treating session management as a first-class concern rather than an afterthought.
For developers who run agent sessions throughout the day, better organization means less time hunting for the right conversation and less cognitive load from a crowded sidebar.
What this means for you
The practical takeaway is that Visual Studio Code is doubling down on its role as a hub for agentic coding. If you use GitHub Copilot or Claude Code-style agents inside the editor, this update gives you early access to combining and organizing those sessions across multiple folders.
Keep in mind that both the Agent Merge preview and multi-root support are experimental. That means you should treat them as optional additions to test in a non-critical project, not as production-ready features. Microsoft is clearly using the preview model to learn how real developers use multi-agent workflows before committing to a final design.
If you are not yet using AI agents in your editor, this is not something you need to rush toward. The core editing experience is unchanged, and these features are aimed squarely at developers already running multi-agent sessions.
How to get Visual Studio Code 1.136
To try the new features, update to Visual Studio Code 1.136 through the built-in updater. Open the editor, then check for updates through your platform’s normal update path, or download the latest installer from the official Visual Studio Code website.
Since the Agent Merge preview and multi-root workspace support are experimental, you will likely need to enable them from the experimental settings menu once you are on 1.136. Look for the relevant agent or preview toggles in the settings UI, and check the release notes for the exact setting names, since experimental feature locations can shift between builds.
If a feature does not appear right away, that is expected for preview items. Microsoft often rolls out experimental capabilities gradually, so you may need to wait for a follow-up patch before everything is fully available.
What this means for you
For everyday developers, Visual Studio Code 1.136 is a steady step in the direction of better multi-agent support. The Agent Merge preview and multi-root workspace capabilities signal that Microsoft is taking the growing world of AI coding agents seriously and giving users the tools to manage them more coherently. Whether you adopt them depends on how much you already rely on Copilot and Claude inside the editor.
Source: Neowin
Over to you: Are you already running Copilot and Claude sessions side by side in Visual Studio Code, and would the Agent Merge preview change how you organize them?
