Microsoft has released Visual Studio Code 1.109.2, which focuses on fixing bugs and improving the chat experience within the IDE. This update addresses the long-standing Alt-buffer bug that caused duplicate terminals to open when users pressed Alt-keys, making it easier to navigate the terminal. Additionally, the Chat panel now filters options more reliably, reducing accidental selections and making it easier for developers to manage multiple conversations. The patch also includes several minor tweaks, such as renaming background agent display names and updating search terminology, which aim to improve overall performance and user experience in VS Code.

Visual Studio Code 1.109.2: A Quiet Fix‑Heavy Release That Keeps the IDE from Crashing

The latest patch for Visual Studio Code doesn’t announce a flashy new feature set – it cleans up some annoying bugs and nudges the chat experience into sharper focus. If you’ve been battling stray terminal buffers or find the new Chat sidebar a tad confusing, this update should put those irritations to rest.

Alt‑Buffer bug finally gone

A long‑standing annoyance in the integrated terminal has been addressed: the alt buffer opening issue that caused duplicate panes when users hit Alt + something. After an update on Windows 10, a developer found her terminal spamming new buffers every time she switched tabs, forcing her to manually kill sessions and lose half an hour of work. The patch eliminates this glitch, so pressing Alt‑keys no longer produces unwanted terminals.

Chat gets a tighter grip on settings

The Chat panel now filters its options more reliably after the regression fix that broke some filter logic. Developers who rely on quick toggles for “Enable Copilot” or “Show context” will notice fewer accidental selections. The tweak is subtle but handy, especially when you’re juggling multiple conversations and don’t want a rogue setting to derail a code review.

Background agent gets a new name

The background agent display name change might look cosmetic, but it makes debugging easier. When the agent was labeled “background‑task” it was hard to tell which process was handling your linting or IntelliSense requests. Renaming it to “agent” clarifies its role in the task list and reduces confusion when you hunt for performance bottlenecks.

Minor but meaningful tweaks

• The hook execution now lives inside extensions, giving developers finer control over when and how hooks run.
• Search terms have been renamed to keywords, which aligns with the terminology used elsewhere in VS Code.
• A handful of contextual tips have been added or removed so that on‑screen help matches what you’re actually doing.

The “Use esbuild to pack the markdown extension for desktop and web” change feels a bit heavy‑handed; it probably speeds up builds, but for most users it will be invisible in day‑to‑day usage. That said, any performance gain in the editor’s core is worth a mention.

Getting this patch on your machine

If you’re still on 1.109.1 or earlier, launch VS Code and let the auto‑update dialog pop up. If that doesn’t work, open the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and type “Check for updates.” The update should download in a few minutes; no need to restart the IDE unless prompted.

Downloads

Windows:

  x64  Arm64 

Mac:

  Universal  Intel  silicon 

Linux:

  deb  rpm  tarball  Arm  snap

Release January 2026 Recovery 2 · microsoft/vscode

The update addresses these issues. For the complete release notes go to Updates on code.visualstudio.com.

Release January 2026 Recovery 2 · microsoft/vscode