Agent Types in VS Codes

Recently I was working on VS code lot. In fact I was working with Github Copilot lot on VS Code. However have to admit I'm not aware of full capabilities of agentic framework available on VS Code through Github Copilot. I'm just learning as I go.

One of the options you see on Github Copilot window is Agent Type.

There are few options available in this:

• Local
• Background
• Cloud
• Claude (thirdparty)

I wanted to find out what are the different capabilities of each of the Agent types. Here is my find.

Local

Of course this is the default agent which I'm using most of the time. In fact all the time so far. 

Local agent runs within your VS code environment in your local machine. There fore it has access to all the resouces in VS Code, such as your workspace, files, context (stack trace, unit test results, liniting errors, etc.). 

It can use all models available in VS code. Also have access to all agent tools (browsing, MCP and extension provided tools).

Mostly, it is interactive, you can chat with it and give real time feedback and you can steer them the direction you want easily if you see them going off track.

That's why local agents are the ones I use most.

Background

Background agent, also known as Copilot CLI sessions, run in background. Main feature of this is they run even you close down VSCode. These are well suited for long running tasks, such as you have defined and planned all the steps need to take and where you can sure agent can run independantly long time without your input.

When these sessions require attention, they will notify in chat window same way the local agent would do.

There are two isolation levels for these:

• Worktree -> create seperate GIT work tree and work independantly to your main code.
• Workspace -> workspace is where background agent also works in same environment as what you see in VSCode

There are some limitations with background agents. They cannot access all tools in VSCode, plus they don't have access to extension provided tools. Also they are limited to CLI provided models.

Background agent can be start using agent type drop down:

Then you can selection isolation in isolation drop down:

You can also specify a working folder, so agent can independantly work without interfearance:

Cloud Agent

Cloud agents as name suggest runs on cloud (or remote infrastructure). The main cloud agent is Github Copilot cloud agent, which runs on Githug infrastructure (i.e. your remote github repository).

Github Copilot cloud agent as integrated access to Git hub repositories, there for it can do most of the actions (if not all) that any github user can do. Those include large scale refactoring, complete feature development, automatic pull request creation and code reviews.

You can also have thirdparty cloud agents, such as Claude Code and Open AI's Codex.

You can select cloud agent from agent type drop down:

Then you can select repository and give instruction to the agent.