IntelliCode for Visual Studio overview

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IntelliCode for Visual Studio provides the following functionality:

  • AI-assisted IntelliSense for multiple languages. This feature predicts the most likely correct method or property for the developer to use instead of just an alphabetical list. It uses the developer's current code context and patterns to provide this dynamic list.

    For C# users, in addition to providing member suggestions, IntelliCode also provides argument completion. This capability stars the most likely argument names that you'll use when you call a method and places those suggestions at the top of the completion list. The completion list appears when you start typing inside the parentheses or press Ctrl+Space.

    Argument completion in IntelliCode for Visual Studio

    C# developers in Visual Studio 2022 and higher also benefit from Whole line completions. Based on your current code, this feature predicts the next chunk of your code and presents it as an inline prediction.

    C# Whole line completions in Visual Studio

  • AI-assisted IntelliSense recommendations based on your own code (C# only).

  • Suggestions: IntelliCode locally tracks your edits, detects when you're performing a repetitive action, and offers to apply that same action in other, similar places (C# only).

    Suggestions for C# in Visual Studio

Preview features

Some of IntelliCode's features are still in preview, meaning there's no guarantee of future support. Preview features are disabled by default. To enable or disable IntelliCode preview features, choose Tools > Options > IntelliCode. Under Preview Features, choose Enable, Disable, or Default to configure each feature.

Supported languages

The supported languages for AI-assisted IntelliSense completions are:

  • C#
  • XAML
  • C++
  • JavaScript and TypeScript
  • Visual Basic

How do I set up IntelliCode?

IntelliCode is available as part of the Visual Studio 16.4 or higher installation, when you install a supported workload.

To see AI-assisted IntelliSense for certain languages, you may need a more recent version:

  • JavaScript and TypeScript require TypeScript 3.4.2 or later

Supported workloads

IntelliCode is included in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.4 as part of any of the following workloads:

  • Azure development
  • .NET desktop development
  • Mobile development with .NET
  • Game development with Unity
  • .NET Core cross-platform development
  • ASP.NET and web development
  • Visual Studio extension development
  • Universal Windows Platform development
  • Office/SharePoint development
  • Desktop development with C++
  • Game development with C++
  • Mobile development with C++
  • Linux development with C++

Troubleshoot

If you don't see any IntelliCode suggestions, you may have extensions installed that are overriding the IntelliSense UI. Such extensions can prevent the IntelliCode "starred" suggestions from appearing at the top of the list. You can verify if an extension is causing this behavior by turning them off, and then trying IntelliSense again. Or, if the extension supports it, turn off its auto-completion features.

If disabling extensions that override IntelliSense UI doesn't solve the problem for you, report it by using the Visual Studio Report a Problem feature, and mention IntelliCode in your report.

Telemetry

IntelliCode captures some anonymized usage and error-reporting data to help improve the product. No user-defined code is sent to Microsoft, but we do collect information about your use of the IntelliCode results.

For base model suggestions, which are open source or .NET types and members, we capture whether you selected an IntelliCode suggestion and log the name of the suggestion. Microsoft uses the data to monitor the quality of the base model. For custom models, we capture whether you selected an IntelliCode suggestion but don't log the names of your user-defined types or methods.

To turn off data collection for IntelliCode, opt out of the Visual Studio Experience Improvement Program. From the menu bar, select Help > Send Feedback > Settings. In the Visual Studio Experience Improvement Program dialog, select No, I would not like to participate and then select OK.

To create models that learn patterns from your own C# code, you need to sign in to Visual Studio to be able to use the model training service. The training service collects only the minimum data that's required to create the model. Microsoft keeps the trained models secured to your account so only you and people you choose to share them with can access them. Your model and what it’s learned about your code stays private to you. For more information, see Data and privacy.

Provide feedback

To report an IntelliCode for Visual Studio bug, use the Help > Send Feedback > Report a Problem menu. If you reproduce the problem before submitting the report, logs are automatically included in the report.

For feature requests, click the Send feedback about > This product button at the bottom of this page to log a new issue. Mention that it's a feature request.

See also